Take Five and Hear Your Child Thrive!

When it comes to your child on the LSL journey, the first five minutes of the day can be the most crucial to helping them learn to listen and talk, setting them up for success towards their listening, talking and reading potential. Learn more about Take Five and how you can implement it in your daily routine.

The first five minutes of the day can make a huge difference in your child’s progress toward listening, talking, and reading. Your child with hearing loss needs good access to meaningful conversation and all the sounds of speech to be ready to learn. By starting each and every day wearing their hearing devices, you're powering their potential for a listening and spoken language (LSL) outcome! Here’s how to Take Five everyday to help your child thrive on their LSL journey!

1. First thing in the morning, check your child’s devices to make sure they’re in working order. This means checking the batteries and all other parts. Your pediatric audiologist can coach you in this process for your child’s specific devices.
   
   
2. Get your child’s hearing devices on their ears as soon as they are awake. If you’re a hearing parent, you can hear all of the sounds around you the moment you wake up. Your child needs to hear your voice and all of the sounds of the home from the very first minute they are awake.
   
   
3. Do a quick listening check. You want to make sure that with the hearing devices checked and on their ears, your child can hear all of the sounds of speech as the devices are programmed. Your LSL early interventionist can coach you to do a listening check that is best for your child’s needs.
   
   
4. Observe throughout the day. Is your child responding to your voice when the hearing devices are on? Did they alert to all of the sounds when they were presented? Write down the sounds that your child doesn’t alert to so that you can share this with your early interventionist.

Remember, the first five minutes can be the most important of your child’s day, and the more you know about your child’s responses to sound, the more opportunities they have to learn to listen and talk!

Download our handout and place it in a location to easily remind you and other caregivers to Take Five!