Preparing for life at school

Just as positive encouragement, support and the cultivation of independence is important at home, it also plays a role in your child’s school and extracurricular activities.

• Meet with the school’s administrators and your child’s teachers to identify your child’s specific needs. Discuss the use of an FM system for the classroom if this has been recommended by your child’s hearing healthcare professional.
• Ask if the school has educational assistants, an educational hearing healthcare professional or a speech pathologist to assist your child in and outside of the classroom.
• Have your child meet with his/her teacher before school begins to establish a mutual comfort level.
• Work with your child’s teacher to create a classroom that will offer an ideal listening environment for your child, including an appropriate seating plan, background noise reduction tips and natural light for speech reading.
• Encourage your child’s teacher to incorporate a segment on hearing into the classroom learning. This can include some discussion of hearing loss - even a show and tell by your child about his/her hearing aids.
• Show your child’s teacher how the hearing aids work including replacing batteries.