Mice Provide Insight into Degenerative Hearing Loss
March 25, 2010 at 4:45 PM | Posted in Hearing | 3 CommentsTags: heairng loss, online speech therapy, speech therapy
An article published on The Science Blog on About.com reports that deafness is the most common disorder of the senses. Degenerative Hearing loss is when a child slowly loses their hearing over time. This loss starts out mild and progresses to complete deafness. Scientists know little about how this type of loss occurs which limits the possibility of prevention. Scientists do know what genes are involved in hearing and that these can be passed from the mother or father down to the children but because hearing is such a complex sense that it is has been hard to pinpoint the specifics.
Dr. John Oghalia and postdoctoral fellow Anpign Xia have created mice that have a mutation on one gene (alpha tectorin) which is known to be involved in this progressive childhood deafness. This mice with this mutated gene develop the same hearing problems that children do. Thanks to this information, they are now able to obtain more details about what is going wrong in the ears of these mice. They have already learned that the inner ear may be compensating for the middle and outer ear’s processing difficulties which is causing it ongoing damage to the inner ear which leads to eventual profound deafness. They are hoping that they are able to learn how to slow or stop the hearing loss to help not only children but elderly people as well.
You can read the entire study here: http://dmm.biologists.org/
Until we are able to slow down or stop hearing loss there are many things that can be done to help these children (and adults) lead full, exciting lives. There are medical interventions such as a cochlear implants that helps people regain their hearing and works well for those deemed appropriate for this treatment option. Speech therapy helps those with a Cochlear Implant learn to use their new hearing effectively.
Speech therapy can help children learn to effectively use hearing aids so they are receiving the maximum benefit possible from these devices. They are also able to help with classroom modifications. These are simple things that can be done to help the child hear in this often noisy environment.
Children with hearing loss may also have speech (articulation) and/or language delays as a result of their hearing loss. These children benefit from speech therapy designed to help them acquire the skills they have missed or are struggling with.
If you have concerns about your child’s hearing or if your child has a hearing loss and you are concerned about their speech and/or language skills, please contact a speech pathologist in your area or one of our speech pathologists at 877-480-7913 or through our website by clicking on the link below.
Online Speech Therapy provided by Independent Speech ~ www.independentspeech.com
An Interview
March 23, 2010 at 6:09 AM | Posted in Interesting Information | Leave a commentTags: interview with Stephanie Barry, speech therapy
Our Founder Stephanie Barry was recently featured in a series called “Lessons From The Field” which is a series of posts featuring passionate, inspiring educators from across the country discussing some of the lessons that they have learned over the years that would help young teachers as they embark on their careers.
This series can be found on the Certification Map website which has information about becoming a teacher including sections about why you should get certified, how to become a teacher, teacher salary, various FAQs and a blog about education and related information.
To read this interview, please click here
Online Speech Therapy by Independent Speech ~ www.independentspeech.com
World Down Syndrome Day
March 21, 2010 at 5:42 AM | Posted in Interesting Information | Leave a commentTags: down syndrome, online speech therapy, speech therapy
March 21st has been earmarked as World Down Syndrome Day. The hops is to increase awareness of Down Syndrome. You can visit the World Down Syndrome Day website to learn more about the specifics of this day. Education is an important tool to increase awareness…so, what is Down Syndrome?
According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: Down Syndrome is as set of mental and physical symptoms that are the result of having three copies of Chromosome 21 rather than the standard two Chromosomes. This extra copy changes the brain’s and body’s development.
