2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
3/10/2020 | 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM | Supporting Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in the Amish Community | Chouteau A
Supporting Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in the Amish Community
The Arthur Amish Community in Illinois is one of the largest Amish settlements with a population of over 4500 members. It is widely believed that members of the Amish community, do not use electricity, any technology, and are not open to modern medicine and interventions. Often perceived to be a closed-off community, not many people outside of the community have the opportunity to interact with and support the children who might need specialized interventions. The Expanding Children’s Hearing Opportunities (ECHO) program is one of the largest medical, audiological, and rehabilitation programs for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) in central Illinois. Over the last five years, staff members from the ECHO program have provided listening and spoken language intervention to children in this Amish community in their homes through early intervention. We were welcomed in the community and were able to partner with the families to develop interventions that were culturally appropriate, took into account the need to learn both Pennsylvania Dutch and English, and aligned with the parents’ desired outcomes. We developed strategies to accommodate cultural practices and yet promote consistent hearing technology usage. In the fall of 2019, the first all Amish play group began to focus on speech and language development for those children enrolled in early intervention. In this presentation, I will share the lessons we have learned over the past years and the progress we have seen. Results from interviews conducted with family members in the Amish community will be shared.
- • Review practices related to special education and technology within the Arthur Amish Community
- • Identify strategies to support intervention in a culturally appropriate manner
- • Identify strategies to support bilingual spoken language acquisition
Presentation:
21060_12648HollyRiegel.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Holly Riegel
(), Carle Foundation Hospital, holly.riegel@carle.com;
Holly Riegel, M.S. CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert AVEd is a Speech-Language Pathologist at the Carle Expanding Children’s Hearing Opportunities (ECHO) Program in Urbana, IL. She is a graduate of Elmhurst College – Bachelors of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology (2005) and of Nazareth College of Rochester – Masters of Science in Communication Disorders (2007). Holly has been a certified Early Intervention Specialist and Evaluator for the state of IL since 2007 and a certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Auditory-Verbal Educator since 2016. As a member of the interdisciplinary team at ECHO, she provides early intervention services to children with hearing loss and their families in home and center settings.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -