The Sound Steps Podcast

After years of diligent hard work supporting your deaf or hard of hearing child’s listening and spoken language development, it is time to reflect and acknowledge all that you have done!

The Sound Steps Podcast culminates in this final twenty-fourth episode. Pradnya Madbhavi joins Shefali Shah, an LSL Cert. AVT professional as they reflect on their partnership, navigating the challenges of a child who was born with hearing loss and additional difficulties, celebrating in his having emerged as a young leader!

A surprise guest joins this episode to regale you with poignant insight and triumphs as he prepares for a career in Aerospace Engineering!

Thank you for being the heartbeat of The Sound Steps Podcast. Know that you are not alone. Celebrate each step forward!

Listen. Learn. Talk.
This is The Sound Steps Podcast.

🎧 Top Tips from Episode 21

“Baby Llama! Mama ain’t buying this drama!”

How do you weave humour into your everyday conversations at home?

In this penultimate Episode 23, an ebullient Rebecca Rajkumar engages with Shefali Shah, a LSLS Cert. AVT professional, to share how she and her husband instilled a sense of humour in their profoundly deaf son.

Explaining jokes and then modelling key lines was a technique they found particularly useful.

A wide social circle of which their son was always a part, contributed to his growing up confident and advocating for himself. 

Nurturing your relationship with your growing deaf teenager through conversation and ongoing discussion in which there are no taboo subjects, is key to raising a confident young adult. 

Listen. Learn. Talk.
This is The Sound Steps Podcast.

🎧 Top Tips from Episode 21

After all your diligent and consistent follow-up in Auditory-Verbal Therapy, your deaf or hard of hearing child’s development is comparable to those of her peers!

Graduation from Early Intervention Services celebrates this milestone! As you and your family prepare for this major event in your child’s life, you linger, struggling to let go of all those who have supported you to come to this point.

In Episode 22, Shefali Shah, a LSLS Cert. AVT professional, in conversation with Simi and Chandresh Rugani from her in-person practice in London, UK, reflect on the milestones gone by that facilitated age-appropriate development in their now 4 year old hearing-aided son.

They express their gratitude for availing of Genetic Testing.

As they celebrate, these parents like so many others, are wistful as they reflect on all the support they have received through early intervention.

In a lively conversation with Shefali, the Rughanis share heart-warming experiences from their son’s life to illustrate how his confidence and sense of humour have grown significantly as his vocabulary expanded! Confident, self-possessed and with a delightful sense of humour, this wonderful 4 year old jokes about his quirky ear moulds and is enjoying life in his neighbourhood and at school! 

Listen. Learn. Talk.
This is The Sound Steps Podcast.

🎧 Top Tips from Episode 21

Your journey parenting a child who is deaf or hard of hearing is one that you chart together. We work collaboratively in Auditory-Verbal Therapy, with both you and your child so that you transform into a confident, competent parent.

How does this transformation occur? In this twenty-first episode, Shefali coaches a mother from her online practice at Sound Steps, as she reflects on her transformative journey. Over a period of eight months, Rashi Sanghi, has become fearless. Together they explore how this transformation occurred.

In this deep conversation with Shefali Shah, a LSLS Cert. AVT professional, Shefali guides the listener to acknowledge how important it is to trust the process and more importantly to trust yourself.

Listen. Learn. Talk.
 This is The Sound Steps Podcast.

🎧 Top Tips from Episode 21

Human beings can’t turn their hearing off: we hear through every waking (and often sleeping) moment. Each day offers countless listening opportunities, layered one over the other, competing for our brain’s attention. Our brain is constantly filtering out these competing incoming speech or sound signals if they are identified as “background noise”.

Listening and paying attention in noisy environments is exhausting, even for those with normal hearing. It is especially daunting for your deaf or hard of hearing child.

In this enlightening twentieth episode, Shefali Shah walks us through the wonder of passive listening: the ability to sift information to overhear and absorb the spoken message without being directly addressed. As families share their joy at witnessing their child learning new vocabulary  through eavesdropping on family conversations, we are reminded that these moments are not accidents: they are signs of strong auditory-verbal development.

