Communication in team sports
My 8 year old daughter has a profound bilateral hearing loss and wears cochlear implants. She has joined a girls football team. Her coach is great but we are struggling to find a way to communicate with my daughter during matches. In training her cochlear mini mic works perfectly well but it does not seem to keep connection during the matches. My daughter then looks lost and the game seems to pass her by.
Has anybody had any experience of how to help with communication during a team sport/match situation?
Thank you in advance.
Hi chillyimp
Thank you for starting this thread. I am sorry that you have not had any comments yet - Your Community is still very new and new members are joining each week.
My son has bilateral moderate sensori-neural high-frequency hearing loss. He does not wear his hearing aids when playing sports. He manages by using his eyesight together with his residual hearing during the games.
In case you have not read it yet, there is some information on our website about team sports (https://www.ndcs.org.uk/information-and-support/parenting-and-family-life/hobbies/team-sports/)
If you need any further support, please feel free to contact our Helpline (https://www.ndcs.org.uk/our-services/services-for-families/helpline/ ) team.
Best wishes!
My daughter has played football for 12 years now and has consistently refused to use a radio aid. The emphasis these days for the younger ones, is on free play during games without interference, as the way to encourage players to develop their own ideas with coaches only adding in their tuppence in the breaks. It’s more important to be in touch with all her team and a coach in her ear can be more of a distraction than a help. It may be you need to look instead at some kind of simple hand signals for the whole team ( bonus is confusing the opposition!) and ensuring they all know the simple tips to make it easier for her to lipread. Great that her coaches are supportive!!
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