Staff Spotlight

Welcome to the team Dr. Kayla!

We welcomed Kayla Whitaker to our staff in November as the newest addition to the Audiology team at the Center. She comes to us from Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Kayla has roots in the Midwest. She is originally from Dayton, Ohio and received her Bachelors of Science and her Doctor of Audiology degrees from the University of Cincinnati. 

Kayla has experience serving on or working alongside the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention taskforces in multiple states, including Connecticut, Ohio, and Tennessee. She strives to provide excellent audiological services and to guide families through the process of hearing aid selection and the daily use of amplification through open communication, teamwork, and maintaining a positive environment for all children and their families. Kayla is an expert at working with children of all abilities. 

Fun Facts!

• Kayla and her husband have three cats at home: Benny, Beau, and Jeff 
• Kayla loves to cook and bake
• Kayla enjoys making pottery and painting with watercolors

Sound Advice on Listening Breaks

 

Listening is tiring!

Dr. Krista Yushow, an expert in educational audiology, shared considerations for helping deaf and hard of hearing children combat listening fatigue in the classroom at the second annual Topics in Pediatric Audiology Conference, hosted by the Center in Nov. 2021.

“When you are hard of hearing you

struggle to hear; when you struggle to hear you get tired;

when you get tired you get frustrated; when

you get frustrated you get bored;

when you get bored you quit”  - Pichora-Fuller (2003)

What is listening fatigue?

In order to understand speech, deaf and hard of hearing children must use more brain power for listening than other children. Their brain has to work harder to process the same information. This causes an increase in stress and eventually, fatigue!

Hearing Aids

Hearing aids improve listening and speech comprehension in quiet listening environments, which helps

decrease listening fatigue.

• Encourage all day use of hearing aids, no matter the severity of hearing loss. Severity of hearing loss does not determine educational impact!
•  Pick bright and fun colors to promote acceptance and pride in their identity.
• Ask your audiologist for fun stickers to put on hearing aids
• Check out hearing aid accessories, earrings, and charms on Etsy!

Personal Remote Microphone Systems 

• Hearing aids provide excellent benefit when your child is close to the speaker. As distance and background noise increase, additional technology is needed to hear and understand speech.
•  Direct microphones transmit the speaker’s voice directly to hearing aids, which help reduce the negative effects of distance and background noise.
• Use in noisy environments like grocery stores or restaurants, or when your child is in a stroller in order to provide the best access to speech in all environments! 

Brain Builders EDHI - Snuggle up and read!

 

Snuggle up this winter with books!

Many parents and caregivers think that children need to be able to sit, listen, and turn pages before sharing books with our youngest children. However even newborns benefit from having a caring adult share a book with them. 

Children feel a sense of security and safety when being held and enjoy hearing your voice and/or seeing your signs and facial expressions as you describe pictures or read a story. 

Don’t worry how attentive they are, just share books with your baby/toddler. As a baby becomes older they will begin to interact with the books by chewing on them and feeling textures on pages. They will eventually begin turning the pages and then label pictures and “retell stories” you have shared with them. At each age, sharing a book has a different way of impacting your child’s brain development. Most of all, enjoy cuddling up with your baby or toddler while introducing them to a love of books that will last their lifetime.

Reading aloud every day for at least 15 minutes to “feed your child’s brain” building vocabulary, growing preliteracy skills and developing social-emotional bonds. Learn more at ReadAloud.org.

Resources with tips and ideas:

• 15 Principles for Reading to Deaf Children
• FL3 Parent Tips Sheet: Early Literacy Development
• Growing Listening, Language, and Literacy Skills
• CDHHE IDEAL Parent Document Milestones

Join us Monday, January 24, 2022 @10:30am via Zoom for Stories, Signs, and Snacks!

To sign up for this event, please contact us at: cdhhe@isdh.in.gov

Save the dates for our upcoming virtual S3 events @10:30am:

• February 21, 2022
• March 21, 2022
• April 18, 2022
• May 23, 2022

Deaf and Hard of Hearing - Young Adult Video Project

 Share your success story! 

Attention all deaf and hard of hearing Hoosiers ages 18 to 30: We need you!

Did you grow up in Indiana? Are you willing to share your story (education experiences, hobbies, post-high school ventures)? Help us show what success looks like to deaf and hard of hearing teenagers along with their parents, as well as families of recently identified DHH children! Our Center and the Indiana Early Hearing Detection & Intervention (EHDI) program are creating a video similar to this one out of British Columbia to help us showcase how success can be defined in a wide variety of ways by deaf and hard of hearing individuals here in Indiana. 

Answer the call by filling out this invitation: https://bit.ly/YADHH.

Capturing Literacy Skills with Closed Captions

Another way to boost literacy in the closed captions is a wonderful tool to not only use at school, but also at home over their breaks from school. When you turn on closed captions it is a simple, however effective way to continue to build vocabulary, comprehension, and assist with reading skills. Closed captions will help children reinforce sight words. 

Live captions - Chrome, iOS, and Android

There are now options to turn on live captioning on your child's device to continue to gain access to their entertainment, school work, and further their learning. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are grateful for YOU!

 Here at the Center we want to share our gratitude for all of our families, partners, and staff. We hope you and your family enjoy your Thanksgiving break together. 

Check out this ASL Thanksgiving Vocabulary Video below:

Hearing Screenings and our Mobile Audiological Unit

 

It is that time of year when schools begin their hearing screenings of their students. 

If you are a Teacher for the Deaf (TOD), it is very important that you are a part of that follow-up. It is important to be a part of this process to be sure that families know what steps to take if their child is referred for additional screening/tests. 

Here at the Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education you can connect with our team of Audiologists to have a hearing screening done for you child, for FREE!  To schedule an appointment or to learn more please contact them at: 317-232-7349. If you have a family that is too far from our location here in Indianapolis, you an work to schedule the mobile unit to come to your school district to help check on multiple students.

Click the video below to take a tour of our outfitted RV!

When you reserve the Mobile Unit to your school district, our Center staff will bring their expertise to you! School staff and community partners may join alongside to help address the needs of children who are deaf and hard of hearing, or have indicated that they needed to be screened additionally from your latest hearing screenings. Having the mobile unit and staff visit will address areas such as specialized early intervention services, educational audiology, classroom strategies, communication needs and technology. 

Our mobile unit is outfitted with a professional sound booth, audiology equipment for hearing testing, and troubleshooting hearing technology. It is also equipped with a consultation area to discuss options and opportunities with our professional and certified staff. 

While our Center will assist with the immediate needs the day of our visit, we will be equally focused on connecting children, families, and professionals to resources within your community for long-term support. 

The Mobile Unit

To schedule and learn more on how this would work in your community, please contact the Center: