CCHAT Alum Olive Shows the Power of Early Intervention

When parents learn that their child has hearing loss, a once-clear picture of the future is filled with uncertainty. This was the case for Madeleine and Alex Porter when their daughter Olive failed her newborn hearing screening shortly after birth.

The resulting journey has taken the Porters on a life-changing path, one full of accomplishment and success. Thanks to her family’s dedication and CCHAT’s Littlest Listeners program, Olive has become a shining example of what’s possible for children with hearing loss who receive vital early intervention services. 

Discovering CCHAT and Finding Peace

When they learned of Olive’s hearing loss, the Porters chose to take a proactive approach. Olive received cochlear implants at 8 months old and was immediately connected to an auditory-verbal therapist (AVT) in their hometown of Alameda.

“Early intervention allows families to become empowered after a potentially devastating diagnosis,” Madeleine said. “Small children's brains are so flexible that you want to give them help as early as possible to adapt to what is needed. We really did a lot of work with her when she was small and it paid off.”

Olive’s development would soon take another leap. The family’s AVT introduced Madeleine to CCHAT, and the Porters suddenly had a lot more motivation for an already-planned move to Sacramento. 

Olive enrolled in CCHAT’s Baby & Me, the first step of their Littlest Listeners program, at 16 months old. This parent participation class introduces families to listening and spoken language resources while building a foundation of communication skills for children with hearing loss.

Madeleine immediately felt at ease after joining the CCHAT community.

“It was eye opening to be around so many other families in similar situations, to know that we were not alone,” Madeleine recalled. “It also felt like a weight had been lifted in that there were others with eyes on her that were professionals and had experience and could help Olive in ways that I could not or did not even know how.”

Immersing Themselves in Littlest Listeners

The Porters quickly realized the value of CCHAT and how the program could shape Olive’s future for the better. Olive and her parents began enjoying CCHAT’s individualized, center-based services that included daily speech therapy, intensive classroom instruction, audiological support and parent education.

Madeleine found that she and Alex were being just as supported as Olive was.

“All the therapists were very helpful in providing tips and tricks on what to do at home,” Madeleine said. “I found observing speech therapy once a week to be very helpful. It was interesting to see what they did in speech and the different techniques the therapist used to elicit speech. I also appreciated the teachers sending emails every week to let the families know what they were working on so we could continue to talk about it at home, read the same books or sing the same songs.”

While the Porters felt comforted at home, Olive continued to shine at CCHAT. Her speech, listening and language proficiency rivaled and surpassed the expected levels of her hearing peers. Additionally, CCHAT was ensuring that Olive felt comfortable with her hearing-assistive technology. She learned how to care for her devices, fix minor problems, and explain any issues in sound quality to those around her. 

Littlest Listeners’ comprehensive services had Olive on the fast track toward mainstreaming into her neighborhood school. The goal of the program is to mitigate the negative impacts of hearing loss on speech/language acquisition, academic achievement and social/emotional development, and it was clear this had been achieved with Olive. 

“CCHAT prepared Olive in giving her the advocacy skills and knowledge about her own implants to share with people who are not familiar,” Madeleine said. “She is also able to listen to directions, ask questions, follow along, participate, and talk to others throughout the day – all of which she learned at CCHAT.”

Confidently Joining the Hearing World

Olive mainstreamed into her local preschool in 2023, equipped with the listening and spoken language skills needed to thrive. Madeleine and Alex know this success is only possible because of CCHAT’s dedication to children with hearing loss. 

“(Olive) is thriving in the mainstream,” Madeleine said. “We do not think Olive would be where she is today if it was not with the help of all the talented teachers and therapists at CCHAT. We were lucky to be a part of such an inspiring and loving community.”

For Madeleine, the experience of navigating Olive’s hearing loss had a profound impact on her own life. She enjoyed overseeing Olive’s speech therapy goals so much that she went back to school and became a certified speech-language pathology assistant. 

As the Porters watch Olive grow and accomplish all of her goals, they look back with fondness at the program that helped guide them through the early years and continues to provide support to their family.

“We cannot say enough kind things about CCHAT and how much we miss it,” Madeleine said. “We hope CCHAT continues to grow and more people become aware of the amazing services offered.”