Read the full transcript here



On this episode of the All About Audiology Podcast, Dr. Saperstein welcomes guests Justin Osmand and Valerie James Abbott to discuss their experiences surrounding late-onset/identified hearing loss. 



Valerie James Abbott, author of the book Padapillo, shares the story of her youngest daughter, Bridget. Bridget passed her newborn hearing screen but as the years went on, was diagnosed with late-onset hearing loss. 



Justin Osmand, of the Hearing Fund Foundation shares his story of late-identification at age 2 as hard-of-hearing, and how his family approached his education.



This week on the All About Audiology podcast:  



* 2:30 – Bridget’s preschool teacher told Valerie that something seemed to be up with Bridget’s speech. Many times it’s teachers or people from outside the home who have a frame of reference of other kids to point out a child who is struggling. 



* 8:00 –  It’s very common for HoH and Deaf children to be visually aware of their surroundings. Older siblings may play an important role in visually modeling how to behave or complete tasks.



* 10:00 – Support from family, audiologists, hearing specialists, speech language pathologists, mentors and teachers, can help a Deaf or HoH child succeed. 



* 13:00 – When a parent learns about their child’s diagnosis, parents have a choice of how to react to such news, and it is important to offset such news with as much positivity as possible. 



* 16:00 – Ensuring that family members are part of the hearing loss journey and having representation of such a journey in one’s family are ways to make sure that the affected individual will feel included as a valid member of the family unit.



* 20:00 – Justin was bullied and his older brother stood up for him. From this experience, Justin learned that we have to learn to accept ourselves for who we are, and not what we are.



* 24:00 – Different individuals will feel differently about semantics and terminology that may be used to describe their life story. It is important to not use certain terms lightly in order to not be offensive.



* 30:00 – There seems to be more audiologists attending workshops on holding space, and reading or writing articles about the importance of meeting the emotional needs of their patients.



For more resources and research visit:



All About Audiology Website 



All About Audiology Facebook group  



All About Audiology Instagram



And the Prodana pay-it-forward platform here: https://prodana.org/practioner/lilach-saperstein/audiology-counseling–dr–lilach-saperstein



(Guest Links)



Justin’s foundation: https://www.hearingfund.org/



Valerie’s website: https://www.valeriejamesabbott.com/