"Hi. My daughter, 4, was just evaluated with auditory acuity, processing, and memory deficits. What type of activities can I do with her to help her progress?" Audrey

Answer: Susan Osborne, PhD, Coordinator, Graduate Program in Special Education, North Carolina State University

First of all, we suggest that you work closely with a speech and language professional (audiologist and speech and language pathologist) who has an extensive pediatric practice since your daughter may be fitted with hearing aids. The audiologist can assist you and your daughter in making the most of her residual hearing.

Without knowing more about the diagnosis, it is difficult to give more specific advice, but here are some suggestions that might help:

• Make sure you are speaking directly to your daughter and that she is looking directly at you when you speak.
  
  
• Be aware of competing background noise and keep it to a minimum when you are reading or working with her (no TV, radio, etc).
  
  
• Give directions or explanations and teach new words in short sentences and have her paraphrase what you say.
  
  
• Play simple memory games. Distar Language (from SRA publishers) has activities that work on many aspect of developing language.