September, 2015     

Probes & Tips header
ECHO Initiative 
Events
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Live Webinar:

"Introduction to Audiology and Hearing Loss for Non-Audiologists"

Presented by
Jeff Hoffman, MS, CCC-A and Terry Foust, AuD.

Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015
1:30 - 2:30 pm Eastern
12:30 - 1:30 pm Central
11:30 am - 12:30 pm Mountain
10:30 - 11:30 am Pacific

Register Here

(Live captioning will also be provided; a link will be available for captioning upon logging into the webinar.)

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"Updating Hearing Screening Practices for Children 0 - 3 Years of Age"
   
October 13, 2015
2:00 - 4:30 pm

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New to 
OAE Screening? 

If your program is new to OAE screening,  
or if you have added new staff who need  
instruction on OAE 
screening practices,  
visit our 
 where staff can view instructional video  
modules and access the corresponding 
resources. 

Quick Links

 

Find more helpful hints from previous issues of

 Probes and Tips 

and many other
resources at:  

 www.kidshearing.org 


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Join Our Mailing List  

 

Tip of the Month
Essentials of Hearing Aid Care
for Children


Through your hearing screening efforts, you may have identified a child with a permanent hearing loss.  Alternately, a child identified through newborn hearing screening may now be enrolled in your program.  Depending on the type and degree of the hearing loss, and the intervention options that parents have chosen, a young child may wear hearing aids to maximize their access to sound. 

Unlike glasseBabywithHearingAids that help a child to see more clearly and need little maintenance beyond simple cleaning, hearing aids require daily checking to ensure they are functioning as they should. A child will usually not be able to tell a parent or teacher if their hearing aids are no longer working properly. It is up to parents, teachers, and other professionals to make sure that a child's hearing aids are working well each day. 

Common maintenance issues include checking and changing the battery, cleaning blockage from the earmold, and occasionally Hearing Aids changing the tone hook.
  
If you are serving a child who wears hearing aids, we would encourage you to watch a helpful Hearing Aid Listening Check video,  in English or Spanish, that walks you through these and other troubleshooting steps.  A companion handout that you can print is also available. 

Parents often need this same information, so we would encourage you to watch the video together.  Discuss what can be done each day before the child leaves home, and what can be done in your educational setting, to make sure that the child is getting the maximum benefit from the aids. 
 
An audiologist can order a hearing aid care kit 
for you that includes: 
  • A listening stethoscope, that attaches to the earmold or hearing aid tone hook, so you can listen to the amplified sound. 
  • A battery tester.
  • A wire loop and brush to remove wax from the earmold.
  • An air blower to remove moisture from the earmold tubing.
Hearing Aid KitHearing aids are expensive investments, so treating them with care, and checking to make sure they are working as they should, is as important as monitoring that the child is wearing them every day. 
 
Probe of the Month
Are you serving a child with a permanent hearing loss?  Do you need more information and assistance?

Let us know at:  

 

  [email protected]    

   

And, as always, share www.KidsHearing.org with anyone you think would benefit from our resources.     

 ECHO - Headstart



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2615 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322

Probes and Tips is a newsletter from the ECHO Initiative that provides monthly TIPS

to enhance early childhood hearing screening and follow-up practices and PROBES

 about current activities so we can learn from one another's successes and challenges.