Speech Therapy for Children with Hearing Loss
A diagnosis of hearing loss changes the trajectory of a child's communication development—but with the right intervention, children who are deaf or hard of hearing can achieve spoken language outcomes on par with their hearing peers. At Front Range Speech in Greeley, Colorado, we provide specialized speech-language therapy for children with all types and degrees of hearing loss, from mild unilateral loss to profound bilateral deafness.
Whether your child uses cochlear implants, hearing aids, bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHAs), or a combination of devices, our therapy is built around the listening and spoken language (LSL) framework—an evidence-based model that prioritizes auditory brain development and spoken communication. Families throughout Northern Colorado, including Windsor, Evans, Loveland, Fort Collins, and Longmont, trust our clinic for expert-level hearing loss intervention.
Our Approach: Auditory-Verbal Therapy and Beyond
Auditory-verbal therapy (AVT) is the cornerstone of our practice for children with hearing loss. AVT is a diagnostic, parent-centered approach that teaches children to use their residual hearing and amplification technology to develop spoken language. Rather than relying on visual cues such as lip reading, AVT builds the auditory neural pathways that allow a child to learn language through listening.
Each session follows a structured yet flexible format. We assess your child's current auditory skill level across the auditory hierarchy— detection, discrimination, identification, and comprehension—and design activities that push development to the next stage. Simultaneously, we coach parents and caregivers in real time, demonstrating techniques they can embed into everyday routines at home.
For families who prefer an auditory-oral approach that incorporates some visual information alongside auditory input, we adapt our methods accordingly. The goal is always the same: functional, intelligible spoken communication that allows your child to participate fully in academic and social settings.
Specialized Therapy by Device Type
Cochlear Implant Rehabilitation
Cochlear implants provide access to sound for children with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss, but the device alone does not produce language. Post-activation therapy is essential. Our cochlear implant speech therapy program in Greeley begins at device activation and continues through the critical early years of auditory development.
We work in close collaboration with your child's audiologist and CI team to ensure that therapy targets align with current mapping settings. When a child is not responding as expected to certain frequency ranges, we communicate those observations to the audiologist so that programming adjustments can be made. This interdisciplinary feedback loop accelerates progress and prevents plateaus.
Therapy targets for children with cochlear implants typically include Ling sound detection and identification, suprasegmental pattern perception (rhythm, stress, intonation), vowel and consonant discrimination, word-level recognition in quiet and noise, and connected speech comprehension. As auditory skills develop, we layer in expressive language goals—vocabulary, morphology, syntax, and narrative skills—to ensure that listening gains translate into meaningful communication.
Hearing Aid and BAHA Therapy
Children with mild to moderately severe hearing loss who use hearing aids face a different but equally important set of challenges. Even with well-fitted amplification, these children may miss unstressed grammatical morphemes (such as plural -s, past tense -ed, and articles), struggle with phonemic awareness tasks critical for reading, or have difficulty following conversation in noisy classrooms.
Our hearing aid speech therapy targets these specific vulnerabilities. We use acoustic highlighting and focused auditory input to draw attention to the speech features your child is missing. For children with conductive or mixed hearing loss who use bone-anchored hearing aids, we tailor our approach to the unique auditory profile that bone conduction amplification provides.
What We Target in Hearing Loss Therapy
Collaboration with Audiologists and Schools
Effective hearing loss intervention does not happen in isolation. We maintain active communication with your child's audiologist, ENT, early intervention team, and school-based professionals. In Greeley and the surrounding Weld County communities, we regularly coordinate with local school districts to support IEP and 504 plan development, recommend classroom accommodations such as FM systems and preferential seating, and ensure that therapy goals carry over into the academic environment.
For families receiving early intervention services through Colorado's Part C program, we can serve as the speech-language provider on your child's IFSP team, delivering services in the home or clinic setting depending on your family's needs.
Why Choose Front Range Speech for Hearing Loss Therapy
Pediatric hearing loss requires a speech-language pathologist with specialized knowledge that goes well beyond a generalist caseload. Our clinician brings advanced training in auditory-verbal therapy, cochlear implant rehabilitation, and the acoustic phonetics of aided hearing. We understand the nuances of different hearing technology, the implications of audiogram configurations on speech perception, and the developmental benchmarks that children with hearing loss should be meeting at each stage.
If your child has recently been identified with hearing loss, has received a cochlear implant or hearing aid, or is not making expected progress with their current therapy, we invite you to schedule a consultation. Families in Greeley, Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor, and throughout Northern Colorado can reach us to discuss how we can support your child's listening and spoken language journey.