Babies and young children typically learn to talk by listening to the voices of family members and caregivers from the time they are born. Any degree of hearing loss has the potential to interrupt speech and language development.

With technology such as advanced hearing aids and cochlear implants, most children with hearing loss are now able to learn to communicate with spoken language. But children with hearing loss need specialized auditory-based treatment to learn how to use their hearing to its full potential and develop intelligible spoken language.

Auditory-based care helps children with hearing loss use their hearing and listening potential to communicate through spoken language. The speech-language pathologists at Johns Hopkins All Children’s work together with the audiology team to provide education, guidance, advocacy and support to our patients and their families.

Auditory-based care focuses on the “natural emergence” of speech without using visual language approaches like sign language or cued speech. As part of your child’s care, parents and caregivers will learn how to incorporate language and listening activities into the child’s everyday routine.

Evaluation and treatment

Our audiology team is specially trained to identify, evaluate and manage hearing disorders. Evaluations can be completed as early as the day of birth. Our team will determine the type of hearing device that will best meet your child’s needs and provide extensive education on the use and care of your child’s device, communication strategies and educational options.

Our speech-language pathologists will provide a speech and language evaluation, and auditory-based treatment that is family-centered and specialized to meet your child’s needs. The speech-language pathologist will teach your child to use his or her hearing to develop spoken language.

Specialized services

In addition to providing auditory-based care, your child’s speech-language pathologist is also trained to serve children with a variety of speech language needs, such as oral motor, articulation, voice, feeding and autism spectrum disorders. This allows us to provide personalized treatment that addresses all of your child’s needs.

Your child has access to related treatment services such as occupational and physical therapy within this program. We also offer auditory-based care for our non-English speaking families.

Contact us

To make an appointment or for more information, call us at 727-767-4141.

You can also request an appointment using our online form.

Medical records may be faxed to 727-767-6743.