Auditory Based Care

Teaching Children with Hearing Loss to Listen & Talk

Hearing loss affects 12,000 children born in the United States each year, making it the most common birth defect. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, an estimated 28 million people in the United States have some degree of hearing loss. Typically, babies and young children learn to talk by listening to the voices of family members and caregivers from the time they are born. Any degree of hearing loss has the potential to interrupt speech and language development.

Never before has there been such potential for hearing. With technology including advance hearing aids and cochlear implants (CI), the majority of children with hearing loss now have access to spoken language. However, children with hearing loss require specialized auditory based treatment services in order to learn how to use their hearing to its maximum potential and to develop intelligible spoken language.

What is Auditory Based Care?

Auditory Based Care for children with hearing loss helps children use their hearing and listening potential to communicate through spoken language. Your Speech-Language Pathologist and Audiologist will provide education, guidance, advocacy, and support to you and your child. Families will learn to incorporate language and listening activates into the child’s everyday routines.

Auditory Based Care services focus on the “natural emergence” of speech and language with no emphasis on visual language approaches such as total communication, sign language or cued speech. Auditory Based Care is a specialized approach that mandates strong parental involvement with motivating, highly trained therapists with individualized training and treatment targets for each child. Ultimately, the goal is for children to communicate effectively in the hearing and speaking world.

Goals Of Auditory Based Care

• To teach children to learn to use hearing to its maximum potential and to develop intelligible spoken language.
• To focus on the “natural emergence” of speech and language with no emphasis on visual language approaches.
• To encourage family centered care by educating caregivers in techniques and methodologies that will carry over into daily life and encourage listening and speaking.
• To empower families to advocate in a positive manner on behalf of their child’s communicative and educational needs.
• To have children communicating effectively in the hearing and speaking world.

Audiology Services

Our masters and doctorate level audiologists are specially trained to identify, evaluate and manage hearing disorders. Evaluations can be completed as early as the day of birth. We can determine what type of hearing device can best meet your child’s needs. We provide extensive education about the use and care of your child’s hearing device, communication strategies and educational options.

Speech Language Services

Our masters level pediatric Speech Language Pathologists will provide specialized auditory based treatment to teach your child to use his/her hearing to develop spoken language using a family-centered approach.

Specialized Services

In addition to the Auditory Based treatment that you will receive, your licensed Speech Language Pathologists at All Children’s Hospital is also trained to serve children with multiple needs such as: oral motor, articulation, voice, feeding and autism spectrum disorders, therefore meeting any or all of your child’s speech language needs.

Within this program your child also has access to related treatment services such as occupational and physical therapy. We also offer Auditory Based Care for our non-English speaking families.