2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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4/15/2014  |   1:45 PM - 2:15 PM   |  Family Needs Assessment - Families Report on Quality and Availability of Services   |  Grand Ballroom 8   |  7

Family Needs Assessment - Families Report on Quality and Availability of Services

The Alexander Graham Bell Association conducted The Family Needs Assessment in an effort to gain insight on the perceptions of families with children who are deaf and hard of hearing on the quality and availability of services received, from both private and public providers. Literature concerning children with hearing loss clearly confirms that those who receive early intervention have better outcomes, yet many children still are not receiving the full spectrum of services needed to ensure success. Families continue to struggle in their journey to make informed decisions regarding pathways to language development, often in the absence of adequate knowledge, financial resources and social supports. The goal of the assessment was to understand the needs of families seeking a listening and spoken language outcome as they progress through the major phases of their child’s journey, including newborn screening, diagnosis, connecting with early intervention, amplification, IFSP development, transition to IEP and preschool and school-age transitions. Literature suggests that families require timely, unbiased, culturally sensitive and relevant information delivered by qualified professionals at each stage of this journey. Counseling and management should be developed so that parents get informational support as well as adjustment and emotional support. This dichotomy of personal guidance and informational support is relevant not only to the types of professionals that are needed, but the style, tone, and channels utilized for information disbursement. Families across the country need equitable access to financial support and advocates on their behalf. Families and children need the resources and skills to advocate for themselves and to be fully empowered as they navigate an often complex network of service providers, support organizations and administrative institutions. This session will present the general findings of The Family Needs Assessment and promote discussion about strategies that can address challenges identified by respondents.

  • Describe at least two critical elements that impacted families’ access to early intervention services.
  • List three major findings that describe what families are experiencing in delivery of early intervention services to support language development.
  • Describe both positive and negative characteristics of professionals who deliver information as identified by families of children with hearing loss.

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Presenters/Authors

Judy Harrison (POC), AG Bell, jharrison@agbell.org;
Judy Harrison is the Interim Executive Director for the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She is an experienced teacher of the deaf and early interventionist specializing with cochlear implants. She currently represents AG Bell on the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing.


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Donald Goldberg (Primary Presenter), College of Wooster/CCF, dgoldberg@wooster.edu;
Donald M. Goldberg, Ph.D., CCC-SLP/A, FAAA, LSLS Cert. AVT, is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the College of Wooster (Oho) and a member of the Professional Staff for the Hearing Implant Program (HIP) at the Cleveland Clinic’s Head and Neck Institute. Goldberg was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Newcastle’s Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) in North Rocks/Sydney Australia from December 2014 through February 2015. Dr. Goldberg earned his Ph.D. at the University of Florida (UF) in 1985; Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from UF in 1979; and his Bachelor’s degree in Biology/Education from Lafayette College in Easton, PA (1977). He has been a university/college professor, the co-director of one of the largest cochlear implant centers in the United States, and is the former Executive Director of the Helen Beebe Speech and Hearing Center, Easton, Pennsylvania. The co-author of “Educational Audiology for the Limited-Hearing Infant and Preschooler: An Auditory-Verbal Program” (Pollack, Goldberg, & Caleffe-Schenck, 1997), Dr. Goldberg has written numerous book chapters, published a range of research-based and clinical publications, and has been an invited speaker throughout the United States and Canada, along with gracious invitations and opportunities to present in Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, India, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Austria, England, Israel, and Argentina. Hewas awarded the Honors of the AG Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in 2018.


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Meredith Sugar (Co-Presenter), AG Bell, msugar@taftlaw.com;
Meredith Knueve Sugar is a practicing attorney in the Business & Finance and Private Client groups at the law firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister, LLP in Columbus OH. She has been a member of AG Bell since 2006 when she and her familiy attended their first AG Bell convention, as was elected to its Board of Directors in 2009. She is currently serving as the president-elect. Meredith and her husband are parents to four children, including an 8-year-old son who uses bilateral cochlear implants, as well as two other sons and a daughter. She has previou7sly served as secretary of the board of directors for AG Bell's Ohio Chapter and is active in other nonprofit capacities, specifically organizations related to hearing loss.


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