Developing Evidence-Based Hearing Screening Services for Children Birth to Three Years of Age: Building State and Community-level Partnerships

Wednesday, August 21, 2019
2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT

The Reauthorization of the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Act of 2017 includes an expanded focus on identifying children who are deaf or hard of hearing up to three years age. This webinar represents an opportunity for EHDI systems to coordinate efforts, share resources, and work together with Head Start State Collaboration Offices, Part C programs and individual state-based early care and education providers to expand evidence-based hearing screening practices to a broader population of children up to three years of age. 

Research indicates that by the time children enter school, at least 6 in 1000 are hard-of-hearing or deaf.  Newborn hearing screening is able to identify approximately half of these children ( 2 - 3 in 1000), but what about the other half who experience late onset or progressive loss or whose congenital hearing loss was not identified at birth?  Health care providers do not consistently perform evidence-based hearing screenings as a part of well-child visits for children birth to three years of age. There is also evidence that not all children entering Part C early intervention programs receive a hearing screening, even though many present with concerns about speech and language development.

Topics for the webinar:

As increasing emphasis is placed on EHDI systems to identify children who are deaf or hard of hearing up to three years of age, this webinar will address the following topics:

• Engaging and educating health professionals, other programs and service providers about the need for periodic hearing screening during early childhood;
  
• Identifying ways to expand state/territory capacity and infrastructure to support hearing screening and follow-up for young children

Who Should Attend?

• State EHDI Staff
  

After participating in this webinar, attendees will be able to answer and discuss the following questions:

• Why is periodic hearing screening and follow-up important during early childhood?
• What are the currently recommended evidence-based hearing screening methods for children 0 - 3 years of age?
• Which programs serving young children already have a commitment to and requirements for periodic hearing screening and to what extent do their practices reflect currently recommended evidence-based hearing screening recommendations?
• What are some specific action steps that can be taken at the State and Community levels to work with Early Head Start, Part C, and other early care and education programs to expand and improve hearing screening and follow-up services? 
• What technical assistance and training resources are available to EHDI and other early care and education providers to support the development and expansion of hearing screening and follow-up services?

We encourage you to share the link for this webinar with your colleagues
or associates who might be interested.

For questions or additional information, contact:

The ECHO Initiative
Jan Buhrmann
303-503-0858
echo.ncham@usu.edu 

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