Services help overcome hearing loss
ZELIENOPLE — In-home services are available for children with developmental delays, including tots with impaired hearing or deafness.
Brooke Dorsch is an early intervention speech and language pathologist for Pediatric Therapy Professionals, based in New Castle.
PTP provides several types of therapy and support for children in 10 counties in Western Pennsylvania.
Dorsch works for PTP from her home in Zelienople, traveling to the homes of 13 clients per week.
Regarding hearing, Dorsch said all major hospitals test the capabilities of babies in the newborn nursery.
“Every baby in the hospital has a newborn hearing screening,” she said.
A tiny probe is placed in the newborn's ear and air and sound are carefully pumped inside. The audiologist gets a reading back and determines if the infant's hearing mechanisms are working properly, Dorsch said.
If the infant fails the test, the family is referred for further testing.
She said the technology has allowed for earlier identification of and intervention for childhood hearing loss or deafness.
“That's a big influx and a big question we in early intervention have is, 'Did your child pass the newborn (hearing) screening?'” Dorsch said.
She said area newborns with total deafness are usually referred to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, where an audiology team and an ear, nose and throat doctor specializing in pediatric hearing loss examine the child and consider interventions.
The choices given to parents are normally the surgical implant of a cochlear device, which performs the work of the inner ear's nonworking cochlea, or fitting the child for hearing aids.
Dorsch said the decision depends largely on the child's level of hearing loss because implanting a cochlear device destroys the cochlea.
“A child who may have hearing loss due to multiple ear infections or an accident or illness that has damaged their middle ear but not their cochlea, those are usually the kids they will give hearing aids to,” she said.
Children with total deafness are the ones considered for cochlear implant surgery, as their cochlear is not in working order and never will be.
Either hearing aids or cochlear implants are pursued when a child is 1 or 2 years old, depending on various circumstances.
Dorsch's work with a deaf or hearing-impaired child begins at about 1 year old, and in most cases she begins with the child's parents.
“We try to coach the parents to help their children the best way they can with this diagnosis they've been given,” she said. “It's all new to the parents, so there's a lot of education and coaching.”
She also begins therapeutical work with the child, who must be taught to identify the new sounds they hear as a result of their intervention.
“(Babies born with deafness) don't know what the sounds are,” Dorsch said. “You have to teach them that before you can teach them to talk and communicate.”
She then teaches the child that each sound they hear can be identified by a word or phrase. Dorsch often covers her mouth when communicating with a young client so that they can't use lip-reading to understand speech.
“They start coming up with visual strategies to aid them in what they're hearing,” Dorsch said. “We try to help them process the sound instead of lip-reading.”
While Dorsch helps many deaf children in her pursuit of early intervention, there is another school of thought on deafness.
She said deaf parents often eschew any intervention for their children and pursue American Sign Language only.
“They don't want hearing aids or cochlear implants (for their children) because they feel like that is impinging on their culture,” Dorsch said. “In early intervention, we try to provide both schools of thought to parents.”
If parents want only sign language, PTP will provide those services, Dorsch said.
More information on all the services provided by PTP is available at www.pedtp.com or by calling 724-656-8814.
