With Mrs Morris suffering from congenital hearing loss, early tests showing Ruby had mild to moderate hearing loss, did not come as a surprise.

It’s been several decades since Mrs Morris accessed speech therapy and support from Sydney’s Shepherd Centre – the same service now assisting 19-month-old Ruby in her development.

“We started with the Shepherd Centre, doing one-on-one sessions, when Ruby was about six months old,” Mrs Morris said.

After moving to the Eurobodalla 10 months ago, Ruby has continued her therapy with the help of a smartphone and tablet.

“Since then, we’ve been doing online speech therapy with her through the Shepherd Centre at Wollongong,” Mrs Morris said.

“At the end of the day, it’s about what I’m doing with her 24/7 and it’s pretty much (our speech therapist) teaching me what I need to do with her.

Mrs Morris said it was exciting to see how improvements in research and technology were driving therapy for hearing-impaired children.

“Years ago, we did a lot of one-on-one with me, but now, times have changed, research has improved, and they’re realising it’s the mums or dads that are doing all the work with the kids,” she said.

“They taught me how to speak, so it’s nice to be able to go back through the Shepherd Centre with Ruby and be part of it again.”

As a childcare centre director, Mrs Morris said she was confident Ruby’s hearing loss would not stand in the way of her future.

“I’ve got two uni degrees, so when I look at what I’ve achieved in life and where I’ve gone, I know she can only do better than that,” she said.

The Morris family is encouraging the Eurobodalla to wear a colourful or flamboyant shirt to work on Friday in support of the Shepherd Centre.

Visit loudshirtday.com.au for details.