Toys for all!

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Every week we have the opportunity to work with amazing children with hearing loss through the UCSF Hearing Loss Clinic, and here at SOUND! For these children, seeing other kids, television characters, or toys that are like them, is very important to their social-emotional development. We've seen kiddos eyes light up when we show a video of another child with a hearing loss or hearing aids similar to their own. 

This got us thinking about ways we can help show even more inclusion and connectivity to the world around them through stories and toys. For those of you who have little ones, with hearing loss, on your holiday shopping list we've put together some gifts that are not only fun and inclusive:

American Girl Doll: The American Girl Doll hospital places hearing aids into any of your existing, or new American Girl Dolls. 

Weesie Pals: Custom plush dolls with BAHA or Cochlear Implants. These lovable dolls bring a smile to any child's face.

Makies Dolls: Customize your child's doll to look like them, or a family member. You can include custom color hearing aids to make the doll even more like your child.

El Deafo: A graphic novel for children in grades 2-6. This book highlights Cece who loses her hearing from spinal meningitis, and takes readers through the arduous journey of learning to lip read and decipher the noise of her hearing aid, with the goal of finding a true friend. 

Signing puppets: Offering amazing dexterity, with an amusing facial expression or lively gesture, these puppets instantly come to life. Ideal for teaching sign language and fingerspelling to children of all ages, the puppets help create a fun learning environment.

Monkey cuddly toy: A cute cheeky monkey cuddly toy - complete with removable cochlear implant. Besides being a very cute monkey, Bionic Buddy helps children understand what a cochlear implant is and how they use it to improve their hearing. Also, parents and clinicians use this lovable stuffed animal to teach children how to wear their new cochlear implant.

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Jody Vaynshtok

Jody is a California-licensed speech language pathologist with eight years of industry and clinical experience. She has worked with both adult and pediatric populations during her time at private practice, birth-to-three, and hospital facilities. She is experienced in the assessment and treatment of a variety of communication and cognitive disorders. In addition, Jody has a passion for working with adults looking to achieve clearer communication. Jody received her BS in Speech and Hearing Sciences and MS in Medical Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Washington. She was a part of the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford’s cleft and craniofacial clinic participating in the multidisciplinary assessment and treatment of children born with craniofacial abnormalities. She holds a staff position at UCSF and is the lead speech language pathologist for the department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery’s Hearing Loss Clinic. When she's not busy having fun with her clients Jody enjoys spending time with her husband, Anton, friends and family. And if she's not headed out somewhere fun for dinner, you might find her at Bar Method working out!