Speech & Lip-reading
Most deaf children with residual hearing can learn to lip-read and speak if hearing assistance and speech classes are available from a very early age.
This depends on your child’s hearing ability and type, age when deafness occurred, their age of diagnosis and any other needs they have.
Children who receive a cochlear implant at a very young age may need less speech work than others, as they grow up with better sound quality.
Hearing aids will benefit others who have more residual hearing.
Parents need professional assessment, guidance and strong links with the speech therapist to continue the child’s language development at home.
For parents, the advantage of speech classes is that their own language can be used at home, if they’re prepared to do speech ‘homework’.
This can be fun, too. Once your child can read, you can make words:
* with magnetic letters on the fridge
* from alphabet spaghetti
* with honey on Ready Brek or similar breakfast cereal
* on a black / white board in the kitchen
* any other way you like – use your imagination!
Ideally, your speech therapist will develop your child’s pronounciation and articulation in classes, while you reinforce the principles at home.
Finding A Therapist
Ireland’s two speech and language therapist associations are
* The Irish Association of Speech & Language Therapy
* The Irish Association of Speech & Language Therapy in Private Practice
* Beaumont Hospital’s cochlear implant team has two speech therapists.
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