Supporting your baby's listening and communication

Get your child’s attention

If your child has difficulty hearing they may not be aware that you are speaking to them.

To help:

• Make an extra effort to gain your child’s attention before speaking to them.
• Spend time face to face – babies enjoy seeing your face. Talk to them and make eye contact as often as you can.
• Consider singing your child’s name to gain their attention.
• Use gesture or signing to gain your child’s attention.
• Make sure your child can see your face before you speak.
• Make sure that light is not behind you when you are speaking, so that your face is not in shadow (avoid standing in front of a window).
• Reduce screen time for everyone.

Reduce background noise

Background noise makes it even harder to hear what is being said.

To help:

• Reduce the use of television and other noisy electrical devices (such as phones or tablets)
• Turn off electrical appliances (such as an extractor fan, washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher) wherever possible.
• If it’s noisy outside keep doors and windows closed.

Increase your child’s awareness of sounds

Being aware of sounds will help your child to listen to people speaking.

To help:

• Draw your child’s attention to sounds and label them (for example, doorbell, birdsong, kettle boiling). As your child progresses support them to identify what they are hearing themselves.
• Play hide and seek for sounds (for example, someone hides with a noisy toy or there’s an alarm set under a cushion).
• Use repetitive phrases with the same activity (for example, ready steady go, one two three whee, up up up, see you soon).
• Sing the same action songs over and over. Leave gaps for your child to fill as the song becomes more familiar.

Support talking and understanding

Children pick up words through fun play activities and by overhearing others.

To help:

• Follow your child’s lead in play, join in and extend their play.
• Respond warmly every time your child attempts to communicate with you using an animated facial expression and mirroring back their sounds and gestures.
• Read to your child, look at picture books together and talk about the pictures.
• Comment on what your child is doing/looking at/touching in the moment.
• Use your home language to communicate with your child – this will give them the strongest language model.
• Consider supporting spoken language with key word signing. Ask your Health Visitor or the Teacher of the Deaf/Advisory Teacher for Hearing Impairment about local signing courses.
• Try not to pre-empt all your child’s wants and needs – can they let you know? If your child points or looks at something they want, name it for them just before you give it to them.

Support with technology

If the child has hearing technology (for example, hearing aids or cochlear implants), make sure you know how to check it’s working/maintain it. Make sure batteries are kept charged. Teachers of the Deaf/Advisory Teachers for Hearing Impairment and audiology services can advise you.

Please be aware that for the best outcomes for your child, hearing technology should typically be worn all waking hours.

Links and websites

You may find the following websites useful:

• Medway Community Healthcare Speech and Language Therapy Deafness advice page Deafness - Medway Community Healthcare
• Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust Pod Early language and communication | Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
• National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) National Deaf Children's Society | For every deaf child
• NDCS/Sheffield University videos ‘How to Communicate with your Deaf Baby’ Child Development Study Team - Uni of Sheffield - YouTube
• CBeebies Parenting Helping your Deaf Baby or Child to develop Language & Communication - BBC Tiny Happy People