Additional Services
The Sound Start Babies Program is responsive to the needs of its families and may provide specific services to meet individual concerns and priorities. A few are described below. If you have a particular need that has not been addressed on our site, please contact us.
Audiological Support
The Sound Start Babies Program’s pediatric audiologist is committed to ensuring that your child is hearing optimally to promote the development of language and speech. The audiologist works closely with you, your primary audiologist, and the Sound Start Babies Team to be sure your child’s hearing technology is providing the best possible access to auditory information. Working in collaboration with your child’s primary audiologist and/or dispensing audiologist, our pediatric audiologist is vigilant in monitoring any changes in hearing sensitivity that could impact learning.
The Sound Start Babies Program audiologist welcomes the opportunity to meet with you should you or extended family members have questions about your child’s hearing loss or hearing technology. A specific service called “family training” can be a part of your child’s Individual Family Service Plan so you can meet regularly with our audiologist to better understand your child’s hearing status and what you can do at home to optimize the listening environment. Our audiologist is also available to offer guidance in managing specific needs, such as navigating the cochlear implant process, or help if your child has unique challenges in obtaining hearing technology.
At Sound Start Babies Nursery, our audiologist works with classroom teachers and paraprofessionals to make sure the listening environment meets your child’s needs and that hearing technology is in good working order. Each nursery classroom is equipped with a soundfield FM system and pass around microphones that the teachers and students use during small group activities, allowing the children to hear, learn and grow. If your child spends time in a daycare setting, our audiologist is available to provide information about your child’s hearing loss to the program staff as well as make suggestions about optimizing the listening environment.
Turning Three
As your child approaches this exciting milestone, Sound Start Babies Program’s expertise and resources are available to guide and support you through the transition to preschool. We provide your family with helpful tools to use when evaluating preschool options as well as effective research-based resources to use when advocating for services and accommodations. Opportunities for you to meet families who have already navigated transition are available. As the process unfolds, the Sound Start Babies team is available to answer your questions and respond to your concerns.
At any point during the transition process, you can request that a member of the Sound Start Babies team join you when meeting with your school district, thanks to a generous grant from the Sound Start Foundation. Our team partners with you to advance the district’s understanding of your child’s hearing loss and the impact it has on their auditory access to the preschool learning environments. Personalized team recommendations, that address ways to promote language and communication access, are additionally offered.
At Sound Start Babies we want families to know they are never alone in this process; our goal is that your child’s transition is smooth and successful.
Supplemental Support
The Sound Start Babies Program is available to provide consultation services for school districts who are conducting evaluations and preparing an Individual Education Plan for children aging out of early intervention. The consultation provides best practice recommendations for the transitioning child with hearing loss. Sound Start Babies Program staff make a site visit to evaluate the educational setting, perform an acoustic analysis and then discuss beneficial accommodations for the district to have in place before your child begins school.
