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Sound Beginnings

Sound Beginnings is an early intervention program designed for families with infants or young children (birth to 3 years) who have been newly diagnosed with a hearing loss. We provide:

  • Language, listening, and speech therapy for individual families (English and/or Spanish)
  • Monthly educational meetings
  • On-site audiology services

A bilingual speech-language pathologist will meet with families each week for listening and language therapy. Parents and family members learn through demonstrations and hands-on participation how to create a language-rich environment in their own homes. We invite all family members and caretakers who have routine contact with the child to come, learn, and participate. These experiences help families discover how to turn every day routines into listening and language learning experiences. Participants in Sound Beginnings receive the educational foundation to prepare them for success in a more formal classroom environment in the preschool setting. Weekly sessions are focused on training the parent to be the child’s first teacher. Parents will learn the impact hearing loss can have on the development of their child’s social, cognitive, and language skills, and the importance of amplification. Coaching will give them the tools and techniques to enhance their child’s learning.

For inquiries, please contact:

Katie Mcleod, M.S., CCC-SLP, LSLS CERT. AVT
Speech-Language Pathologist
(901) 531-6732
kmcleod@mosdkids.org

Preschool

The MOSD Day School Program offers preschool classes for children ages 2 through 6 years. Our year-round school provides ongoing classes and therapies to help the children develop and maintain the skills needed to listen, learn, and talk. Preschool classes are offered on a full-time basis five days per week from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The children in these classes participate in a conventional preschool curriculum, with "hands-on" experiences designed to promote the development of social, cognitive, perceptual, motor, and language skills. 

All children at the school receive the added benefit of individual and group therapy sessions for speech and aural habilitation (listening), to further enhance their development of speech, language, and listening skills.

For more information about our preschool program or to schedule a tour, please call Shannon Hall, Principal, at (901) 531-6727

Early Intervention and Hearing Loss

The improved technology of cochlear implants and programmable hearing aids have had a dramatic impact on the achievement levels of deaf children. To learn more about OPTION Schools, click here. According to the OPTION Schools' data:

  • Hearing is a first-order event for spoken language, reading, and learning
  • Listening experience in infancy is critical for the development of both speech and language in young children and a strong spoken language base is essential for reading
  • Better spoken language and auditory outcomes are associated with oral deaf education. Since 1992, over 90% of children with profound hearing loss developed intelligible spoken language.
  • Children enrolled in a program focused on listening and spoken language showed an average of one year or more of language growth for each year in the program. At the end of a four-year period, the gap between chronological age and language age was nonexistent.
  • With the technology (hearing aids and cochlear implants) and early auditory-verbal intervention available today, a child with hearing loss CAN have the same opportunity as a child with typical hearing in order to develop audition, speech, language, cognition, social skills, conversational competence, literacy skills and academic skills.

The staff who provide on-site audiology services know that the more access a child has to sound, the sooner and better they will talk. MOSD has two audiologists whose experience and talent in working with infants and toddlers. Our audiologists are skilled in programming cochlear implants and fitting all types of hearing aids, even on children who are only a few months old. They are members of the MOSD staff and therefore, are immediately available for trouble-shooting the devices the children are wearing. For children with hearing loss, getting access to sound through well-fitted hearing aids and cochlear implants has a huge impact on their learning.  

PEEPS - Parents Empowered to Educate Preschoolers

Parent meetings are arranged throughout the school year for parents to attend. These meetings are designed to provide pertinent information to parents of hearing-impaired children regarding all facets and issues relative to raising their child. Meeting topics are arranged and designed with parent input and meeting times are scheduled to enable all parents to attend.

In our educational meetings, the focus is on information about hearing loss, language development, cochlear implants, and child development. We discuss strategies, techniques, and activities to help children learn to listen and talk. These meetings are good times for parents to ask questions and share practical ideas for raising a child with a hearing loss. Topics also include high-interest areas parents raising a preschool-aged child including, but not limited to, nutrition, behavior, and potty-training.

These meetings are also a wonderful place to meet other parents of children with hearing loss! 

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