Speech Therapy Services

Quality hearing and speech care starts with an in-depth assessment. Upon enrolling in speech therapy, children receive a comprehensive evaluation that documents their current levels of performance in the areas of audition, language, speech, vocabulary, early literacy, and general development. The evaluation also includes recommendations that outline what is necessary for them to make progress in their listening and spoken language development.

Other types of evaluations available include:

• Baseline evaluations to determine appropriate services
• Annual evaluations to track progress
• Cochlear implant candidacy evaluations
• Evaluations for school consultations
• Second opinion evaluations

Listening and spoken language (LSL) therapy teaches children with hearing loss how to listen and speak. It is also known as auditory-verbal therapy (ATV). The LSL approach focuses on teaching parents how to build their child’s listening and spoken language skills through daily activities. The goal of LSL therapy is for children with hearing loss to develop spoken language skills similar to those of children their own age who can hear without devices.

LSL therapy:

• Is focused on children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have difficulty receiving and processing auditory information
• Aims to help children with hearing aids and cochlear implants learn to associate the sounds they receive though them with the meaning of the sounds they hear
• Teaches children critical listening skills through age-appropriate exercises designed to help them acquire speech and language processing tools on the same level as children their age who do not have hearing loss
• Aims to help students mainstream into regular schools to learn alongside, and at the same pace of, other students in their class who are not deaf or hard of hearing.

The Speech Therapy Services department at Texas Hearing Institute offers a wide range of services for children with hearing loss to help them reach their full potential. These services include the following:

• Parent infant services offered at no cost to families
• Aural rehabilitation
• Bilingual speech therapy for Spanish-speaking families
• Virtual speech therapy services
• Auditory-based speech therapy for children who have additional disabilities