Audiologic rehabilitation for Children: Assessment and Management

Components of early intervention programs for a child with hearing loss typically include:

• home visits

• Screening/assessment of hearing

• Family support and resource sharing

Congenital deafness means:

Present at birth

Prelingually deafened is defined as

Deafness with an onset that occurs before the child is using intentional communication

Postlingual deafness is defined as

Deafness acquired after a child has developed language

What are two objectives tests of hearing that can identify hearing loss in many babies soon after birth

otoacoustic emissions (OAE) and auditory brainstem response (ABR)

Which of the following are risk factors for hearing loss in newborns

• meningitis

• Family history of hearing loss

• Anomalies of head or face

You sit behind an 11 month old baby with a newly activated cochlear implant and while they are playing with blocks, one at a time, you make the ling sounds (oo, ah, ee, ss, sh, mm) and watch for signs that the child heard the sounds like cessation of activity or looking for the sound or turning toward you. You get very animated and say "YES! You heard that!" and make the sound again while they are looking at you. What stage of erbers hierarchy is this?

Detection

You play a game with a toddler where they can add a piece to a puzzle everytime they hear a sound that is different. Then you sit slightly behind them on the side of the device you are working on and make the sounds ss, ss, ss, ah, ss, ss, ss. The child puts down the puzzle piece when you say "ah" and you praise them. "That's right!" What stage of erber’s hierarchy is this?

Discrimination

You are sitting slightly behind an 18 month old and you've taught them to associate the ling sounds with different toys. "oo" is a ghost, "ah" is an airplane, "ee" is a spider, "ss" is a snake, "sh" is a sleeping baby, and "mm" is an ice cream cone. You position yourself slightly behind the child so you are talking toward their device but they cannot see your face and make each of the Ling sounds and they hand you the toy from a basket that sound is associated with. You say "mm" and they hand you the ice cream cone. You say "sh" and they hand you the sleeping baby.

Identification

You ask the child to "go into the bucket and get the red ball" without using any gestures or visual cues. When they present the object you say it again while holding up the visual "that's right! that's the red ball!" using acoustic highlighting to emphasize the object.

Comprehension

Which of the following has been shown by research to influence families of a child with hearing loss in a positive way

• support parental self-confidence

• Reduce familiar stress

• Promote or support responsive communication interactions

The Ling 6 sound test (Ling, 1989) should be used everyday to check that a child's devices are working. These sounds are:

Oo, aa, ee, ss, sh, mm

If a two year old child is not consistently wearing their cochlear implants, which of the following actions taken by the AR clinican are most appropriate? Select two:

• talk with the parent about which situations are creating challenges for device use, and brainstorm specific strategies to try and adress these

• Refer the child back to the cochlear implant team to check the device and map

parents wish that AR specialists would:

• respect and support decisions family makes

• Approaches communication and amplification choices objectively, providing all necessary information including what is required of the family

• Acknowledge when they dont know an answer, and add the family in finding the answer

• Help them connect with other families and community resources

The family-centered approach to the management of a child with hearing loss acknowledges the fact that family members are a constant in a child's life and therefore experts on the child's development

True

How often should you use the Ling 6 sound test to check if a child’s devices are working while they are still developing listening and spoken language skills and cannot reliably report when their device doesn’t sound right?

At least once a day (preferably at beginning of speech therapy)