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Hard of Hearing Baby Speech Therapy: 5 Surprising Things We Learned Starting at 4 Months
People were surprised to learn our hard of hearing 4-month old was already in speech therapy. Here's what it looked like—and why it turned out to be one of the best parts of our early diagnosis journey.
"How can a 4-month old be in speech class? They don't even talk yet!"
We heard this a few times. We asked it a few times too.
Back in mid-2021, our 4-month old daughter had just been diagnosed with hearing loss. We knew nothing. We were pretty scared.
Lots of running around to medical appointments and tests. Lots of acronyms. ENTs. MRI. ABRs. OAE.
And then finally... EI. Early Intervention!
After some careful thought, we chose a Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) path for our daughter. It's a big decision. We soon learned that, in NYC, Early Intervention provides Speech Therapy services in addition to other services such as Assistive Technology (i.e., hearing aids, earmolds, supplies).
It was a mystery to us. How does speech therapy work for a hard of hearing baby? She couldn't even crawl yet!
Here's what we learned, and why it turned out to be a great experience.
Certain Speech Therapists Specialize in Child Hearing Loss
We learned that certain professionals specialize in child hearing loss. These include speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and teachers of the deaf. That's great news for recently-diagnosed infants and their families!
These professionals work with infants and their families immediately after hearing loss diagnoses. We're in awe of their expertise, and in their willingness to share technical insights in plain language.
Did you know that speech is a fine motor skill? We were fascinated to learn this. It felt empowering to take some of the mystery out of our daughter's therapy.
Our SLPs also coordinate with our child's pediatric audiologist. This bridge is a lifesaver when troubleshooting potential drops in hearing. Our SLPs see our daughter at least weekly. They give her audiologist timely updates on how her hearing is doing and observations that may need more testing in a sound booth.
Early Intervention Uses a Coaching Model—and You're Part of It
U.S. Federal and State laws require Early Intervention to use an "embedded coaching" model.
According to NYC, this means providers "work with families to improve a child's development within their daily routines."
Early Intervention's embedded coaching model means that, as parents, we take an active role in our daughter's speech therapy. The magic happens outside of class!
SLPs teach us the basics of how our daughter will learn to listen and speak. They model language and listening strategies. They guide us on ways to build listening and language development into her daily routine—from reading books, to playing with her toys, to talking about holiday decorations.
They help us monitor her hearing with regular listening checks—using our Ling Toys and other techniques.
Our speech therapy sessions helped us get some great habits in place from the start.
Sound May Be Entirely New to Your Baby
Most babies start hearing language in the womb.
For deaf and hard of hearing babies, hearing aids or cochlear implants may be baby's first introduction to the sounds of language. It's a whole new world for them!
In our baby's earliest speech sessions, our SLPs watched our baby's reaction to her new world of sound. Could she hear loud sounds? Could she hear soft sounds? How about different key sounds made in speech?
We learned that the brain needs to learn how to localize sound—to figure out where a sound is coming from. We monitored our daughter's progress week by week in her speech therapy sessions. We used special toys called "Ling toys" to help our baby localize key sounds made in speech. Read more here about how we found our Ling toys.
We also learned about the concept of "auditory hierarchy." Learning to listen is a four step process: detection, discrimination, identification, and comprehension. Want to learn more? Check out this great article on auditory hierarchy.
You may also be interested in learning about how the (minimalist, Montessori-style) design of our baby's nursery affected the way it sounds. (Hint: It was LOUD!) Read more here about our #1 Montessori Mistake and how we fixed it with sound panels.
Play Is the Primary Method
One of the many silver linings of our daughter's hearing loss: it helps us to see toys and play in a whole new light.
Many of our daughter's speech therapy sessions involve play. Our SLP team teaches us creative strategies for playing with her toys in ways that support language development. One of our best examples of this is how we used our daughter's Manhattan Toy Put & Peek Birdhouse in countless speech therapy sessions.
Speech therapy brought us so many fresh ideas about toys—from reading beloved books in new ways to practicing spatial terms as we slide wood blocks down cardboard tubes.
A focus on play made it easier for us to practice listening and language strategies with our daughter seamlessly. It's often what she wants to be doing anyways—especially as she's grown from an infant to a toddler!
On a serious note, play helps make speech therapy a positive experience for infants and toddlers. Hearing loss entails countless doctor visits, tests, and procedures. Our brave kids deserve some time with their stuffed animals, wood blocks, and favorite stories.
Looking for some wood blocks? Here's a great 60-piece set from Melissa & Doug!
Your Baby's Sounds Matter Too
We watched in awe: our hard of hearing infant's SLPs patiently paid attention to every sound she made. We never saw someone pay such close attention to baby sounds. They were gathering puzzle pieces... decoding her hearing loss.
On an emotional level, we were moved by our SLP's patience and curiosity about our infant's sounds. It was a striking reminder and a moment of dignity. This was her journey.
We learned about a speech therapy strategy called wait time—and began practicing it in our day-to-day lives. It's challenging!
Wait time is when you pause 7 to 10 seconds after speaking to give baby time to process sound. As we practiced wait time, we began to enjoy those little pauses (which seem to last forever!) as our minds filled with curiosity. What was our baby going to say?
Paying attention to our baby's sounds helped us to see the many tiny victories in her hearing loss journey.
Who knew baby babble could be so interesting?
