About

The Sound of Hope: Recognizing, Coping with and Treating Your Child’s Auditory Processing Disorder, by Lois Kam Heymann, M.A., CCC-SLP, is the first practical guide to help parents improve their children’s listening skills so they can communicate clearly, interact well and fare better in school—whether the child has a diagnosed disorder, learning disability, or slow language development. In addition to the insights and knowledge of this veteran speech therapist, the book also contains a stirring foreword by her star parent-client, Rosie O’Donnell.

Characterized by a confusing ability to hear but not listen well, a limited vocabulary and frustration in communication, Auditory Processing Disorders (APD) afflict 1 in 100 children and are often wrongly diagnosed as a learning disability or as ADD. There is no surgery or pill to correct the issue. And without intervention, APD can be devastating for a child as s/he enters school, where good listening skills are essential for success in the classroom.

Actress/Celebrity Rosie O’Donnell’s eight-year old son was diagnosed with this confounding disorder. Veteran speech and language therapist Lois Kam Heymann worked with the family and taught a method of interventions that dramatically helped him. He is now thriving  at home and at school. O’Donnell’s moving foreword to The Sound of Hope makes clear that she wants to help spread the word about Lois’s invaluable process and techniques.

Explaining what an APD is and how skills and abilities can be improved and enhanced through parent interventions, The Sound of Hope is a groundbreaking manual for honing a child’s auditory skills. Lois offers activities, games, rhymes, songs and read-aloud texts that will promote new neural connections and enhance a child’s aural comprehension. Coaxing children to isolate sounds and build recognition for them, parents will ultimately help their child communicate better, listen more effectively and have a lifetime of better listening, learning and success.