It felt a bit like visiting the home of good friends when we arrived at Children’s Hospital 1 today for the start of our latest Mobile Mission program. The room was filled with familiar faces of the therapists and audiology technicians who have been enrolled in our program for the past 3 years and have been working diligently to apply the lessons from our curricula into their daily work. The ENT doctors filed into the room in their white coats with big smiles, eager to hear from our team of professionals.
Jane Madell started things off with a group lecture about language and the auditory brain. She stressed that good auditory access by way of hearing aids or cochlear implants is directly tied to performance in speech perception and vocabulary development. The therapists then gathered with Erin Thompson and Sherri Vernelson to review the Global Foundation curriculum and discuss strategies and goals related to speech development. That was followed by a planning session to prepare the therapists for live therapy sessions with children starting tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the audiology technicians and ENT doctors listened to Jane Madell and Myriam de la Asuncion lecture about cochlear implant technology and pediatric testing protocols. Tomorrow, we start bringing children into the booth for practicum in behavioral testing and evaluation. Myriam will coach the participants on mapping strategies for children with cochlear implants. Jay Rubinstein will lecture to the ENT doctors on cochlear implant surgical procedures with live surgery scheduled later in the week. Let’s get this started!
