Providers

FAQs
Contact
Espanol

A Young Boy Holding A Baby

Welcome to Alabama Hearing Loss Options!

Most likely, you are here because you have learned that your child (or a child you care about) is deaf or hard of hearing. You may have lots of questions. You may not be sure what questions to ask or where to start. Whatever is the case, your child with a hearing difference can thrive with your support and encouragement!

Yes, there are questions to be asked and answered. There are plans to be made and choices to make. The good news is that you can start wherever you are. By acting early, being involved, and checking your choices, you can help your child succeed.

Get Started

Act Early

It is never too early to start. Babies and young children are learning from the time they are born. Before babies use their first words, they spend months taking in information. Even if your child is not old enough to be talking or using signs, he or she is learning. You can be learning, too.

LEARN MORE

Be Involved

Family involvement helps children who are deaf or hard of hearing succeed. In fact, few things matter more. Research showed that strong family involvement was more important than a child’s hearing level. Even when a child has delays caused by a late diagnosis, family involvement can help to overcome them.

LEARN MORE

Check Your Choices

Learning about the options that are available for children who deaf or hard of hearing is important to your child’s success. Choosing how your child will communicate and what language or languages your child will use may feel like a big responsibility. Remember, you make decisions that can affect your child’s future every day.

LEARN MORE

Act Early

It is never too early to start. Babies and young children are learning from the time they are born. Before babies use their first words, they spend months taking in information. Even if your child is not old enough to be talking or using signs, he or she is learning. You can be learning, too.

LEARN MORE

Be Involved

Family involvement helps children who are deaf or hard of hearing succeed. In fact, few things matter more. Research showed that strong family involvement was more important than a child’s hearing level. Even when a child has delays caused by a late diagnosis, family involvement can help to overcome them.

LEARN MORE

Check Your Choices

Learning about the options that are available for children who deaf or hard of hearing is important to your child’s success. Choosing how your child will communicate and what language or languages your child will use may feel like a big responsibility. Remember, you make decisions that can affect your child’s future every day.

LEARN MORE
Why Choice Matters

Babies communicate from the time they are born. Between birth and 3 to 5 years of age, early communication skills develop into the structures, words, sentences, and stories of language.

Grown-ups communicate with babies and toddlers in many ways to capture their attention or soothe them when they are upset. These things don’t seem like learning activities, but they are.

These early learning experiences are important. They teach skills like turn-taking and ‘joint regard’ (paying attention to the same thing at the same time someone else is paying attention to it).

A Woman Holding A Sign Posing For The Camera

Babies and young children need these skills to learn their first words and become ready to use the formal rules of language to express their thoughts, ideas, and opinions. But children need more. Children need ‘time in language’.

Children learn the language or languages that are used with them and around them. Most children who are deaf or hard of hearing have parents who have typical hearing levels. Without support, these children miss out on important ‘time in language’ and conversational turns needed to learn language.

We're Here to Help

The good news is that options are available that allow children who are deaf or hard hearing receive the ‘time in language’ they need to succeed.

Find Support
Back To Top