7 years – Use of Hearing Aid
Joe had a mild hearing disability. He had recently gotten hearing aids to be used at school. The problem was that Joe kept removing the hearing aids from his ears during the school day. The problem was serious, because in order to get used to wearing hearing aids you need to use them and when without them, Joe could not hear what the teacher was speaking with the result, that he became restless and began to disturb others in the class.
Joe explained, that he couldn’t help it. The hearing aids disturbed him and he didn’t even notice himself removing them. It just happens automatically, he explained. Joe’s audiologist decided to try to use Kids’ Skills with Joe.
Skill, benefits and name
The audiologist started the conversation with Joe and his parents by asking about Joe’s skills, abilities and hobbies. Joe was a skillful soccer player and quite an expert on matters pertaining to soccer. He could, for example, name all the players the FC Barcelona team by heart. When the audiologist asked Joe what skill he wanted to learn, he said he wanted to learn to keep his hearing aids on all day. He was well aware of this being an important skill for him. He knew he would understand better what the teacher says, his parents wouldn’t need to worry about him, he would get better marks at school, and he wouldn’t have to sit in the front row all the time. He wanted to call his skill ”Messi” after one of the word famous soccer players.
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Supporters and power creature
As his supporters he wanted his parents, his PA teacher and one of his classmates. As his power creature he wanted Superman, who is capable of super hearing, with the help of which he can hear the people’s cries of help from vast distance.
Celebration
The audiologist suggested, that a certificate would be made to Joelle, which would be passed to him, when he has learned his sill. Joe didn’t like the idea of the certificate and suggested instead that for learning his skill, he would be given a trophy, similar to the one that is given to the winner team of word soccer tournament. Joe’s parents liked his suggestion and promised to make him one from paper mass. Quite some time was spent on discussing various details of the future celebration.
Reminding
Joe’s parents make him a cap with the image of Superman on it. Joe was delighted with his new cap and wanted to wear in school in order to remember to keep his earpieces on place. He agreed to allow his classmates and his teacher to remind him, if he would forget his skill and begin to remove the earpieces from his ears. He wanted them to do it as discretely as possible, by whispering the name “Messi”, the name of his skill. In addition, he came up with the idea of wearing at school a rubber bracelet on which the word “Messi” would be written.
Practice
Joe’s parents came up with a game with which he could practice his skill. Joe was given a notebook for keeping a log of the times, when he was wearing his hearing aids. The idea was that whenever Joe succeeded in setting a new record of the time he kept them continuously on, his parents would praise him.
Follow-up
In the next session Joe told the audiologist, that when he had gone to school with his new cap on his head, many of his classmates had approached him and asked him what sort of a cap it was. When he tried to explain to them what it was all about, they began asking him all sorts of questions related to his hearing disability and his hearing aids. He had not been able to answer most of their questions, so his parents suggested, that he might give a talk for his class about his disability and the hearing aids. Joe accepted the suggestion. They wondered if the audiologist could join him to support him and then she too agreed.
The talk was successful beyond all expectations. His classmates listened to him attentively, volunteered to help him hear better, and regarded him as an expert. Joe was radiating with pride, particularly when he was explaining his teacher things that the teacher didn’t know before and when all his classmates took turns to try the test hearing aid the audiologist had brought along.
After the event it didn’t take long for Joe to learn his “Messi skill” and the earlier planned celebration could take place. In the party Joe thanked his supporters by giving each of them a medal made of paper mass, that he hang around their necks.
This article is owned by: Kids’Skills http://www.kidsskillsapp.com/
