As some of you might have heard before, at Little Listeners, we are all about the numbers. With so many numbers to keep track of though, it is very common that we are asked what do all these numbers mean? So, let’s break some of this down and dive right in to the numbers world of Little Listeners!
2013 – The year Little Listeners became a dream come true. Dr. Christa Reeves founded Little Listeners after her time at DeKalb Medical Center where she saw a particular need for Auditory Processing Disorder evaluation and therapy. With the help of Ms. Dawn and Ms. Kim, they have been growing ever since.
930 – The estimated number of Little Listeners we have helped over the years. This total is astounding when thinking about the number of lives that have been changed.
3 – Little Listener therapy sessions are comprised of listening training and rhythm training. For the listening portion of our sessions, patients listen to the Little Listeners PASE program recording tracks. There are 3 of them: Distorted Words (muffled speech), Words in Noise (think of sitting in a noisy restaurant and trying to listen to only the person across from you) and Competing Words (the patient hears one word in each ear so two words in total). These tracks are designed especially for Little Listeners therapy to help our patients strengthen their listening skills in situations they struggle with like a noisy classroom or hearing directions from a different room at their house.
10 – Out of the three listening playlists (Distorted Words, Words in Noise, and Competing Words), there are 10 tracks of each. As the patient progresses in their therapy session, they move from tracks 1 to 10 and they become progressively more difficult.
45-40-45 – How does a patient move from tracks 1 to 10? When a patient is listening to the words, they repeat them back to the Little Listeners staff member they are working with. If they get a word incorrect, it is marked so we can keep track of errors and correct them over time. For Distorted Words, patients are allowed to miss five out of 50 words to move on to the next track; hence, 45/50 correct. For Words in Noise, Little Listeners decided to allow patients to miss 10 out of 50 words since these are usually the most difficult words for our patients; hence, 40/50 correct. For Competing Words, patients are only allowed to miss five out of 50 words which brings us back to 45/50 correct. When a patient achieves these goals, they move on to the next listening track.
0 – 100 – As mentioned earlier, the other part of Little Listeners therapy is rhythm training. During a patient’s initial Auditory Processing Disorder Evaluation, the patient will complete a Long Form Assessment (LFA) with the Interactive Metronome (IM) Unit. Interactive Metronome is an incredible program used for numerous things such as Auditory Processing Disorder, stroke victims, or those who have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. If you would like more information about IM, we strongly encourage you to check out their website. When deciding what kind of training the patient should complete during therapy sessions, we use their millisecond averages from the complete during the Long Form Assessment. If their millisecond average is under 100 milliseconds, they start on a Hard Training Plan. This is very common for our adult patients.
101 – 200 – If a patient’s IM LFA millisecond average was between 101 and 200, they start on a Medium Training Plan. This is common for our patients who are in middle school or high school.
201 and up – If a patient’s IM LFA millisecond average is above 201 milliseconds, then they start on an Easy Training Plan. This is very common for our younger patients. As patient’s complete their training plan, they move on to a more difficult setting to strengthen their rhythm and timing skills even more.
0 – 200 – while completing Interactive Metronome, the Little Listeners staff encourages patients to be in synchronization with the IM beat (the cow bell noise everyone hears around our office). When a patient is right on the beat, they earn an SRO or Super Right On. This number is then recorded and sets a new goal for the patient. It is so fun to see this number get higher and higher throughout therapy sessions. Sometimes it takes a while to get right on the beat, but when it does happen, it is especially rewarding for the patient! The highest number we have ever seen is around 150 which is very impressive considering there are only 200 beats in a task. During the summer, Little Listeners holds weekly competitions for the highest number of SRO’s. Stay tuned to learn about more details about this Summer’s competition!
6 – 12 – Part of the Little Listeners Therapy Model includes a reassessment 6 to 12 months after the chosen therapy option has been completed. Why is this reassessment so important? As you might have heard a Little Listeners staff member say before, we see a “setting in” phase for about 6 to 12 months after therapy sessions. During our intensive therapy sessions, the brain is trying to figure out what to do with the listening and rhythm training. However, during these 6 to 12 months, the brain can absorb and rewire the brain to use what has been taught during the therapy sessions. Therefore, it is vital for patients to come back after this 6 to 12-month period to see how much the brain has absorbed and how it is using what we taught it to do during therapy. The Little Listeners staff also wants to make sure that the patient’s skills are holding strong and/ or progressing compared to the testing norms from right when therapy ended. It is amazing to see how much the brain can still do after therapy is over, and we love to watch it work!
6 – the number of staff members Little Listeners is blessed to have. Between Dr. Reeves, Ms. Dawn, Ms. Karen, Ms. Kim, Ms. Lindsey, and Olly of course, Little Listeners is full of knowledge, passion, joy, and lots of tail wagging.
1 – ONE office, ONE amazing team, ONE incredible community, all working towards ONE goal – helping anyone and everyone with their Auditory Processing and Audiology needs.
Well that’s all for now Little Listeners! We hope you all enjoyed learning some of the meaning behind our number madness. If you have any questions about these numbers or any of this information, please do not hesitate to ask!
