With Easter right around the bend, you know what that means; bunnies, chocolate, family time, and everybody’s favorite, Easter egg hunts! Many adults and children love hunting for Easter eggs. What’s not to like? It is exciting finding that brightly colored Easter egg hidden in the bush or couch cushion, and the excitement doesn’t end there. You never know what it contains inside until you open up all of your eggs at the end. However, just like any event that requires preparation, when you have a child that is deaf and is going to take part in the celebration, a special event like this can seem daunting.
Luckily, there are ways to ensure that your Easter egg hunt is inclusive and fun for everyone. If you want to make your Easter egg hunt, hearing loss friendly, check out these helpful tips!
- Talking to your child before the egg hunt is highly recommended. Leading up to the event spend some time talking to your child about Easter egg hunts and what to expect. By doing this, you may be able to alleviate some of your child’s anxiety.
- If your child wears hearing aids or cochlear implants, make sure they have it on before the event, and check on it periodically throughout the outing. With children, you never know if they are going to notice if the device falls out of their ears, especially with young children, so stay vigilant.
- When you are explaining instructions to a child who has a hearing impairment, aim to make your directions visually appealing and easy to understand by acting out what’s involved. Easter egg hunts have a million distractions, so it’s easy for children with hearing loss to miss verbal instructions.
- Make sure you come prepared if your child wears a hearing device, this means bring spare batteries, the device’s carrying case, and anything else you need for your child. If your child is very young, it may help to bring their favorite blanket or toy to help “center” them when they become overwhelmed and overstimulated by the noisy and busy environment.
- Busy, loud environments can quickly become over-stimulating to a child with hearing loss. It takes a lot of mental energy and concentration to try to process and hear everything around them, so they are likely to become over-tired and agitated in a short period of time. To help prevent this, give them periodic breaks away from the loud situation so they can regroup and calm down.