Provide information
A study by Sweetow and Barrager (1980), who surveyed 154 parents of hearing-impaired children, draws our attention to the need for these parents to have much more information about hearing loss than they typically are given. Among the specific needs determined were these:
1. Translating “technical terminology into laymen’s language.”
2. Providing a means of communicating more effectively with their hearing-impaired child.
3. Providing a means for “contact with other parents of hearing impaired children.”
4. Providing more written literature on the subject of hearing loss.
5. Providing “more specific information in educational sources.”
6. Providing “more frequent referrals to external sources for assistance in emotional and financial support.”
7. Answering the desire for “audiologists to take parents’ observations and comments more seriously”
The comprehensive parent education program suggested by Dee (1981) is a practical straight forward approach to helping these parents realize that their feeling are no different from those of other caught in a crisis.
Probably one of the most important considerations for counseling audiologist to keep in mind when providing information is timing. It is necessary to be sensitive to quantity and quality of information the parents can handle during the ongoing counseling relationship. The extent of their emotional reactions to the crisis will determine, in part, how much information the can process at a particular time. One effective way for the counselor to judge this is to check with their clients, on an ongoing basis, how much they feel they need to know. If the parents are helped to realize that they are free to ask questions at any time, the counselor will have a better sense of how much and what they need to know.