Auditory communication for deaf children: a guide for teachers, parents and health professionals

Auditory Communication for Deaf Children presents a rationale and framework for auditory learning in childhood and describes a wide range of practical listening activities that adults can apply during everyday interaction with the child. The book serves as a guide to intervention and practice for teachers, parents, speech pathologists, audiologists and other health professionals. Important, recurring themes include: adult–child interaction; observation of communication behavior; adaptation to the child’s abilities; listening tasks that challenge the child; effective communication strategies. The book contains basic activities for listening practice, and provides methods for adaptive auditory assessment, conversation-based therapy, telephone-communication training and self-help communication strategies for hearing-impaired children. The use of a hearing-loss simulator to develop speech and language clarity in communication partners is also discussed. Auditory Communication for Deaf Children shows adults how to become better communicators in order to help hearing-impaired children maximise their listening skills, and develop their spoken language and conversational competence. The therapeutic methods are founded upon evidence-based research, as well as practical experience obtained in pre-schools, classrooms, clinics and parent-advisory centers. References to supporting literature are provided throughout the text