If you think your child might have hearing loss or even if your child has been diagnosed with hearing loss, parents often don’t know what to do. Speak with your pediatrician to come up with a plan for your child if they have any type of hearing loss. Seeing an audiologist and a Speech-Language Pathologist should help you through that decision-making process.

A Speech-Language Pathologist can help your child with their language skills to communicate. The key is early intervention with hearing loss. A child with mild hearing loss may not be hearing certain sounds in the English language. Whether it is through sign language, cued speech, oral communication or a mixture, communication is key for living with hearing loss.

Seeing a Speech-Language Pathologist on a weekly basis can provide support for your child and teach your child speech and listening skills. Even if your child has a IEP with in the school system and is receiving help in school, seeing a Speech-Language Pathologists one-on-one will provide your child with tools to communicate.

A Speech-Language Pathologist will work on helping your child expand their vocabulary. They will work on exercises that help them learn the individual sounds of each letter in a word and how to pronounce the word. Speech-Language Pathologists also work on visual cues to help listen in situations that can be helpful for a hard-of-hearing child.

Having a child with hearing loss can be frustrating and concerning, but with a plan and proper help your child can learn to communicate and be successful in everyday activities.