First Things First: Ensuring Auditory Access describes six evidence-based strategies to help educators, speech-language pathologists, parents, and student teachers/clinicians ensure that a child with hearing loss is receiving auditory access to spoken language. The strategies focus on understanding what a child hears and facilitating the best hearing experience for a child prior to and during intervention or teaching sessions. Readers will learn skills related to understanding a child's hearing history and hearing technology (such as hearing aids and cochlear implants) as a foundation for the development of listening and spoken language. Strategies include collecting and reviewing case records, interpreting audiological assessment information, regular evaluation of device function, trouble shooting devices, and working collaboratively with the audiologist, First Things First: Ensuring Auditory Access and forthcoming books in the Listening and Spoken Language Strategies for Young Children with Hearing Loss series provide the how-to and evidence-base for strategies that help children with hearing loss learn to understand and use spoken language. Students, professionals and parents will find the strategies in this series helpful and easy to apply in meeting intervention objectives.