Using Technology to Serve Children Who are Deaf

Listen and Talk is deeply committed to family centered services. Our Early Intervention providers coach families to help them understand the process of helping their child develop listening and spoken language skills in a natural, playful way. Through supported practice, a family learns to help their child respond to and interpret sounds, building a foundation upon which spoken language and learning will grow. 

When we initiated a telehealth model of service delivery (Virtual Home Visits or VHV), we were intent on making sure that parents received the coaching and support that would help their family be successful. With the results of the study described in our previous report and interviews with families, we are learning that parents CAN get their needs met through a telehealth model of service delivery.  Now some of our families are asking we provide services solely through VHV!

We had the opportunity to interview some of these parents in an effort to better understand the reasons for their preference. Here are some highlights:

Question: 
Do you feel your needs are being met better with in-home visits or virtual home visits?

Parent 1 Answer:

"I do better with VHV because it forces me to practice on my own —rather than rely on the therapist to run the session... I find I have more confidence doing the whole session myself after a virtual visit."

Parent 2 Answer:

"VHV is either the same or better... Before, when I had in-home services, I would sit back and watch the therapist... Now, sessions are tailored to how I would perform as opposed to how any given therapist would do it... I guess that could be perceived as better or worse—depending on how I am doing with it!" 

Thanks to donors like you, we are developing evidence-based methods for meeting the complex needs of families no matter where they live! Thank you for your support!

New research supports the viability of Virtual Home Visiting (VHV) for serving the needs of families and children who are deaf or hard of hearing and learning to listen and talk.

As noted in our last report, Listen and Talk participated in a national multicenter study to evaluate the outcomes and cost-effectiveness of providing services through VHV compared with in-home services. Factors which were evaluated included the development of listening and language skills, the quality of the parent-child interaction, and the development of the parents’ confidence in supporting their child’s needs. The powerful overall findings showed that on average, VHV sessions resulted in as beneficial or better outcomes when compared with the outcomes achieved through traditional visits.

Notably:

• Families and children receiving services via VHV had better language outcomes and auditory skills than children who received services through traditional in-person visits.
• Families receiving services via VHV were more engaged in the sessions than those families in the in-person sessions.

According to self-report measures:

• Families receiving VHV services felt equally supported, knowledgeable, and confident in fostering their child’s development as families who received traditional in-home services.

Thanks again for your loyal support! You are helping us reach more families with high quality early intervention services than ever before. 

Please enjoy this new video that demonstrates the impact of our work over the past 20 years: https://vimeo.com/110957761