Hearing Impaired

Hearing impaired therapy services are provided to infants, toddlers, children and adults. Therapy is individualized and completed through a variety of methods or options. These include:

The Auditory-Verbal Approach - The primary goal of Auditory-Verbal therapy is for children who are deaf or hard of hearing to develop spoken language through listening. Individual therapy sessions include parent participation to carryover the goals in the home environment. Emphasis is placed on teaching children to function independently in their learning and living environments.

Cued Speech - Cued speech is a visual communication system. It gives a visual representation of the speech sounds to supplement what is seen on the mouth in order to make the spoken language clear through vision alone. Speech skills are developed with visual emphasis. The clients using this approach are encouraged to develop their listening skills to help monitor speech production.

Sign Language - For deaf and hard of hearing clients who use sign language to communicate, it is strongly encouraged that speech be used at all times with the signs. Speech is developed through listening when possible and with visual tactile-cues.

Treatment plans for speech therapy with deaf and hard of hearing clients include a variety of goals:

• Breath support for speech
• Voice quality
• Speech sound production
• Oral-Motor skills
• Audition (listening skills)
• Language skills