When listening becomes a habit, deaf or hard of hearing children learn through overhearing, just like children with typical hearing. They participate wholeheartedly in life, grounded in their sense of connection to their family and community.

Passive Listening is an essential learning skill.

This is The Sound Steps Podcast.

🎧 Top Tips from Episode 20

Time Stamps:

00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:21 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents
00:02:31 Choosing Auditory-Verbal Therapy for your deaf or hard of hearing child
00:02:43 AVT facilitates age-appropriate development
00:03:32 Abundant choices open up through AVT
00:03:59 Early identification and the fitting of early and optimal amplification.
00:04:07 A life free of limitations
00:04:16 Show notes, Top tips and Time Stamps
00:04:25 Links and contact details
00:04:30 Resources
00:04:37 Auditory-Verbal Techniques
00:04:54 Auditory-Verbal Techniques : Sabotage
00:05:20 Hearing cannot be switched-off in those with typical hearing
00:05:51 Meaning of Passive Listening
00:06:58 The importance of Passive Listening
00:10:25 Validate your child’s passive listening experience in conversation 
00:12:19 Listening becomes a habit
00:14:49 Overhearing conversation to learn
00:18:24 Supporting auditory-memory
00:19:56 Monitoring Passive Listening
00:21:19 Becoming an independent learner
00:26:03 Reflection 
00:26:31 Our next episode: Transformation: the new me!

Resources:

Quiet spaces provide the deaf or hard of hearing child with the clearest listening opportunities. These are moments where the speech signal is received without competing noise. 

This nineteenth episode, draws on Shefali Shah’s in-person practice and follows through on a father’s insight, that: “In order for a child to talk clearly, she must hear clearly.”

However, life is noisy. School settings, playgrounds, birthday parties, and restaurants are filled with competing sounds. Background noise masks the clarity of speech, making it harder for a deaf or hard of hearing child to listen, pay attention, imitate, understand and respond appropriately. Listening in noise is not only harder, it is more tiring. This “auditory fatigue” can drain a child’s focus and energy long before the day is over.

Shefali recommends asking your child’s audiologist for strategies to make classrooms acoustically supportive and how the hearing technology on your child’s devices can support her at school. She further recommends choosing school placement carefully as smaller, more acoustically friendly classrooms and accessories such as remote microphone systems can support your deaf child. She also shows how Auditory-Verbal Therapy prepares children for real-world noise, training their listening skills so they can thrive in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Noise may compete for attention, but with the right support and practice, your deaf or hard of hearing child can learn to cope so that she enjoys life!

This is The Sound Steps Podcast.

🎧 Top Tips from Episode 19

Time Stamps:

00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:33 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents
00:01:42 Choosing Auditory-Verbal Therapy for your deaf or hard of hearing child
00:02:15 AVT facilitates age-appropriate development
00:02:44 Abundant choices open up through AVT
00:03:11 Early identification and the fitting of early and optimal amplification.
00:03:17 A life free of limitations
00:03:30 Show notes, Top tips and Time Stamps
00:03:38 Links and contact details
00:03:43 Resources
00:03:52 Listening in quiet
00:04:38 Listening in noise
00:04:49 Listening in noise gets tiring
00:05:14 School settings and playgrounds are noisy
00:07:49 Noise detracts from the clarity of the speech signal
00:08:09 Choosing school placement
00:08:40 Participating in games on the playground
00:09:01 Explaining the rules of games
00:10:04 Practice listening in noise
00:11:14 Acoustic treatment at school
00:11:42 Accessories on hearing devices and setting up FM systems at school 
00:12:56 Reflection
00:13:34 Our next episode: Passive Listening or Overhearing

Resources:

In this essential eighteenth episode, Shefali Shah takes us on an auditory journey, sharing authentic sound bites from her own AVT practice. We listen in as infants and toddlers progress through the natural stages of pre-speech: from early vocal play, to babbling,  jargon, imitation and first words as they thrive in environments that support their listening, learning and talking.

