Sophie was born with hearing loss in both ears relating to a genetic condition known as Treacher Collins syndrome, as well as microtia and atresia (underdevelopment of the external part of the ear and absence of the ear canal). Sophie wears hearing aids – purple and pink, her favourite colours – to ensure she is picking up all the sounds around her.
Supported by the Hear and Say Sunshine Coast Centre in Nambour, Sophie attends fortnightly specialised speech therapy sessions to assist in the development of her listening, speech and language skills.
“Sophie is making beautiful strides in the development of her speech and language skills, and is tracking at the same rate as children her age who don’t have hearing loss,” said Sophie’s listening and spoken language specialist, Rebecca Parker.
“Our future speech therapy sessions together will look at further developing Sophie’s language skills, such as combining words in grammatically-complete sentences; understanding a range of pronouns; and answering ‘What?’ and ‘Where?’ questions.”
