Using Technology to Serve Children Who are Deaf

Dear GlobalGiving Community, 

During a period of rapid expansion, your support helped Listen and Talk launch an efficient new model of virtual service delivery.

Virtual visits are expanding the number of families we can serve. Since we began fundraising for VHV equipment via GlobalGiving last December, we have made significant progress in establishing the foundation upon which to provide and grow this service delivery model. We have observed a number of significant advantages when providing services through VHV:

1.  Greater efficiency - Providers can schedule families without having to factor in traffic and distance. 

2.  Greater opportunity to include extended family - VHV scheduling is more flexible as the provider does not need to factor in time for travel. Thus, appointments can be completed at hours outside the typical work day, facilitating more opportunities for other members of the family to participate.

3.  Improved participation of parent - During our early work with VHV, providers observed that parents often become more engaged with their child in the sessions done through VHV than when services are provided in-person. Instead of relying on the provider to interact with the child, the parent has more opportunity to practice their own skill development.

4. Improved coaching skills of providers -  We have observed that providers tend to apply more creative and focused ways of coaching families about how to integrate listening and spoken language into their child's life compared to when they provide services in-person. VHV removes the opportunity to directly work with the child and instead encourages the provider to discover ways to convey the critical information to the parent so they can strengthen their skills and abilities to be their child's first and best teacher.

5. Facilitates use of interpreters for English Language Learner families -  Two employees at Listen and Talk serve as interpreters for Spanish speaking families. Our interpreters utilize VHV equipment from their office to connect with families in their home. This serves as an efficient and unobtrusive way to provide effective interpretation.

We anticipate that utilization of this model will continue to be a growing aspect of our Early Intervention work. Because of YOU, Listen and Talk is able to help more children with hearing loss communicate and learn through listening and spoken language. 10% of our families are already receiving some services via VHV. The more equipment we are able to secure through the generosity of our donors, the more children we can help on the path to reaching their full potential. 

With gratitude,

Listen and Talk