Children with Hearing Ability

Advice from My Children's Pediatrician

When I had my CODA daughter in 2014, I was lucky to meet an amazing pediatrician who respected me as a Deaf mother. She asked me how I can support my child who has hearing ability. She asked if I had anyone in the house who could speak. I told her I don't and we will be using sign language which is a language. She agreed! (Many doctors don't agree in bi/multilingual) The advice she gave me was to turn the volume on the television and use music when I get the opportunity. As much exposure as possible so the child can develop both American Sign Language and English. As a Deaf person, I didn't think about those yet. My second came and I continued to give exposure. My kids didn't show any delay as I thought they might from many CODA stories. Please do keep an eye out for any kind of delay, the early support you give is the best. It is important to continue to support our CODA for the success as bi/multilingual. 

I will be sharing favorites from my CODA children. 

Those are songs, education, and more that I want to share for young CODAs or hard-of-hearing children. Check their channels or search engines for more videos. Some of those are television series. Your child might enjoy this as much as my children did. The Wiggles and CoComelon do have some sign language. The Wiggles is made in Australia and their sign language is British Sign Language (love the dialogue about different sign languages with my children).

With the songs, I strongly recommend participating with your child and using sign language. So the child can pick on both languages and have fun. That will also boost their language acquisition.