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If your child has hearing loss, good grades do not always mean they have full access at school. In this episode, Dana Ann Hawkins, MS, CCC-SLP, shares her family’s real-life journey navigating a Section 504 plan for her daughter after getting hearing aids.

We break down what a 504 plan for hearing loss actually is, how it differs from an IEP, and why schools sometimes wrongly deny accommodations when a child appears to be doing “just fine” academically. Dana walks through the exact school accommodations that can make a difference for children with hearing loss, including preferential seating, teachers facing students when speaking, repeated directions, classroom audio support, and testing accommodations.

You’ll also hear what happened when Dana was initially told hearing loss was not a qualifying medical condition, how she advocated effectively through documentation and email, and why even approved 504 plans can still fail without proper follow-through.

This episode is essential for:

• parents of children with hearing loss
• parents navigating school accommodations
• educators and school administrators
• speech-language pathologists
• pediatric audiologists
• disability advocates

Topics covered:

• how to get a 504 plan for hearing loss
• school accommodations for kids with hearing aids
• hearing loss and classroom access
• Section 504 rights for students
• standardized testing accommodations
• Bluetooth streaming and classroom technology challenges

If you are trying to make sure your child has equal access in the classroom, this episode offers practical advice, advocacy tips, and real-world insight to help you navigate the process with confidence.

Subscribe to Hearing Matters for more conversations on pediatric hearing loss, hearing aids, advocacy, and hearing healthcare. If this episode helped you, please share it with another parent or educator and leave a review.

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Email: hearingmatterspodcast@gmail.com

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Your child can “pass” a school hearing screening and still miss huge parts of daily life. That gap is where frustration, fatigue, and quiet slipping-behind can start, even when grades look fine on paper.

We’re joined by Dana Ann Hawkins, a speech-language pathologist and mom, who shares her daughter Emma’s journey with hearing loss, ear infections, and finally getting hearing aids. We talk honestly about the moment many families don’t expect: the hearing aids help, but they don’t magically solve noisy classrooms, fast directions, or social chaos in hallways and lunchrooms. Dana breaks down the difference between hearing in quiet and functional listening in real-world environments, plus what “total communication” really looks like at school and at home.

A major part of our conversation is advocacy. Dana walks through pushing for a 504 plan, getting denied because Emma was “doing well,” and what it took to reconvene with the right team and the right understanding of how accommodations work. We also get specific about assistive technology and modern school barriers, like locked Chromebooks that can block Bluetooth streaming to hearing aids during standardized testing. If you’ve ever felt like you’re explaining hearing loss from scratch to a school system, you’ll feel seen.

We also cover carryover strategies, listening fatigue, self-advocacy language kids can use, and why collaboration between hearing care professionals, audiologists, and speech-language pathologists can close the follow-up gap after a fitting. If you find this helpful, subscribe, share it with a parent or educator, and leave a review so more families can find practical support.

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Guessing is easy. Verifying is better, and in hearing aid fittings it can be the difference between “good enough” and genuinely clear speech. We sit down with Madison Levine, BC-HIS and Dr. Dave Fabry to unpack what real ear measurement actually looks like in a busy clinic, starting with a simple question: when should you run REM, at the first fitting or later?

We share a first-fit workflow that’s built for speed: prep the room, connect devices ahead of time, set expectations the moment the patient sits down, and run verification before anything else steals the clock. Then we zoom out to the bigger “why” behind probe microphone measures, including how REM helps confirm audibility at the eardrum regardless of prescriptive targets, proprietary algorithms, or fitting software defaults.

Dr. Fabry also lays out a practical verification protocol: multiple input levels, automated REM to match targets efficiently, and the often-missed safety-and-performance checks like MPO sweeps and LDL/UCL so comfort is protected without throwing away dynamic range. We end with the uncomfortable question: if the evidence is strong, why isn’t real ear measurement universal, and what can clinicians do to remove the time, cost, and confusion barriers?

If you care about hearing aid verification, audiology best practices, and better patient outcomes, hit play, then subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review. What’s the biggest obstacle keeping REM consistent in your workflow?

Connect with the Hearing Matters Podcast Team

Email: hearingmatterspodcast@gmail.com

Instagram: @hearing_matters_podcast

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