At Listening Together we believe that families are the experts on their children. And when empowered families can work in partnership with knowledgeable professionals they can change the child’s developmental trajectory.
All of our rehabilitation services for children focus on working with the child who is deaf and hard of hearing AND the parents or primary caregivers. We know that they are the primary facilitator and the advocate for their child. We empower families to work in partnership with professionals to achieve their desired outcomes for their child.
Our Services
Individual rehabilitation / intervention – Dr. Uma Soman works with families individually via tele-intervention. In these 50-60 minute sessions, Dr. Soman who is a teacher of deaf and hard of hearing children and a certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Auditory-Verbal Educator provides guidance for development of listening, spoken language, literacy, and academic development.
Group Parent Education Sessions – These sessions are conducted based on the need and interest of the families. A group of families who have children of similar ages or needs are brought together in a zoom session. Dr. Uma Soman and Uma Mididaddi, parent of a cochlear implant user and our Board President work together to create these group learning experiences. In 2023, in response to parents’ request a 4 week group education session was conducted on the topic of supporting children succeed in mainstream educational settings.
Webinar series – Since 2020, Listening Together has been hosting periodic webinars that are free and open to parents and professionals. Often, these learning opportunities are limited to professionals, but we believe that all parents should have access to knowledge related to education and rehabilitation of children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Knowledge leads to empowerment and better rehabilitation outcomes for children. These webinars are offered in English and Hindi. Participants can register and attend the webinars live, or watch a recording on our youtube channel.
In addition to these direct services, families are supported indirectly through a whatsapp group for parents and family members. They can post a query, share their story, request resources and get support from other parents.
Testimonials from Parents
As we were just starting on the journey of raising a DHH child, we were completely blank and our hearts were filled with a zillion questions. Then came our angels of LT team and brought along parents from all across whose kids were at different stages. Meeting other families consistently at weekly LT sessions makes it no less than a virtual family. Its a safe place where I can share my tiniest joy and they know exactly why it needs to be celebrated, I can share my silliest concern without being judged because we are all sailing in the same boat. Also, it is a huge motivating factor to see kids who are much ahead in their journeys doing so well academically, pursuing sports and even managing to dive in the sky. It puts me at peace that there are no boundaries for our kids. And whenever I am in doubt, I know which family to reach out. I feel it’s not just me but my son as well who see’s the fellow kids as his ‘Cool Cochlear’ friends. Heartfelt thanks to the entire LT Team for making this happen for us! ❤️
Sejal, Delhi, Participant of Individual and Group sessions
LT – a very short and compact name but has a very deep and bigger impact on our lives. I would love to share my thoughts and feedback for Listening Together as follows:-
Neha, Mother of Aviraj, Noida, India
Listening Together has helped me to teach how to make my child independent and to lead a very normal life. Listening Together has helped me to understand whatever the situations will be / what people say, how should I tackle those situations calmly and patiently. Listening Together has helped my child in developing his speech and from speech we are moving towards language. Without the support / training from Listening Together I wouldn’t be able to make myself and my child so much strong, fun loving, putting my efforts in the right direction and reaching towards our goals.
For more information related to parent empowerment activities please email info@listeningtogether.com