Therapy

Therapy

Everything about therapy for children with hearing impairments

Hearing impairments can negatively affect the development of language comprehension, speech and social skills. Therefore, it is hugely important to give your child the best support possible even in the processing stage after the diagnosis.

Immediately after the first medical steps towards the final diagnosis, you should start a suitable complementary therapy to support your child so that his or her speech and social behavior can develop as best as possible through the combination of good medical, technical and speech therapy provision.

You can find some important tips for the best therapeutic support for your child below!

Initial provision with technological aids

Whether a conventional hearing aid is sufficient or whether ultimately a cochlear implant is appropriate is decided by the level of hearing impairment your child has. This will be determined by medical specialists in the clinic of your choice by special procedures. Then all the options are considered with you as parents.

Therapy options

“The limits my language are the limits of my world.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein

Language therapy care and various therapy measures, especially in the case of multiple impairment, are therefore recommended both before and after provision with a hearing system.

Language therapy

Listening and speaking are closely linked in speech development. Any limitation in hearing reduces the possibility of spoken language acquisition hugely. Children with a hearing reduction should therefore also have language therapy along with good and early hearing provision to lose as little time as possible in acquisition of spoken language.

The most important aim of language therapy is to enable communication so the child can express its wishes and needs. Therapeutic work therefore includes conditioning training, listening training, articulation, communication strategies, (early) acquisition of written language, multiple support of language building with visual material, advice from educationalists and work with parents.

Language therapy prepares language structures carefully for your child. Apart from that, the language therapist is also an important pivot point in communication with the experts from other relevant specialist areas especially in the initial phase.

Other therapy options

On average, a third of all children with a hearing loss have an additional disability. In the case of multiple disabilities, or your child having a specific learning difficulty,you should definitely make use of further therapy measures along with hearing provision and regular language pedagogical support.
Occupational therapy,music therapy or physiotherapy, depending on the type of the additional disability, are some examples.

Support with psychotherapy

The diagnosis “my child is hearing impaired” is initially a shock for most parents and means a huge adjustment. Psychotherapy can sometimes be a good choice to help in getting to grips with the new situation in life, and supporting the child effectively, or even drawing strength from it despite any initial sorrow.

Psychotherapy support for affected children and young people can in some cases be good support for dealing with their own limitations and being able to cope more confidently in the hearing community.

In Austria, some experts who have specialized in the subject of hearing impairments or have experience in dealing with them now offer therapy sessions.

Not what we experience, but how we perceive
what we experience is what determines our fate.

Marie Freifrau von Ebner-Eschenbach

No what we experience but how we perceive what we experience determines our fate.

Marie Freifrau von Ebner-Eschenbach

Contacts

Technical hearing provision

Audiologists
There are many hearing aid audiologists in Austria. Whether you choose one of the well-known chains or a single company, it is important to have confidence in the specialist staff there and feel that you are getting the best advice.

Hearing implant manufacturer
The hearing implant manufacturer MED-EL is an Austrian family company based in in Innsbruck, Tyrol. There is a branch in Vienna, in the 9th District with the service center HEARING CENTER , that provides comprehensive advice and support to people with hearing impairments and hearing losses and users of hearing implant systems across the whole of Austria.

Therapy

Language therapy
Whether a contract, selected or private language therapist, you can find useful information here about the professional description and a search function for the language therapist of your choice.

Other forms of therapy
Therapieformen gibt es breitgefächert. You can get an overview of the most important areas here:

Here is an overview of the wide selection of exercises provided by the implant manufacturer MED-EL,that you can download or obtain directly via the webshop of the HEARING CENTER :

Psychotherapy
Here you can find a list of experts familiar with the subject of hearing impairments or who offer further support for people with a migration background through specific language skills:

Vienna:

Salzburg:

Tyrol:

Psychotherapy with a health insurance certificate: