Susie Jones, speech-language pathologist at The Hearing & Balance Center recently completed a two-week training program in the San Francisco Bay area for professionals who provide services for children with cochlear implants. Professional Preparation in Cochlear Implants (PPCI) is a collaborative effort between Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Smith College. The onsite course work was supplemented by rigorous advance study and long term follow up, including a mentorship, that will culminate with a three-day capstone experience next summer. Some of the topics from the training session included: speech acoustics, cochlear implant candidacy and mapping, spoken language development and auditory learning, cognition, goal-setting, parent coaching, and measuring progress. Sessions were held at Let Them Hear Foundation, The California Ear Institute and The Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf.
“The program was wonderful!” reports Susie. “I came home with new ideas and tools to better support children and their parents as they learn to develop listening and spoken language with the help of a cochlear implant or hearing aids.”
It was inspiring to learn from and network with other professionals who are so committed to helping children with hearing loss reach their full potential. I’m excited to share all that I learned with other therapists and families in Idaho!”
Susie Jones, M.S. CCC-SLP takes a break at the beach after a long day at PPCI.