Those who have been diagnosed with Down Syndrome experience mental retardation, delayed language development and slow motor development. In addition, there are many physical symptoms which include:
- Flat face with an upward slant to the eye, short neck, and abnormally shaped ears
- Deep crease in the palm of the hand
- White spots on the iris of the eye
- Poor muscle tone, loose ligaments
- Small hands and feet
Those who have been diagnosed with Down Syndrome may experience other health conditions such as:
- Congenital heart disease
- Hearing problems
- Intestinal problems, such as blocked small bowel or esophagus
- Celiac disease
- Eye problems, such as cataracts
- Thyroid dysfunctions
- Skeletal problems
- Dementia—similar to Alzheimer’s
Those who have been diagnosed with Down Syndrome can benefit from special education services to help them succeed in academics. They can benefit from speech therapy to address the language delay by helping them learn to use language to help them in both academic situations and personal communications. They may benefit form occupational and physical therapy to help with their gross and fine motor development.
We have seen people with Down Syndrome on TV shows such as “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and “Life Goes On” and in the movies “Duo” and “Mr. Blue Sk”y as well as a video for Taco Bell Corp.
This day is wonderful for increasing awareness about Down Syndrome and the wonderful people who have been diagnoed with this chromosomal abnormality.
Online Speech Therapy provided by Independent Speech ~ www.independentspeech.com
You-Tube Closed Captioning
March 17, 2010 at 9:45 AM | Posted in Hearing | 1 CommentTags: closed captions, hearing impariment, hearing loss, you tube
You may have read our recent post entitled Closed Captioning on the Go about how one company is working to provide closed captioning services in public areas such as museums, sporting events, etc. in order to make these venues more accessible to those with a hearing loss. Well, You-Tube has now added a closed captioning feature to help those with a hearing loss access this popular site.
When a person uploads a video they can request auto-captioning where a voice-recognition program will post captions. These programs do some guessing as to what it thinks the people are saying so it might not come out 100% accurate. Thus video owners are able to correct the captions as needed. For videos that are already posted, you can go into your account and request the auto-captioning be completed. In addition, you can upload your own captions, click here to learn how to write your own captions.
If you want to watch videos that have captions you can do a custom search by select “search options” and then choose “closed captions” to find only those videos that have closed captions included.
Here are some links about this new feature:
- The Future Will Be Captioned: Improving Accessibility on YouTube (from YouTube Blog)
- YouTube Launches Auto-Captioning for Videos (from Mashable)
- Auto-Captioning for All YouTube Videos (from Free Technology for Teachers)
This is another wonderful example of how things can easily be adapted to make them more accessible to people who experience disabilities. I congratulate You-Tube on this update and commend them for working to make their site more accessible!
Online Speech Therapy Provided by Independent Speech ~ www.independentspeech.com
A New Kind of Service Animal
March 16, 2010 at 5:30 AM | Posted in Interesting Information | 2 CommentsTags: autism dogs, peanut dectector dogs, service animal
There are many types of services animals that help those with a disability live safer and more enriched lives. These dogs are not only service animals but companions as well. We have all heard of seeing-eye dogs and hearing-ear dogs but I have recently learned about two new kinds of service animals; peanut detector dogs and autism dogs.
For example, Seeing-eye dogs help those who are blind know when it is safe to cross the street or how to maneuver through a store so the person does not bump into things and possibly get hurt. Hearing-ear dogs do the same for those who are deaf by alerting them to sounds around them such as a fire alarm, a baby crying, a knock at the door, etc. Of course, these dogs do much more than these things for their owners, this is just a sample!
You may be wondering (like I was) what a peanut detector dog does? Well, these dogs are trained to sniff out peanuts in a variety of ways. They can tell if there is peanut dust in the air, peanut residue on a table or peanut products in food. As the mother of a son who is severely allergic to peanuts, I found this intriguing. These dogs undergo training similar to a drug or bomb sniffing dog, they are just learning to sniff a different substance.
These dogs, like all other service animals, are well trained animals in all aspects of their behavior and make good companions in addition to being a service animal. There are many companies that train peanut sniffing dogs such as Peanut Detector Dogs.com. They train several types of dogs noting that Poodles are popular because they do not shed are are almost dander free and thus those that have allergies are more likely to tolerate these dogs as many are allergic to other things in addition to peanuts.
