The more a child hears the better and faster the child will learn spoken language. So, giving a child maximum access to auditory information is critical for the child to develop his full potential in using spoken language. Furthermore, systematic reviews of auditory training research reported improvements in trained skills, transfer of improvements to other domains, and retention of benefits post training (Rayes, et al., 2019; Stropahl, M. et al., 2020). The Moog Center Teacher Assessment of Auditory Skills (TAAS) is designed to facilitate this process.
The TAAS is appropriate for working with children three years of age and older who are using hearing aids, cochlear implants, or a combination of devices. However, there may be younger children from whom targeting some of the skills may be appropriate, depending on their vocabulary and language. The TAAS is designed to help children who are deaf or hard of hearing develop listening skills to their maximum potential. The focus of the TAAS is to refine and extend the child’s listening skills and to accelerate his progress acquiring them. The strengths of this program are that it combines both an analytic (bottom-up) and synthetic (top-down) approach, and it provides a list of skills in essentially their expected order of development, specific criteria for rating each skill, and a focus on the development of higher-level listening skills.
The TAAS includes this TAAS Guidebook (available either as a printed book or eBook),the TAAS Rating Form, Assessment Worksheets, a Teaching Worksheet, an acoustic hoop, and a variety of resources for targeting auditory skills development, including the TAAS Pictures App for targeting identification skills.
The binder format of the printed book allows for organization and storage of the Guidebook itself, as well provided materials including the TAAS Rating Form, Worksheets, Questions, Sentences, Usborne Picture Scenes, Riddles, and Stories for assessing different skills. It also allows for inclusion of materials such as those for practice, other resources, and individual children’s worksheets. For the eBook, the TAAS materials will be available electronically.