66 listening skills
Ways to help your child notice when
2 sounds are different
• Find 2 things that make different sounds.
Remember, they must have a pitch and
loudness your child can hear. Put them
in front of your child. Show her the noise
each thing makes. Then ask her to close
her eyes while you make a noise with one
of the things. When she opens her eyes, ask her to show you which
thing she thinks made the noise.
• Together, make up movements for 2 or 3 similar sounds. Then
ask your child to make the movement whenever you make
the sound. Here is
an example with
speech sounds:
Pa..pa..pa..pa.
La..la..la..la.
• Have your child guess who in the
family is speaking by the sound
of their voice. This will also help
her learn to tell whether a
man or woman is talking.
Who’s
talking
now,
Nami?
Is my child learning to listen?
You will need to do all these activities
many times, over and over. After about 6 months, check your child’s
hearing again (see Chapter 5). You may find your child can hear more
sounds than before. This does not mean her hearing has changed. It
simply means she has learned to use her hearing better. Praise your child
when she notices sounds and words.
As you practice together, try to build on what she has learned by
using all the sounds she can hear. As a child learns more words and
understands them better, she will be able to express herself better and be
able to communicate more.
Helping Children Who Are Deaf (2004)