Earliest Intervention

Kidlfyx Kreations advocates the earliest intervention possible in regards to communication disorders. A hearing loss can be detected at birth and intervention should be swift and concise. Most states provide newborn hearing screenings before a baby is discharged from the hospital. If you are unaware of your baby’s test results, call the hospital he/she was born in to find out. An audiologist can check your baby’s hearing at any age.

AUDITORY BEHAVIOR CHECKLIST
Following is a checklist of auditory behaviors that a child with normal hearing should display (Hayes & Northern, 1996). Normal hearing sensitivity is 0 to 15 dB HL for children.

Birth to 3 months
If sleeping quietly, infant awakens to sudden noises; cries to sudden, very loud sounds; startles or jumps to sudden, loud sounds; is soothed by mother’s voice; gurgles, coos, and laughs.

3 to 6 months
Turns eyes and head to search for the location of sound, responds to mother’s voice, makes a large variety of babbling sounds and imitates “oohs and ba-bas,” changes voice pitch, enjoys rattles and other sound-making toys, appears “connected” to the environment (i.e., seems aware of surroundings and notices people and events).

6 to 10 months
Turns to and attempts to find sounds outside of visual field; responds to own name, telephone ringing and someone’s voice, even when not loud; understands “no,” “bye-bye,” and other common words; and makes sounds with rising and falling inflections and listen to music or singing.

10 to 15 months
Turns to find a sound behind him or her, demonstrating the ability to respond to sounds at a significant distance (distance hearing); imitates simple sounds and words; produces a large variety of different sounds including vowels and consonants; jabbers in response to human voice; can point to or look at familiar objects or people when asked to do so; shows evidence of being able to acquire information passively (i.e., the child can learn from events that are not directed actively to him or her).

15 to 18 months
Can hear and respond when called from another room; voice sounds normal; first words are well on their way; can follow simple spoken directions without visual (pointing or eye gaze) or tactile cues; identifies people, body parts, and toys on request; gestures with speech appropriately; bounces in rhythm with music; repeats some words that you say.


VERBAL BEHAVIOR CHECKLIST
Following is a checklist of verbal behaviors that a child with normal hearing should display (Apel & Materson, 2001).

Birth to 3 months
Makes pleasure sounds (cooing, gooing); cries differently for different needs; smiles when sees you.

4 to 6 months
Babbling sounds more speech-like with many different sounds, including p, b, and m; vocalizes excitement and displeasure; makes gurgling sounds when left alone and when playing with you.

7 to 12 months
Babbling has both long and short groups of sounds such as “tata upup bibibibi”; uses speech or non-crying sounds to get and keep attention; imitates different speech sounds; has 1 or 2 words (bye-bye, dada, mama) although they may not be clear.

12 to 24 months
Says more words every month; uses some 1-2 words (“where’s kitty?” “go bye-bye?” “what’s that?”); puts two words together (“more cookie,” “no juice,” “mommy book”); uses many different consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

24 to 36 months
Has a word for almost everything; uses 2-3 words to talk about and ask for things; speech is understood by familiar listeners most of the time; often asks for or directs attention to objects by naming them.




Hayes & Northern, 1996