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Show U "A . . I 1 r ' ! s, . '" i A.:- JL-;. '- - i . it A r '.. . . j t: I - v I :r. ' ' ! v. ,f '1 Vv i ' E . ; , v. . . x , ' ' v ' - ' ' : k ; ..... .. . .... . . ' 1. Mrs. Sharon Key and children Kelli and Larry, Jr. Mrs. Key has been trained as a parent-advisor, due to Moab's extreme distance from other trained personnel, and is now helping others than her own children. Mrs. Judy Shewell and son Adam, are now involved in the Skl-Hi Hearing program, developed and operated from the Utah School for the Deaf at Ogden. Adam lost his hearing during a bout with meningitis four months ago. "SkiW a Big Assist to Kids Whose Hearing is Impaired Larry and Sharon Key have three lovely, lively children in their home, Lesly, Kelli and Larry, Jr. Their home is about as normal as any other home in the neighborhood. Their children chil-dren laugh and play and tease the same as any other children do, even though two of them have hearing problems. Kelli, the middle child but the oldest of the hearing impaired children, attends Helen M. Knight School. She is in the third grade and enjoys school very much. The Keys became aware of Kelli's hearing problem when she was nine months old. She has been receiving special tutoring and speech help since that time and now she is able to attend a regular school with normal hearing children. Three years ago Larry, Jr. was born into the Key family. Sharon and Larry, Sr. had his hearing tested when he was still an infant. At that time they were told that he too had a hearing problem. The challenge for the Key family was to help Larry, Jr. as Kelli had been helped. They wanted him to remain at home and be a healthy, secure little boy. Special Assistance A federally funded program called "Ski-Hi" (Statewide Program for Hearing Impaired Infants) sent Miss Rosalie (Skip) Keese to the Key home. Ski-Hi operates statewide, with the central offices at Utah School for the Deaf in Ogden. There are 14 parent advisors on the Ski-Hi team who go into over 50 homes throughout the state. Miss Reese is the Parent Advisor Supervisor and goes each week with a different parent advisor plus having her own case load in the Ogden area. Visits to Moab were too far away to make the regular weekly visits to the Key home possible. There was a need to train someone in the Moab area to become a parent-advisor. Ski-Hi provides day children with loaner hearing aids. The parents are taught what the hearing aid will do, what it won't do and how it should be handled. "If the parents are not properly instructed, the child does not get proper use from the air," Miss Reese said. Teaching Program After the child is wearing t '-; r j " ,' ,' ' ! ' " i ' ; ! i '...'4. ! . r" - - ... -:; I . t" ' ' " his aid all of his waking hours, the parent advisor begins an auditory teaching program with the family. The object is to first make the child aware of sound, then learn to tell where the sound is coming from. Next he is trained to distinguish different sounds (TV, doorbell, Mom's voice. Dad's voice, etc.) When the child can do this he is ready to begin to understand language. Each member of Larry's family has a special interest in him. Everyone helps to create an auditory experience for him. Everything that interests him becomes a language learning experience under Ski-Hi training. Family involvement in-volvement has a major involvement involve-ment in the program. "It's important to start the training when they are young,' Miss Reese explained. "Studies "Stu-dies show that a child will develop language naturally somewhere between the ages of 4 and 5. But by the time they are that old, if they haven't heard language spoken spok-en by others they will develop their own. Some deaf children communicate with grunts or gestures. This is why it is so important to give deaf children language training while they are small." Well on His Way Larry is well on his way in learning to communicate. His receptive language has developed devel-oped to the point where he can understand simple commands or statements such as, when Mother asks, "where are your shoes, Larry?" Larry can find his shoes, or when Daddy says "Put the dog outside," out goes the dog! But Larry is a very lucky little boy to have parents who love him and are teaching him and giving him every opportunity oppor-tunity to develop communicative communica-tive skills. Sharon Key, his mother, has been trained by Ski-Hi personnel to be a Parent Advisor. Larry not only has a mother to help, he also has his own private teacher. Another home where Sharon now visits each week is the Melvin Shewell residence. Unlike the Keys, Mr. and Mrs. Shewell's little two and a half year old Adam was born with normal hearing. He lost his hearing four months ago when he had meningitis. Adam is the third and the youngest of the Shewell family. Helps Entire Family Ski-Hi is helping the entire family, Mom, Dad, Brian and Julie to be aware of Adam's special communication needs. "Sometimes we forget to talk to him as much as we should," Mrs. Shewell said, "but the program remins us how much more talking we must do because of his hearing difficulty." Adam is wearing two loaner hearing aids, furnished by Ski-Hi and is just beginning the auditory program. Although Al-though he is two and a half years old he has only had his hearing aids for two months so his hearing age is two months. "It is at this point we areA working to develop his listen- D ing skills," reported Mrs. Key who is the Parent Advisor. " "All the family will beu involved in working with'! Adam," she continued, "even ' my little boy, Larry." -; "I can't say enough good" about Ski-Hi," said Mrs. Shewell, "we are grateful for it and the help we have already5 received for Adam." - While the program was originally funded through a" federal grant, it has since been' : taken over by state financing and works in conjunction withi the Utah School for the Deaf" program serving children from i birth to five years of age. J J Can your baby hear? If yon have any questions or con-, concerns about your child'si hearing, please contact Sld-R Program. 846 20th St., Ogden,: Utah. 399-2"02 or Mrs. Larry"' (Sharon) Key, 393 Wingate, Moab. Ut. 259-6449. i i lUipiHUllll Jll jm M JUL 1 |