You can do one of these things each day to promote communication and hearing health in the people you love.

1. Smile and connect-facial expressions and eye contact help to open a conversation!
2. Put away your electronic devices. Make a pledge to have phone –free meals.
3. Use the volume control on your childrens’ headphones. Repeated exposure to high volume music will degrade hearing ability.
4. Hang out with your kids- The important conversations happen unexpectedly. If you aren’t there, you will miss it.
5. Get dirty-The more senses that are involved in play, the more that experience will stick with your child. Use their eyes and ears, get moving and let them get messy.
6. Strictly limit screen time, especially for young children-babies learn by active engagement with the world. Watching a screen or electronic toy is passive and offers little benefit.
7. Use comments, not questions-this holds true for toddlers and tweens alike. Comments and observations will elicit more conversation than quizzes and questions.
8. Use feeling words- Label and address your feelings using language. Let your family see and hear you work through happy and frustrating times.
9. Practice active listening-I’m sure you’ve heard this before but it bears repeating: “Listen to understand, not to respond.”
10. Maintain healthy ears-Follow-up with your ENT if your child has frequent ear infections, trouble breathing through their nose or snores/wakes repeatedly at night for no known reason. Ear infections, throat infections and enlarged tonsils/adenoids can slow the development of speech and language skills.
11. Contact a speech-language pathologist or audiologist in your area if you have questions or concerns about communication.