Sound Support: Program Helps Families Navigate New World of Hearing | University of Michigan - Michigan Medicine

The program’s diverse team comprises audiologists, speech-language pathologists, auditory-verbal therapists and pediatric otolaryngologists. Together, they work to improve the timeliness of early diagnosis of and intervention for hearing loss.

After diagnosis and intervention, the relationship is really just beginning.

“We couldn’t just put an implant in a child and then send them off to their school or back to their home community without any training or assistance,” said Sound Support director Teresa Zwolan. “So, we make sure that our program provides outreach to all related professionals in Michigan to maximize the outcomes that our children with implants have.”

Sound Support provides onsite training to teachers, therapists and others who work with children who are deaf or hard of hearing on a variety of topics, including cochlear implants, hearing aids, auditory-verbal therapy and assistive devices.

“We know that our work can’t end at our clinic door,” Zwolan said. “And not everyone can travel to Ann Arbor, so a lot of our outreach is to educational professionals that work directly with children. This is to teach them about how best to work with hearing devices, and to help children listen and talk the best they possibly can.”

Kelly Starr, M.A., a speech-language pathologist and auditory-verbal therapist with the program, has been working with Rhys since he was a baby. Her work happens on campus, and she also travels to communities to help the people in the patients’ lives understand their needs.

“Rhys is a patient that I’ve been working with since the start of his journey at the University of Michigan,” Starr said. “In my role, I work with children who are deaf and hard of hearing, teaching them to listen and talk.”

Kelly Kochanny, a teacher consultant for the deaf and hard of hearing who works with Rhys at his school in northern Michigan, said Starr and Sound Support are critical to Rhys’ success.

“I think kids with hearing loss, it’s not a one-and-done type of disability,” Kochanny said. “Every year brings lots of challenges and it takes a team approach to help keep the student at the center and Kelly came (from U-M) when Rhys transferred to this school and educated his staff. His parents came, and that’s really the ideal model.”

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Research has shown that children with hearing loss are best served by a community of professionals, as each one plays an important role in helping kids reach their full potential.

Traditionally, Sound Support leads school visits that provide educators with information regarding a specific child, and once an observation of the child is made in the educational setting by Sound Support staff, it is followed by consultations with school employees to discuss the child’s progress and specific needs.

Through its many legs, Sound Support works to increase awareness regarding hearing loss and the importance of early referrals among the medical community through presentations at local, regional and state professional meetings.

The program also offers lectures regarding advances in hearing technology, as well as intervention techniques, for undergraduate, graduate and medical students throughout the state of Michigan.

In addition, audiologists, speech pathologists and teacher consultants are allowed an opportunity to network, collaborate and share information through the Sound Support Mentorship Program. This component primarily aims to promote understanding around the impact of hearing loss on early childhood development.

“Through our mentorship program, there is an opportunity for individualized training for professionals who provide diagnostic and rehabilitative services for children with hearing loss throughout Michigan,” Zwolan said. “This is really important.”

And as for Rhys, he is now flourishing and dreaming of what’s to come. He says maybe he’ll be an engineer or builder when he grows up.

“There’s a lot of stuff that I want to be,” he said.

Starr said Rhys is thriving.

“Rhys is in his school functioning with other children his age,” she said. “He’s doing activities that other kids his age are doing—just being a typical young boy. It’s really wonderful to see.”

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