Interview: Christy Marzzacco, SLP and CED
Over the last few months I have had the wonderful experience of collaborating with Christy Marzzacco. We have been working closely together on the case of a little boy who was born completely deaf in his right ear. Due to his hearing loss, the county assigned both a speech therapist and a hearing specialist to the case. Christy's input as the hearing specialist has been invaluable to our entire team.
As I have gotten to know Christy and discover more about her diverse background and the distinctive work that she does, I was very interested to speak with her further in depth. She currently holds a dual certification as a teacher of the deaf (CED - Certified Teacher of the Deaf) and a speech language pathologist (CCC-SLP), as well as two other impressive special certifications.
Here is our interview:
Stephanie: Christy, thank you so much for speaking with me. I know you have a very diverse and unique professional background, which I cannot wait to hear about! Please tell us....
Christy: I have dual certifications as a teacher of the deaf (CED - Certified Teacher of the Deaf) and a speech language pathologist (CCC-SLP). I also have a special certification as a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS) Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist (Cert. AVT). I received my undergraduate degree as a teacher of the deaf at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, I taught for four years in Maryland working at the middle and high school levels for St. Mary's County Public School. My husband brought me to the Philadelphia area and I took a job as a teacher of the deaf at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit (DCIU). I also decided to go back to school and get my Master's degree in Speech Pathology from La Salle University.
Stephanie: Your background is so impressive. I would also love to hear more about what you currently do for the county. I have seen the wonderful work you are doing in home care, but I know that that is just a part of your responsibilities.
Christy: Currently, I work for the DCIU Hearing Department with children and families from birth or age of identification through transition to kindergarten. An Intermediate Unit (IU) provides services to the local public schools and acts as a consortium to provide services to the school districts in areas such as low-incidence disabilities, trainings and other educational services. The IU that I work for provides services to 15 school districts in Delaware County. My role with the DCIU Hearing Department is to teach a preschool class for children with hearing loss four mornings week, see itinerant birth - 3 and preschool aged children with hearing loss, and work on the diagnostic team. I work with a fantastic team that includes an educational audiologist, social worker, and three other therapist/teachers with varying certifications similar to my own.
Stephanie: Now, I've only had the opportunity to work with you with one child, so tell us a little more about the children you see and the type of disorders, etc. that you treat through your position.
Christy: I work only with children diagnosed with some degree of a permanent hearing loss. Although my degree in speech pathology allows me to work with varying types of communication disorders, I only see those children that are identified as having a hearing loss. The IU Hearing Program from ages three through 21 is an oral program meaning that all of the families have chosen to have their children learn how to listen and talk. At the birth - 3 level, our services include sign language as a mode of communication for families and children. It is really important for families to understand all of their options and possibilities for their child with hearing loss. Hearing technologies, including digital hearing aids, FM systems and cochlear implants, have opened the doors for many children to have access to auditory information including speech, and therefore learn how to talk.
Stephanie: Christy, what would you recommend to an SLP who is working with a child with a hearing loss if a hearing teacher has not been assigned to the case and/or they lack the resources in their county to add a hearing specialist to the IFSP team?
Christy: We are very fortunate here in Delaware County to be able to provide extensive services for children with hearing loss from both SLPs and Hearing Specialists. I realize that in some areas of the country this is not always the case. I experienced this first hand in Maryland where during the time that I was there, one audiologist served the children in two rural counties.
If you find yourself as an SLP with a child with hearing loss on your case and there is no hearing therapist, I would recommend learning as much as you can about the child's hearing loss first and foremost. Assuming you have already figured out what communication modality the child is using (sign versus speech), having a recent copy of the child's audiogram is a must. Equip yourself with a hearing aid test kit and listen to the child's hearing aids before every session. If the child is using a cochlear implant you can find a lot of useful information on the internet by looking at the cochlear implant manufacturers websites. Or, check out what brand of hearing aid the child is using and find it on the internet.
In this day of using the World Wide Web, there is no reason not to know how the equipment that the child is using works. Some of the websites even offer tips and strategies for educators and therapists. I would also talk with the clinical audiologist at the site where the child is receiving services and gather as much information as you can about the child's hearing loss. If a child is misarticulating /th/ or /s/ and you have a goal to work on those sounds, you better make sure the child can hear them first.
Educate yourself as much as you can about the child's hearing loss so that you will be better able to figure out what speech and language errors are caused by the hearing loss and what errors might be due to some other underlying factors.
Please tune in Tuesday to read the second half of my interview with Christy, when we will discuss the importance of therapist collaboration, as well as the challenges of working with children with hearing loss, especially at the early intervention level.