audditory training

[Guest guest]

Hi Deanna - you are right that many people consider " auditory training " to

be passe. " Audiiory training " is often done in schools and is teaching the

child certain auditory skills in isolation that they are then supposed to be

able to generalize and use in their life. Unfortunately skills taught in

isolation are rarely brought into the persons daily life.

HOWEVER, a child with a hearing loss does need to learn audiitory skills -

they just need to learn them in an integrated way. It won't happen by

accident, because of the hearing loss. But teaching it in isolation won't

help. Kids with normal hearing learn auditory skills simply by listening

and soaking up the language around them. Are you in an area that has an

auditory verbal therapist or oral school? They'd know how to test for how

well your child has integrated his auditory skills. One test I remember is

the TACL - the test of auditory comprehension of language. They also gave

my daughter a part of some " Illinois " test that looked at audiotry

sequencing and memory. It is very important that your child develop well

his auditory skills if he is to be mainstreamed in life and school with a

moderate loss. Does he " overhear " things? If so, he's probably doing

pretty well. Some teachers of the deaf don't feel like kids with moderate

loss need much help with this, and many trained in total communicaton

(which is most colleges in the US) don't even learn about developing

auditoory skills in a systematic developmental manner. in GA