The Ida Institute has launched a working group consisting of pediatric audiologists from around the world to create guidance materials for the My World pediatric tool. The support materials will provide helpful suggestions and guidance on how to use the tool in different situations, making the tool even more user-friendly.
The My World pediatric audiology tool helps facilitate an understanding of hearing loss from the child’s point of view. By placing small, movable figures on three boards depicting a school, playground, and home setting, children can externalize their hearing loss and describe communication situations in a concrete fashion with a hearing care professional
Since the launch of the My World tool in December 2011, we have received positive feedback on the tool at workshops in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Users of the My World tool found that the tool gives the child a voice during the appointment and can help hearing care professionals acquire a more holistic understanding of the child in their social context. In addition, the tool acts as an excellent “ice breaker” for quiet children and can be a good way to acquire speech samples from the child.
Tool users informed us that additional guidance material could increase the usability of the My World tool and encourage more pediatric audiologists to start using the tool with patients. Acting on this feedback, we have launched a My World working group to develop supporting material. Led by Ida Institute project manager Ena Nielsen, the collaborative working group includes leading pediatric audiologists from the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Denmark. The group intends to develop suggestions and materials that address the following five areas:
1) How to introduce the tool to the child and parent(s) during the appointment
2) Video examples that show different ways how the tool can be used in the clinical setting
3) How the tool can effectively address the needs of the family and the child
4) How to use the tool with children at different developmental stages
5) How to adapt the tool for multiple disciplines, including teachers of the deaf, pediatric audiologists and speech and language therapists.
Members of the working group will develop and review the materials during the Fall and Winter of 2012. The materials are expected to be ready for release in 2013.