The Pieces to a Puzzle

It has been a real treat to sit in and listen to the sessions that our team has been leading this week. The topics covered across the different rooms fit together like a puzzle and our team’s enthusiasm for sharing their knowledge has been lending a real energy to our program.

In Vietnam hospitals, technicians conduct pediatric hearing tests. ENT doctors interpret test results, manage the diagnosis, and counsel parents, while also being looked to for knowledge of and treatment of ear diseases. After being fit with hearing technology, the child and family are sent to a therapist to help the child develop his or her listening and speech skills.

Jacque has been working these past few days with the technicians on testing techniques for a variety of pediatric audiology measures such as ABR, VRA, Play Audiometry, and BOA. Her group has been discussing how to verify functional performance and learning about the connection between the language level of the child and how that influences programming for their hearing aids and cochlear implants. The highlight of everyone’s day, I expect, is when we bring in the babies and young children for the practicum. The participants take turns leading the testing procedure and Jacque does a great job creating a team learning environment.

Meanwhile, Lauri has leading the doctors on a range of topics from newborn hearing screening programs to the interpretation of audiology test results to cochlear implant mapping. She developed a book of case examples and testing protocols from the US that the group has been using this week as a basis for discussion.

In the building next door, Jim, Lea, and Judy are engaged with the therapists. A key priority for the week is to teach the therapists how to assess where a child is developmentally and then apply appropriate strategies to help the child progress to target goals with his or her parents’ support. We’ve been bringing in chidren and their parents to take part in demonstrations of a typical therapy session. At the conclusion of each session, the group talks about where the child is in each area of development and what the family should focus on until they meet again with the therapist.

This afternoon, Judy lectured to the doctors and technicians about listening and spoken language development in children with hearing loss while Lauri and Jacque teamed up to speak with the therapists about audiology. The purpose of such cross-over lecturing is to help broaden the participants’ perspective and understand the value of audiology and therapy teaming together to ensure the success of the children they serve.

Here are a few videos highlighting the action from the past few days — all are under 2.5 minutes:

> Family uses soap bubbles as a learning experience for their young son: http://youtu.be/WtKwZ2mtlck

> Judy shares a light moment with the Vietnamese about the sound of a dog’s bark: http://youtu.be/lVdZs5C2dgs
> Lauri explains an ABR test results to the doctors: http://youtu.be/RUB1WHmAy74