NEWS UPDATES:

EAR-Central: (Professional) Life on Hold

The past few months have seen so many changes that it warrants a little explanation.  Let me start by saying that as of April 8, 2019, my professional practice has been put on hold. That is, as of that date I am not scheduling any new patient appointments or therapy services. I have a couple of people "wait-listed" for appointments that never happened but professional demands ended up colliding with a major life-change--we are moving to the Prescott, Arizona area (about 5 hours north of our present home in Sierra Vista).

We have been prepping our house to put it on the market for sale.  Unfortunately, that impacts EAR-Central in two very important ways.

1) My wife was having to manage most of the home-prep work single-handedly because I was so busy with patients (and reports), especially in the Phoenix area--with all the attendant commuting (6 hours round-trip).  Since I am very much needed to help with the load, I have had to draw a line in the sand and stop new evaluations for the foreseeable future (likely at least until late July, 2019.)  Even though I've stopped scheduling new appointments, I'll still be working on completing reports for the next few weeks.  Some time after July, 2019, I expect to have my home-based office re-established up in the Prescott area.

I was seeing Phoenix-area patients at Dr. Dana Day's office, and patients from southern Arizona were seen at my home office.  That brings up the second impact: 2) Since we are prepping our home for the market, and since an at-home professional office doesn't usually fit that picture very well, I am having to dismantle the EAR-Central office in my home to stage it for regular potential home-buyers.  Plus, imagine trying to schedule and see patients (even if I had the time), while trying to maintain and schedule the home for showing to potential buyers.  It was too much.

In the meantime, if you have an immediate need for CAPD testing or therapy services, I recommend that you contact Dr. Dana Day's office in Phoenix (Arizona Balance & Hearing [ABHA] at 4004 N. 7th Street in Phoenix--see our location tab for map and directions).  If there are special cases where I am needed to consult with Dr. Day about a particular patient as an associate consultant, I am available to do that on a limited basis.  There are a couple of other Arizona clinics that do some CAPD testing, however I am most confident with the level of services at Dr. Day's office.  I have been working part-time as an associate staff member of ABHA, supporting the expansion of services for CAPD patients there.  My position at ABHA is "on hold" until our personal transition is complete, after which I will likely be providing ongoing consultation for CAPD practice development.

If you need to schedule CAPD appointments with Dr. Day in Phoenix, please call Miller Rees (Office Manager) at ABHA.  The phone is 602-265-9000.  Click here for location.

Family Passages:

  • Many of you have asked about my Dad (89), who moved down to assisted living near me in August, 2017.  His wife Loretta, passed away September 29, 2018 after a long illness.  She was 96.  Though he misses her, his memory difficulty is a bit of a cushion against feeling it as acutely as he might otherwise.  He is doing well health-wise, and with his amazing sense of humor, is quite a favorite among the residents where he lives.  Dad will be moving to a new assisted living "home" up in the Prescott area when we transition early-mid summer.

 

  • My daughter who was struggling with health issues for a number of months, is now doing very well, thank God!  Thanks to all of you who prayed and encouraged our family during that time.  She was accepted for residence at "Rainbow Acres"--a Christian community for adults with developmental disabilities located near Camp Verde in northern Arizona.  Her possible move is one of the main reasons we are relocating to northern Arizona to be near her.  On our visits, we have been very impressed with the high ethical and caring standards of this 30+-year old ranch located on 50 acres in the Verde Valley.  We've visited twice and our interviews with them were very positive.  We found out on February 19 that she was accepted and her residency will probably begin this July (2019).  Rainbow Acres is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt ministry.  If you would like more information, visit their website at https://www.rainbowacres.com/.

 

Michael Webb and EAR-Central, PLLC Offer Audiologists, Related Specialists Mentoring and Training in CAPD Practice Development!

Due to a significant shortage of CAPD-qualified audiologists, and after requests from audiologists (and related specialists like SLPs) for help in this area of practice, EAR-Central, PLLC now offers various forms and levels of CAPD practice and procedures training for those wishing to expand their expertise into this promising, yet undLaptop n Notebookerserved sub-specialty.

One of Mike Webb's specialty areas is the fitting of Personal Hearing Devices (Hearing Aids) for Management of CAPD.  (More info here.) His forty-plus years of hearing aid experience (with ten-plus in fitting CAPD patients) makes him a great resource for training in this specialty field.  

Services range from email or phone consults, to online training, to on-site training.  We also offer 1-3 day training courses for groups or individuals who desire that in a particular locality.  Click here for a closer look.  We welcome any questions you may have about availability, costs, or other specifics.

