20% Project Reflection

       I learned a lot from my 20% project over the course of this semester. There were a lot of articles and blogs I read about hearing loss in children in general, and a lot of the information on those sites was completely new to me. My being a freshmen and not really sure what I want to do for sure when I graduate, there are many things that I don't know in general about communication sciences and disorders. So dipping my toes in that was an interesting experience for me. I had fun learning things I didn't know about children with hearing impairments, and it made me really want to work with these children one day.
       The product I created for my project can be viewed here. I created an online poster with the intended audience being parents of hearing impaired children. There are pictures and descriptions of some assistive technology that I learned about while doing research for the project. There is also a statistics poster for hearing loss in general and a description of different types of hearing impairments.
       I didn't come across many difficulties while doing my 20% project. The only thing that really caused a little problem was Glogster. I used this site to create my online poster. While I did finish the poster and the final product was something I was proud of, Glogster was difficult to work with. There were a lot of kinks in the website that made it difficult to compete the assignment.
      I felt like my product was received well at the showcase. I think it displayed the right amount of information that could be useful to my target audience. The people that viewed it at the showcase said it was very interesting to look at and I made it so that it was not boring.

Progress Check/Target Audience/Product

          From reading about assistive technology for hearing impaired children, I've also learned a lot about other things surrounding hearing impaired children. The things I've learned have been about how to test a child's hearing at home, some general facts about hearing loss in children, and different routes parents can take in assisting their children after they get the diagnosis. When I see articles and stuff on the internet that have anything to do with my question, I bookmark the page and go back to them when I think they would be useful as a resource for a blog post. I think I need to know more about actually technology used. I have one post about an app, but I think I need more. I have a good basis of background information, now, I just have to build up on that. Even though I need to do more research about the technology, I also want to know more about the assistive technology. Some of the inventions are really cool and seem they could really help kids suffering from hearing loss.
          I think the main people that would benefit from my project would be parents. There is a lot of information on my blog about things parents can do at home, or people that can help the parents once the doctor tells them they have a child that is hearing impaired. So that being said, because parents would benefit from this, I would like to share it with the parents of hearing impaired children. The characteristics of the parents are that they are just very curious. They just want questions they may have about what their child is going through to be answered, they don't want to feel left in the dark. I think I would just need to put as much information I could without overwhelming them.
          I think a Facebook group is always a good idea for people that may be going through the same things. Through the group they are able to share stories and relate to people that have had similar stories with their kids. This would make parents not feel as alone, and the same information could reach all of them. They could ask each other (or doctors/audiologists) that could be in the group as well, questions that they may have. I think it just provides a good sense of community.

Other Blogs About Assistive Technology

       I chose to create a blog about the different types of assistive technology there is out there for hearing impaired children. I think this is a really important topic because anything that can make children with hearing impairments less isolated is a step in the right direction.
       There aren't that many blogs that are strictly devoted to exploring the types of assistive technology for the deaf and hearing impaired. The ones that I did see had a heavy focus on cochlear implants. Some blogs said that using cochlear implants was the way to go, while other blogs explored the more negative effects that cochlear implants can have. 
        One blog I saw explored a new app by Sprint that can capture and caption conversations in real time. The app uses a computerized speech recognition service to caption the caller on the other end. The user can hear the other caller or use the captions and then respond. Of course like any new technology there are always bugs that need to be fixed. It's not clear yet how accurate this new app is at recognizing a person's voice if it's not that clear of a voice or if it is masked in a thick accent.
       

Fun Facts

The Prevalence and Incidence of Hearing Loss in Children (from http://www.helpkidshear.org/facts/index.html)

• About 34 million people in the U.S. have some degree of reduced hearing sensitivity. Of this number, 80% have irreversible hearing loss and 6 million of the 34 million are profoundly deaf.
• Over 1 million children in the U.S. have a hearing loss.
• 5% of children 18 years and under have hearing loss.
• 1 in 22 infants born in the U.S. has some kind of hearing problem.
• 6 in every 1000 infants born in the U.S. has some degree of hearing loss.
• 1 in every 1000 infants born in the U.S. has a severe or profound hearing loss.
• 83 out of every 1000 children in the U.S. have what is termed an educationally significant hearing loss.
• Among every 1000 school-age students in the U.S., 7 have bilateral and 16-19 have unilateral hearing losses that may significantly interfere with their education.
• Among school age children, severe to profound hearing loss occurs in about 9 children of every 1000.
• 10 in 1000 school age students have permanent sensorineural hearing loss.
• Approximately 30% of children who are hard of hearing have a disability in addition to a hearing loss.

How to Check Your Child's Hearing at Home

What to use: A squeak toy, a rattle, or a bell. Some homemade testers including the use of dry beans or rice in a jar or paperclips in a metal can. 

What do do: Stand approximately 12 inches behind your child and activate the noise. Be sure she cannot see the noisemaker so you can be certain she actually hears the sound and not just sees what is making it. 

When to test: An easy setting for hearing tests is at mealtime when a child is in a high chair. Another is when a child is on one parent's lap and another caregiver stands behind her. Choose a time when the child's attention is distracted away from the tester to be sure the child responds to the sound and not the person. 

(Source:http://www.pedsforparents.com/articles/3204.shtml)

What Now?

Get Educated:

Once your child has been diagnosed it's time for you to get educated and educated your family and friends on your child's diagnosis. Finding a support system whether it be emotionally or financially is very important

Who Can Help?

Audiologist
(from http://www.helpkidshear.org/resources/starter/who.htm)

• Having the appropriate equipment (Visual Reinforcement, Audiometry, Tympanometry) and the skills to test the hearing of infants and toddlers.
• Obtaining complete information about your child's hearing in each ear at a range of frequencies
• Recommending appropriate amplification.
• Testing your child while wearing amplification and questioning parents about child's responses to sounds at home.
• Giving you information about early intervention programs available to your family.
• Working in partnership with you and early intervention specialists to monitor and maintain your child's amplification systems (Hearing aids, FM systems, cochlear implants).

Early Intervention Specialist or Early Childhood Special Education Teacher
(from http://www.helpkidshear.org/resources/starter/who.htm)

• Describing the services offered through their early intervention program and costs, if any, associated with services.
• Describing how your family members will be involved in early intervention services: defining your roles in early intervention and their expectations about your family's participation.
• Answering, when possible, your questions about how your child's hearing loss will affect his ability to learn, to communicate, and to participate in school and society.
• Describing the curriculum that will be used to promote your child's acquisition of listening
• Listening to your observations and concerns about your child and discussing these with you.
• Working with the audiologist to help your child learn to use amplification and make sure the child's hearing aids function properly.
• Keeping records of child's progress in acquisition of listening skills.
• Giving you support during difficult times.

Other parents of deaf or hard of hearing children [VERY IMPORTANT]
(from http://www.helpkidshear.org/resources/starter/who.htm)

• Sharing experiences they have had with professionals and early intervention programs.
• Telling you about people and information sources they have found useful.
• Listening to you.
• Sharing with you their feelings related to parenting a child with hearing loss and how their feelings have changed over time.
• Telling you about their child's achievements.
• Getting together with you so your children can play together.

Others include-- Pediatrician, ENT Physician, other hard of hearing adults

Driving Question

How is technology used to assist children with hearing impairments?