The episode offers a rich understanding of how listening, language, and speech are closely intertwined. Talking is the outcome of a consistent period of listening time. Language and speech development follow a universal hierarchy in which listening precedes speech. Speech sounds too follow a natural sequence, with early emerging speech sounds invariably preceding and preparing for the emergence of later developing sounds. 

A couple in Shefali’s online practice, shares their delight in the emergence of intelligible speech in their cochlear-implanted toddler as they discover that there is a universal order to the production of speech sounds and learn what to expect and how to monitor and support their daughter’s age-appropriate speech development.

Clear speech is the result of diligent preparation.

This is The Sound Steps Podcast.

🎧 Top Tips from Episode 18

Time Stamps:

00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:10 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents
00:01:25 Choosing Auditory-Verbal Therapy for your deaf or hard of hearing child
00:01:50 AVT facilitates age-appropriate development
00:02:02 Abundant choices open up through AVT
00:02:47 Early identification and the fitting of early and optimal amplification.
00:02:53 A life free of limitations
00:03:06 Introduction to this episode
00:03:42 Show notes, Top tips and Time Stamps
00:03:54 Links and contact details
00:04:00 Resources
00:04:45Development in infants with typical hearing 
00:05:19 We talk as we hear
00:06:34 Talking presupposes listening
00:09:39 Your baby will talk when she is ready to talk
00:09:56 Speech readiness
00:11:40 Pre-speech development
00:13:29 Vocalisations
00:14:10 Babbling
00:15:01 Vocalisation Vs Babbling
00:15:27 Delayed or absent babbling
00:15:53 Babbling develops with social interaction
00:17:18 Jargon
00:20:08 First words
00:20:24 new word combinations emerge
00:21:08 Sentences emerge
00:21:30 Conversation is both the base plate and the apex of the Spoken language development 
00:22:40 The Hierarchy of speech sound production
00:25:10 Monitor your growing child’s speech development
00:29:19 Engaging your baby through Conversation 
00:29:46 Reflection
00:30:57 Our next episode: Noisy Spaces

Resources:

• Estabrooks, W., MacIver-Lux, K., & Rhoades, E. (Eds.). (2020). Auditory-Verbal Therapy: For Young Children with Hearing Loss and Their Families, and the Practitioners Who Guide Them (2nd ed.). Plural Publishing.

Self-monitoring is the invisible skill that allows children to reflect, adapt, and regulate, so as to learn independently and grow.

In this seventeenth episode, Shefali Shah demonstrates with three-and-a-half and four year old deaf children  how Auditory-Verbal Therapy systematically fosters the ability to self-monitor speech intelligibility and language usage.

As listening becomes deeply internalised, a deaf or hard of hearing child begins to observe herself, spontaneously modifying her language and speech, to align with increasing accuracy with the patterns she hears around her. This intentional shift in responsibility is central to Auditory-Verbal Therapy and is in accordance with Principle 8.

Self-monitoring is both subtle and powerful as it characterises the independent learner.

Time Stamps:

00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:30  90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents
00:01:39 Choosing Auditory-Verbal Therapy for your deaf or hard of hearing child
00:02:14 AVT facilitates age-appropriate development
00:02:40 Abundant choices open up through AVT
00:03:07 Early identification and the fitting of early and optimal amplification.
00:03:15 A life free of limitations
00:03:23 Show notes, Top tips and Time Stamps
00:03:34 Links and contact details
00:03:43 Resources
00:03:49 Principle 8 of AVT: Self-monitoring
00:04:07 Meaning of self-monitoring
00:05:17 Self-monitoring critical to independent learning
00:05:30 An efficient tool to maintain speech intelligibility
00:06:08 Self-Practice
00:07:34 Intentional pull back
00:08:05 Analysis of short demo
00:14:13 Reflection
00:15:02 Our next episode: Clear Speech

Resources:

• Paul, R., & Norbury, C. (2012). Language Disorders from Infancy through Adolescence.

