You can do one of these things each day to promote communication and hearing health in the people you love.
- Smile and connect-facial expressions and eye contact help to open a conversation!
- Put away your electronic devices. Make a pledge to have phone –free meals.
- Use the volume control on your childrens’ headphones. Repeated exposure to high volume music will degrade hearing ability.
- Hang out with your kids- The important conversations happen unexpectedly. If you aren’t there, you will miss it.
- 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.
- 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.
- Use comments, not questions-this holds true for toddlers and tweens alike. Comments and observations will elicit more conversation than quizzes and questions.
- Use feeling words- Label and address your feelings using language. Let your family see and hear you work through happy and frustrating times.
- Practice active listening-I’m sure you’ve heard this before but it bears repeating: “Listen to understand, not to respond.”
- 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.
- Contact a speech-language pathologist or audiologist in your area if you have questions or concerns about communication.