In this turbulent and disruptive season of audiology practice, the return to our habilitative and diagnostic roots--separate from, but including the use amplification devices--will mark the future and expand the value of the audiological specialist who assesses and treats the WHOLE system, not just the peripheral.  And as more CAPD diagnoses impact the caseloads of related specialists, we can help de-mystify how to move forward cooperatively to help our mutual patients.  We welcome your interest and inquiries.

Email:  mowebb.earc@gmail.com.  Call:   877-456-4725 (toll-free).

We received a very kind letter of recommendation from Dr. Jack Katz!

February 7, 2016

I am pleased to recommend my friend and colleague Michael O. Webb, M.S. CCC-A and his wife Mrs. Shelley Webb in their Neuro-Audiology and Auditory Processing Services. Michael Webb has extensive background in these two areas of Audiology and Shelley Webb’s training and experience are in reading. In addition, I have worked closely with the Webbs in the effective use of my tests and therapy materials.

For me what makes the Webbs so wonderful to work with is their intelligence, integrity and concern for those with whom they work. For these reasons I recommend them to you without qualification.

Sincerely,

Jack Katz

P.S. Mr. Webb did not request this letter of recommendation. Rather I asked if he would like me to write a letter of recommendation for his website.

Book Coming in 2019!

   A Challenging and Informative Look at CAPD--Diagnosis, Treatment,    and  Why it gets Overlooked.   By our CAPD Specialist, Michael Webb!

The Elephant Between Our Ears (Some Assembly Required):

A Proactive Guide to Diagnosing and Managing Auditory Processing Disorders (APD)

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This and That…

Dear Parent...Why I'm not "Dr. Webb."   

I recently wrote a letter to the mom of one of my patients, explaining why my title is not "Dr. Webb" and why I usually tell people, "Just call me Mike."  Having different degrees within the same profession can be a little confusing.  I included it on my "Our Specialist" page (in the right-hand sidebar).  Click here to read it.

i-m-logoInteractive Metronome® (IM) has been widely used as a treatment tool among speech/language professionals and occupational and physical therapists for a number of years.  It is frequently sought out by athletes to improve certain performance skills.  Peripherally, it has been recommended in the treatment of clinical manifestations of auditory processing disorders (CAPD), but not utilized very often.

What is IM?  It is a training system which assesses and treats the neurological functions related to TIMING and RHYTHM and COORDINATION.  What does that have to do with CAPD?  Speech and language usage operates in multiple dimensions:  frequency (pitch), intensity (loudness), and TIMING (duration).  The timing aspect is called TEMPORAL PROCESSING.  Though this is grossly over-simplified, it is not overstated to say that TIMING, and it's correlate, RHYTHM are critical in our communication skills and processing speed.  There are also links to attention and self-regulation.

Recent research at Northwestern has shown that persons with deficient ability to maintain good timing/rhythm frequently have corresponding delays in speech, language, and reading abilities.  IM assesses a patient's efficiency in timing and rhythm.  Based on these baseline measurements, a treatment plan which trains these modalities is undertaken, frequently resulting in significant improvements in disorder areas affecting speech, language, motor skills, attention, self-regulation, auditory and cognitive processing.  IM is also known to be a helpful adjunct to other traditional therapies, often accelerating and improving their outcomes.  While no therapy guarantees can be made, the outcomes are typically very beneficial.

IM assessments and therapies are generally done in the clinic.  In cases where prolonged therapy plans or more severe dysfunction is present, a home version, IM-Home, is available.  IM Home permits less travel, office time, and more frequent, intensive therapy opportunities.  Frequent and intense neurological stimulation is a critical component to successful therapy outcomes via neuroplasticity--the brain's ability to "rewire" itself through targeted activities.

For more information about IM, or to schedule an assessment, please call our office at    877-456-4725 (toll-free), or email Mike Webb at mowebb.earc@gmail.com.

"It should be noted that CAPD is not technically a solitary, unified disorder, but actually represents a group of clinical entities which–individually or occuring together–create communicative difficulties for a patient.  Symptoms like poor speech-in-noise performance, temporal processing problems, “amblyaudia” (abnormal integration of the signals from the two ears in the brain), spatial processing disorder (SPD), phonemic decoding; etc., represent some of the clinical manifestations that are called CAPD.  Professional differential diagnosis by a qualified Neuro-audiological specialist is critical."

--Michael Webb