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I hope 2020 is full of people responding to you with “of course.” The world needs more people saying “…of course.” Whether it is “of course you are welcome here” or “of course I’ll help.” Even “yes” isn’t as good as “of course.” “Yes” means it could have been “no”—“of course” means there was never any question. 

Catherine Palmer, in her General Assembly Speech at the Academy’s 2019 annual conference, inspired us by emphasizing that audiologists have an incredibly important and expanded role in the health and well-being of the people we serve. 

“Audiologists start a chain of events for a child that will promote reading, education, and employment,” she said in her address. 

That chain of events starts with a child learning to listen and learning spoken language. This article will address the audiologist’s role in those events from a very practical perspective.

On a recent trip to New Orleans to attend the Louisiana Academy of Audiology meeting, I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with Dr. Daniel Mochon, who will be the keynote speaker at the AAA 2020 General Assembly, sponsored by Amplifon. AAA 2020 + HearTECH Expo will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 1–4. 

The standard behavioral procedures used to assess the hearing of very young children are powerful tools. Yet, even in the hands of a skilled clinician, they are nearly worthless unless the child is ready to be tested. Thus, it is helpful—indeed necessary—to draw on techniques that get the child to do what we want the child to do.