Hearing Impairment
Hearing difficulties are diagnosed following a hearing test. This may be as part of a routine hearing assessment or following concerns that your child is not responding to sounds or has delayed speech and language development or suffers from frequent ear infections.
A hearing loss will usually make it much harder for your child to learn the skills they need to communicate effectively, despite help from home.
We will work in partnership with you to assess your child’s communication skills and plan activities and games for you to carry out at home
We have an open referral system which means that anyone can refer your child to us as long as they have gained your consent to do so. You can also refer your child yourself.
What happens next?
Once your child has been referred to the service you will be contacted to arrange an initial consultation appointment.
Following the initial appointment, we can talk about the best place to see you and your child.
This may be:
- at your home
- at your child’s school or nursery
- at your local health centre
We will work very closely with any other professionals your child is seeing, such as their audiology team and Teacher of the Deaf.
What can I do at home to help my child?
Follow the advice from your audiologist about using your child’s hearing aids or cochlear implant. If your child cannot hear sounds clearly it will be very hard for them to understand what they mean or learn to say words themselves.
When playing or talking with your child make sure they can see you clearly, e.g. get down on their level, make sure any light (from a window or a lamp) is on your face, not behind you.
Talk to your child about what you are doing during daily routines and when playing with them. It is important to keep doing this even if you’re not sure whether they can hear you.
Pay attention to how your child is trying to communicate with you. This may be by using facial expression, pointing, gesture, or noises. It is important to respond to your child’s attempts so that they learn that communication is important.
Contact
For further information please contact Speech & Language Therapy on 01922 605400.
Walsall Healthcare Speech & Language Therapy Department, Blakenall Village Centre, Thames Road, Blakenall, Walsall, WS3 1LZ