The process of attaching meaning to sounds takes time, effort, patience, motivation, consistency, commitment, faith, clear goals, and persistence. With young children, the attitudes and expectation of the adults interacting with the child, and also the environment in which the child lives, all have a direct impact on whether the child uses his or her hearing aids or cochlear implant and how effectively he or she uses them.

Techniques for working with the early listener include:

• Sit besides the child’s better amplified ear.
• Speak naturally to the child, speaking without exaggerated facial movements.
• Use natural expressions appropriate to the child’s age and language level
• The Hand Cue may be used in order to emphasize the use of audition in the
   acquisition of spoken language. The Hand Cue signals the child to listen intently
   but should only be used when necessary. Once a child has integrated hearing into
   his/her personality,the Hand Cue is rarely used.
• Read familiar storybooks, recite familiar nursery rhymes, and sing familiar songs.
• Encourage the young listener to use babbling and jargon as normal hearing infants
   do rather than pushing the child to imitate words.
• Encourage listening by sitting beside the child, not across from the child, and focus on
   objects in front of the child
• Minimize background noise.
• Cue the child to listen throughout the day by pointing to your ear to alert the child to
   meaningful environmental sounds.
• Follow the child’s interest level and use appropriate activities and experiences to
   reach his or her goals.
• Use acoustic highlighting to enhance the audibility of a spoken message. This includes
   rewording, rephrasing, pausing, waiting, whispering, singing, and emphasizing supra-
   segmental and/or segmental features.