In learning more about peanut detector dogs, I also learned there are Autism dogs available through agencies such as 4 Paws for Ability who also provides other types of service animals. These animals are highly trained to help a child with Autism in their daily lives. They do things like; protecting children who are prone to wandering off, they are able to improve behavior and socialization skills through being a constant companion, children learn to care for the needs of another, they are able to expand their capabilities, allowing them to go places and experience things they might not have without the service animal, they bring comfort which allows the child to focus on other things such as learning, and can reduce stress for the entire family.
It is amazing what these dogs can be trained to do and how they can help, from alerting someone to a fire alarm so they are able to escape danger to being able to bring someone their medication when needed. These dogs and their trainers should be commended for their hard work and dedication to making the lives of the people they serve better and safer!
Online Speech Therapy provided by Independent Speech ~ www.independentspeech.com
Closed Captioning on the Go
March 15, 2010 at 6:53 AM | Posted in Hearing | Leave a commentTags: closed captioning, hearing impairment
Soon, those with a hearing loss will be better able to access public areas and events such as movie theaters, sporting events, museums, etc. This is thanks to Leanne West, the director of the Landmarc Research Center at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
This system uses standard wireless technology that is currently available at many public facilities. To access the captions, the venue’s transmitter would send a wireless signal to the individual’s smartphone, PDA or laptop. They are also working on glasses that would receive the transmissions similar to the glasses used to watch movies on portable systems such as the iPod.
To access the captioning the person would have to download a simple program (which is still being developed) to the device of their choice. They have also integrated options to help make this more user friendly such as being able to choose the background color, text color and size as well as language (English, Spanish, etc.). This technology has applications not only in public arenas but in academic ones as well. Those with a hearing loss can view captions of the lectures right at their desk without the need for other, more expensive equipment.
This is exciting new technology that could help make many public places and events more easily accessible to those with a hearing impairment. Keep a look out for this product to hit the market in the near future!
(This article was featured in the ASHA Leader)
Online Speech Therapy provided by Independent Speech ~ www.independentspeech.com
International Ask a Question Day
March 14, 2010 at 6:55 AM | Posted in Language | 2 CommentsTags: online speech therapy, questions, speech therapy
March 14th is International Ask a Question Day. The goal of this day is to help people understand the benefits of asking more questions and how to ask better questions.
There are 12 main reasons to ask questions, they include:
1) to gather information
2) to maintain relationships
3) to learn and to teach
4) to build awareness
5) to think clearly, critically and strategically
6) to solve problems and to make decisions
7) to challenge assumptions
8) to set and accomplish goals
9) to clarify and confirm in listening sitautions
10) to resolve conflicts
11) to engage in production conversations
12) to create and innovate new possibilities
To ask effective questions we need to practice our questioning skills. Here are a few ideas that can help you work on your questioning skills.
Look at the 12 reasons to ask questions and pick one to work on each day or each week. Then practicing asking questions in that category. Try asking these questions to different people in different situations. When you use these skills in different situations it helps you become more efficient, more adept at the skill in question. You can also try to ask yourself these questions to help you practice.
Keep a daily journal of things that happen in your life and the world around you. A good observer has many things to ask questions about as they are engaged and thinking critically about the world around them and things occurring in their daily lives. Writing down these observations may spark a question you can ask someone else or research for yourself.
Remember that questioning is the way we learn new things. We have all been around the three-year-old who constantly asks “why?” They are not trying to frustrate anyone they are merely trying to learn more about their environment and the actions of the people around them. This curiosity is a valuable tool that should be nurtured as it will help them throughout their educational career.
Some children struggle with asking questions both in how to formulate the question and asking appropriate questions. Children often ask questions that don’t give them the answer or information they were looking for which leaves them feeling frustrated. Children may ask questions that do not fit in with the current conversation they may ask questions in a manner which confuses the listener so they are unsure of what information the child is trying to obtain.
We should also look at the flip side of this and mention answering questions. Answering questions is also challenging to many children. They may not understand what information the asker is looking for thus they do not appropriately answer the question. They may answer the first part of the question but not second part, etc.
Speech therapy can help children learn how ask meaningful, appropriate questions that get them the information the want or need. a child who is skilled at asking questions is more likely to ask questions when they are confused or when they missed some information or to check to ensure they understood what had been said. Speech therapy also helps children learn how to listen to the question so they are able to effectively answer the posed question. This is a skill children need to succeed in school as children are graded on their ability to answer questions on written and oral examinations.
If you have concerns about your child’s ability to ask or answer questions effectively or appropriately please contact a local speech pathologist or one of our speech pathologists at 1-877-480-7913 or through our website by clicking on the link below:
Online Speech Therapy provided by Independent Speech ~ www.independentspeech.com
Deaf History Month
March 13, 2010 at 7:01 AM | Posted in Hearing | 1 CommentTags: ASL, deaf history, online speech therapy, sign language, speech therapy
This month actually runs from March 13th through April 15th. This month is meant to recognize the people in our communities who are deaf as well as to look back at the achievements made in Deaf culture.
There are three notable events (which is how the dates for this month were decided):
1) March 13, 1988 sess the first Deaf President of Gallaudet University (a university for the deaf and hard of hearing).
2) April 8, 1864 marks the founding of Gallaudet University when President Lincoln signs the charter to establish a college for the deaf.
3) April 15, 1817 marks the opening of first public school for the deaf, American School for the Deaf.
Deaf history month is also a month to look back on how speech therapy has helped a child learn and communicate. Speech therapy helps a child maximize their communication skills and teaches them the rules of English. This knowledge is necessary for success in school as it teaches a child how to understand what they read, learn new words, understand and use grammatical structures (past tense) and sentence forms (such as passive voice).
“Speech therapy is so important. It helps with reading, writing and just being a better communicator. Knowledge of the English language is so important for success in school. That’s what our job is, to provide that foundation.”
— Carla, Speech and Language Pathologist quoted on the Raising Deaf Kids website
You can help children understand what it is like to be deaf in many ways. For example, you can watch TV with the captions on to show how people who cannot hear may watch TV. You can put earplugs in to simulate a hearing loss and try to function throughout their day. You may have to write things down, or use gestures to communicate. Introduce sign language explaining what it is and why people use it.
Here are some basic facts about sign language:
1. Sign Language is an important part of the Deaf culture. It is a complete languages that uses signs made using the hands and other movements such as facial expressions and postures of the body.
2. Sign Language has its own grammatical structure that is different from any spoken and/or written language
3. The majority of Deaf people (about 90%) are born to hearing parents and thus they learn sign language through therapists, teachers and others who are deaf.
4. Only about 10% of Deaf children are born to Deaf parents and they learn sign language first from their parents.
5. Sign Language can be used to tell jokes, ask riddles, express sarcasm, tell lies, create idioms, make poetry, anything we can do with spoken languages.
6. Sign Language is like any language and takes time to learn to use it fluently. Many learn this as a second language such as those who teach children who are deaf or ork with deaf families.
There are many easy ways to incorporate sign language into various activities. First, you want to review the sign language alphabet.
*You can make matching cards in a variety of ways such as
1) matching the sign to the sign
2) matching the sign to the printed letter
3) matching the sign to a picture that begins with that letter
*Sort pictures into groups that start with a certain letter by placing all the pictures on the picture of the signed letter
*Make a bingo game using the signed letters as the pictures on the card, then call out the letter (using your voice). The children have to match the letter they heard to the picture of the signed letter.
*Practice singing the ABC song using both voice and sign for each letter.
Think of other creative ways to incorporate sign language into your activities or lessons. You are increasing awareness of deafness and understand of what it is and how it affects people everyday.
Online Speech Therapy provided by Independent Speech ~ www.independentspeech.com
What is ALS?
March 11, 2010 at 6:24 AM | Posted in Interesting Information | Leave a commentTags: ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, online speech therapy, speeh therapy
So you read the blog yesterday about Quilting for ALS and are wondering what ALS is exactly. Well, ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord resulting in muscle weakness and atrophy. Symptoms can include:
- muscle weakness in the hands, arms, legs or the muscles needed for speech, swallowing or breathing
- twitching and cramping of muscles, especially noted in the hands and feet
- impairment of the use of the arms and legs
- “thick speech” and difficulty in projecting the voice
- in more advanced stages, shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing and swallowing
This is a very individualized disease. The initial symptoms, progression and sequence of symptoms can vary greatly from person to person.
taken from ladiesdotdotdot.wordpress.com
Lou Gehrig brought attention to this disease in 1939. It is often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This is a disease that generally affects people between the ages of 40 and 70 though it can strike people who are in their 20′s and 30′s. It is estimated that 30,000 people living in the US have been diagnosed with ALS.
It was reported that more research has been completed in the last 10 years than in all the years since its discovery in 1939. This research is intended to find out the cause and treatments for ALS to help prolong the lives of those affected or cure the disease entirely. Information taken from the ALS association website.
Speech therapy can be very beneficial to those diagnosed with ALS and their families. Speech therapy will work on strategies to help maintain functional speech and implementing an AAC device (augmetative and alternative communication) when their speech becomes more and more difficult to understand. This ensures they have an effective way to communicate their wants, needs and feelings. Speech therapy will help caregivers learn how to compensate for muscle fatigue when eating and when to change the texture of food and liquids to ensure proper nutrition and safety during meals.
The American Speech-Language and Hearing Association has this to say about speech therapy for those diagnosed with ALS:
“Speech therapy is a vital component of treatment for the ALS patient at all stages of the disease, as the inability to communicate with family, friends, nurses/doctors/therapists, and colleagues can lead to a sense of helplessness and eventual depression. In the beginning stages of the disease, the learning of compensatory strategies for slurred speech can make day-to-day communication less frustrating for both the patient and communication partners. As the disease progresses, learning to use augmentative and alternative communication aids allows the individual to express basic needs and ideas, as well as participate in conversation, write, and even continue work.”
To learn more about how speech therapy can help please contact a local speech pathologist.
Online Speech Therapy provided by Independent Speech ~ www.independentspeech.com
Quilting for ALS
March 10, 2010 at 6:09 AM | Posted in Interesting Information | Leave a commentTags: ALS, quilt
Kathy Thompson of Virginia Beach, Virginia is helping her daughter-in-law take care of her 35-year-old son who has been diagnosed with ALS. She has launched a fund-raising campaign to help increase awareness of ALS. Her program is called “Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS” contest. Proceeds will go to help fun research and the quilts will brighten the lives of those suffering from ALS.
People are able to submit quilts until July 30, 2010. These quilts will be sold though an online raffle/auction beginning in August. The quilts that are not offered for sale online will either be given to people with ALS or featured on a traveling tour.
“There are going to be many beautiful quilts,” Thompson said. “Quilters of all abilities are eligible to participate. Some quilts may be more beautiful than others, but every quilt will be made with love and care for an ALS patient. We are asking the quilter to attach a note of introduction and well wishes with the quilt,” she said. “The quilt and note will reassure people with ALS that they are not forgotten and that there are people out there thinking of them. This will raise their hopes that awareness is being raised and warm their hearts and laps by receiving this special homemade gift.”
They are offering prizes that include things like quilting DVDs. gift certificates, magazine subscriptions, and sewing machings. In addition, there are cash prizes for the best themed quilt, and to the person and group who submits the most quilts.
Quilts should be sent to:
“Hopes and Dreams,” c/o Quilters Dream Batting,
589 Central Drive,
Virginia Beach. VA 23454
Be sure to include the entry fom which can be downloaded here (it is in PDF form) or printed off the website here,
For more information included rules, prizes and other general information please visit their website “Hopes and Dreams Challenge for ALS”
Online Speech Therapy provided by Independent Speech ~ www.independentspeech.com
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