Audiology and Speech Therapy
There are 3 types of hearing loss.
- Conductive Hearing loss- It is the loss that is caused to severe problems in the ear drum, ear canal, middle ear as well as its bone.
- Sensorineural hearing loss- It is also called as nerve related hearing loss because is it caused due to problems in the inner ear.
- Mixed Hearing loss- A combination of the Conductive and Sensorineural hearing loss i.e. there is damage in the middle, outer and inner ear.
Few signs that you can witness are:
- Trouble in understanding to what people are saying in a group, movies, or theatre or from another room
- Easily frustrated, irritated and recluse
- Asking frequently to repeat the conversations
- Louder volume of television or radio than required
- Continuous mumbling
- Don’t want to be the first person to start a conversation
Tinnitus is a symptom of age related hearing loss where you feel something is ringing in your ears. You can feel buzzing, humming, grinding, hissing, or whistling sounds in your ear. The most common causes of Tinnitus are:
- Exposure to loud noise
- Earwax blockage
- Changes in ear bone
Your expectations of each therapy can be different. There is no one sized-fits all therapy approach. Depending upon the degree of challenge, you need to understand how to help your child improve his speech. Therapy can be a long term process but the longevity of treatment will depend on:
- Severity of the problem
- What is the nature of the speech challenge
- Whether you child is working through other behavioral or learning challenge
- Whether the therapist is capable of tackling the challengesSupport from family, friends, close peers etc.
However, if the assessment is done precisely and the goals are implemented accurately, positive changes are noticed in 3-4 sessions.
The more you practice with your child, the better it will be. However, you can practice several ideas with your child for speech practice like:
- Keep a 5 to 10 minute reading session with your child to focus more on his language skills
- Try to repeat words and phrases during bath time
- Work on developing one cognitive or behavioral skill at a time
- Do not start on with something that is hard or difficult for child to comprehend
- Voice modulation games
- Loud reading for 10 minutes
- Show n tell session
- Presentation and debates
These above activities can help you design a better speech therapy plan for your child.
A speech therapy session is designed differently for all patients to address their problems in a most convenient way. You can expect your speech therapist to practice following activities with you:
Articulation Therapy
Language Activities
Oral exercises
- Conversation skills
- Presentation skills
