Our Referral to Memphis Oral School for the Deaf

On July 29th, after finding out that our child was deaf, Dr. Paul Shea from the Shea Clinic referred us to the Memphis Oral School for the Deaf. Wow! What an amazing place. You can read more information about it on their website http://www.mosdkids.org/ . On the same day that we found out our child’s diagnosis, we toured the school. We definitely were emotionally drained and upset over what we found out, but we knew we wanted to move forward and start working on what we could do to help her and not dwell on the news that we received. Immediately, Ryan and I were impressed with their commitment to work with children with hearing loss. Every minute at this school is designed to promote oral language development and have the kids ready for kindergarten so they are completely mainstreamed into the regular education classroom. The director, Teresa Schwartz sat down with Ryan and me and discussed the different programs and services that they offer. One program that we were very interested in is called “Sound Beginnings”. Their website explains this program as an early intervention program designed for families with infants or children (birth - 3 years) who have been newly diagnosed as having a hearing loss. A trained parent advisor conducts weekly center-based sessions with families. Parents and family members learn through demonstrations, hands-on participation, and printed materials how they can promote better listening and speech communication skills in their children. This is accomplished within a context of routine daily activities and simple games which can be played in the home. This leads to a better quality of social interaction within the family, and provides the educational foundation which will continue as the child moves on to a more formal classroom environment.

After meeting with Nathalie Johnson about the program we decided to do extended sessions so we did not have to travel to Memphis weekly. Our blog will explain some of the things we have learned from our sessions at the Memphis Oral School for the Deaf.