Your six month old infant is ready to be read to!

In this delightful sixteenth episode, Shefali Shah is joined by Simi Rughani and Rashi Sanghi to experience the joy of reading aloud to their toddler. Follow Shefali’s practical guidance on how to choose developmentally appropriate books, to harness your child’s wholehearted participation.

Books open up new worlds. The research shows that early reading is a strong predictor of lifelong academic success.

Enjoy listening to mothers reading to their toddlers, moving beyond mere labelling to unlock the subtle messages of the story. Witness an emerging Theory of Mind(ToM), as the toddler demonstrates his emerging appreciation of perspective.

Reading is fun! Share the fun of reading with your child! 

This is The Sound Steps Podcast.

🎧 Top Tips from Episode 16

Time Stamps:

00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:28 Introducing our guests in this episode: Simi Rughani and Rashi Sanghi 
00:02:00 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents
00:02:10 Choosing Auditory-Verbal Therapy for your deaf or hard of hearing child
00:02:49 AVT facilitates age-appropriate development
00:03:12 Abundant choices open up through AVT
00:03:37 Early identification and the fitting of early and optimal amplification.
00:03:44 A life free of limitations
00:03:53 Show notes, Top tips and Time Stamps
00:04:03 Links and contact details
00:04:11 Resources
00:04:42 Suggested reading for young children
00:04:50 Reading score is a reliable predictor of lifelong academic achievement 
00:05:24 Reading to infants
00:06:41 Move away from mère labelling as you read to your infant
00:07:00 Making each page come alive
00:08:27 Reading to toddlers
00:09:08 Transitioning to books with involved plots
00:10:58 Comprehending the subtleties of the storyline
00:11:10 Understanding Perspective
00:11:39 Emerging Theory of Mind
00:17:07 Reflection
00:17:21 Our next episode: Self-monitoring

Resources:

Play offers children a safe and imaginative space to explore, express emotions, experiment, and fail, all without consequence. It is the perfect stage on which your deaf or hard of hearing child can practice talking, thinking, problem-solving and learning.

In this fifteenth episode, Shefali Shah shares a delightful conversation with a young couple from her online AVT practice: parents of a cochlear implanted toddler, as they reflect on how their play epiodes have evolved. Through real-life play sequences, Shefali coaches them to move beyond factual exchanges, to expand play themes, embrace unpredictability, and fuel their child’s imagination.

By modelling new ideas, introducing “Sabotage” to disrupt predictable patterns, and allowing space for their child to resolve play scenarios, the family discovers how imagination and language take flight together. They laugh, learn, and marvel at how creative their child has become!

Move away from realistic routine and take flights of fantasy! Once you open up those doors you’ll be amazed by how quickly your child grabs these opportunities and flies with them, so that you can fly together!

Time Stamps:

00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:17 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents
00:01:26 Choosing Auditory-Verbal Therapy for your deaf or hard of hearing child
00:01:58 AVT facilitates age-appropriate development
00:02:28 Abundant choices open up through AVT
00:02:54 Early identification and the fitting of early and optimal amplification.
00:03:01 A life free of limitations
00:03:11 Show notes, Top tips and Time Stamps
00:03:20 Links and contact details
00:03:28 Resources
00:03:34 Auditory-Verbal Techniques
00:03:50 Auditory-Verbal Techniques: Sabotage
00:04:15 Auditory-Verbal Techniques: Modelling
00:04:47 Engaging your child in play
00:05:16 Introducing our guests in this episode
00:05:44 Pretend Play
00:06:05 Keeping Conversation alive through play
00:07:35 Firing imagination
00:09:05 Young children playing together
00:10:00 Exploring non-factual themes
00:10:53 Pure imagination in play
00:14:12 Sabotage: Disrupting play with a disaster
00:14:38 Variations in the same play theme
00:20:24 Play out play sequences in dreams
00:21:47 Reflection
00:22:15 Our next episode: Reading: Beyond Words

Resources: