Texas Hearing Institute – Fort Bend County

Quality hearing and speech care start with an in-depth assessment. Upon enrolling in speech therapy, children receive a comprehensive evaluation that documents their current performance levels in audition, language, speech, vocabulary, early literacy, and general development. The evaluation also includes recommendations outlining what is necessary for them to 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, 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:

• Focuses 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 through 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 as other students in their class who are not deaf or hard of hearing.