Aural Rehabilitation/Communication Therapy
These services are provided to the Gallaudet community and the DC metropolitan area)
This area offers the opportunity to work on improving how one produces/says the specific sounds as well as how well one is able to use the rules of English to" pronounce" words (for example, the in the word "phone", 'ph' is produced as 'f'; the 'e' at the end of the word is silent). In addition, one can improve how they use their voice as it relates to how well other people understand what they are saying.
- Articulation (production of speech sounds)
- Pronunciation/dictionary skills (knowledge of English rules and dictionary symbols to produce words)
- Voice/intelligibility (pitch, loudness, nasality, breath support, etc.)
Addresses how one can increase their understanding and use of English idioms & figurative language (for example, "She feels like a fish out of water.") and general vocabulary terms. Language work may also include improving your written language (structure of the sentences used as well as words/vocabulary used.)
- English idioms
- Writing for communication
Individuals who have received cochlear implant or those who are simply interested in improving listening skills for a variety of reasons (general communication, family, work, school, safety in the environment, ) can address their needs/interests under the area of auditory training.
- Post cochlear implant training (developing listening skills through the cochlear implant)
- Listening skills for hearing aid/assistive device users
- Telephone training
Individuals interested in supporting their overall communication skills by improving their ability to receive more communication information visually via lipreading/speechreading have the opportunity to address that in communication therapy.
- Viseme training (recognizing groups of sounds categorized by mouth shape)
- Synthetic training (understanding meaningful speech through speechreading)
Communication Strategies Training:
A tremendous aid to communication as a whole is the ability to use the strategies available to you when you are communicating. Knowing about communication strategies will assist you in planning for a communication situation ahead of time. Maintaining successful communication and knowing how to appropriately repair breakdowns in conversations when they occur are also an important part of this area. Having some idea of how to adjust your environment to promote good and successful communication is an essential part of this therapy.
- Anticipatory strategies (strategies to plan for more effective communication encounters)
- Maintenance and repair strategies (strategies to keep conversation going and repair communication breakdowns when they occur)
- Environmental strategies (methods for evaluating and modifying the effect of the environment on communication)
For more information on Aural Rehabilitation, please email firstname.lastname@example.org