2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
2/28/2017 | 9:40 AM - 10:10 AM | Colorado State EHDI Team: Building a System to Improve Outcomes for Children | Regency V
Colorado State EHDI Team: Building a System to Improve Outcomes for Children
Colorado has worked collaboratively with key partners since 1992 to develop a statewide system of care for families and their children who are deaf and hard of hearing. As a team we work together to ensure families and their children receive timely and appropriate follow-up. Colorado has recently faced a serious challenge in that the legislation that was passed in 1997 does not give the health department statutory authority to provide follow-up for infants who do not pass the newborn hearing screen at hospital discharge. The original legislation was also an unfunded mandate. As a result the State EHDI Team and other partners are working out solutions to continue to improve the statewide system. These efforts include education to providers (primary care physicians, audiologists, hospitals, midwives and birthing centers) on best practices; providing outreach and follow-up to families using the parent to parent model; and developing a sustainable strategic plan that most likely will include legislation to provide statutory authority from screening through early intervention, including parent support. This presentation will demonstrate how collaboration is often necessary to achieve positive outcomes for a statewide EHDI program
- Participants can describe how parents and parent groups may participate in connecting families to systems of care.
- Participants will be able to describe how the Chapter Champion can provide education to primary care providers.
- Participants will be able to explain the value of an EHDI State Team for coordinated, culturally competent systems building statewide to ensure families and their children receive timely and appropriate services from screening through early intervention including parent support.
Presentation:
This presentation has not yet been uploaded.
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Sara Kennedy
(), Hands & Voices, Sara@handsandvoices.org;
Sara is a mom of four children, including a daughter who was born at home and later identified with progressive loss. An occupational therapist by training, Sara has worked for Hands & Voices since 2001 as the editor for the quarterly newspaper, the Communicator. Sara has a special interest in advocating for hearing screening in the homebirth community. She was a coauthor for the Virtual Waiting Room web presence at Hands & Voices, the handbook Bridge to Preschool: Navigating a Successful Transition as well as articles and presentations on teaching our deaf/hh children about sex, promoting self-advocacy, progressive hearing loss, and the decision process regarding cochlear implants. Sara transitioned out of her role as Director of Colorado Hands & Voices since 2011 at the end of February 2022. She finds her new consulting role with her young adult children rewarding and challenging.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Vickie Thomson
(), University of Colorado , vickie.thomson@ucdenver.edu;
Vickie Thomson, PhD, served at the Director of the Colorado Newborn Hearing Program at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment from 1991 to 2012. She received her master’s degree in audiology from the University of Northern Colorado in 1978 and her doctorate degree from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2007. As a clinical audiologist Vickie started one of the first infant hearing programs at Boulder Community Hospital. She has provided technical assistance in developing screening programs in Colorado and in other states and countries. She has written numerous articles on the importance of early identification and intervention of hearing loss in infants. She currently is the principle investigator if the HRSA EHDI grant and is a consultant to the National Center on Hearing Assessment and Management.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Dinah Beams
(), Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, dbeams@csdb.org;
Dinah Beams is the program coordinator for the Colorado Home Intervention Program (CHIP), a statewide, in-home, family-centered early intervention program for families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing that is part of the Outreach Department of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB). Previous experience includes working as an Outreach Specialist at Beginnings for Parents of Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing in North Carolina and as both a classroom and itinerant teacher in Colorado. Dinah is the author of the CHIP Parent Manual and the Curriculum for Sign Language Instructors, and co-developer of materials for the Integrated Reading Project, part of CSDB’s Early Literacy Development Initiative for young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Dinah also serves on the board for Colorado Families for Hands and Voices.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Maureen Cunningham
(), University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, maureen.cunningham@ucdenver.edu;
Maureen Cunningham is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Cunningham completed her MD in 2007 and pediatric residency in 2010 at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She completed a Primary Care Research Fellowship and earned her MPH from the Colorado School of Public Health in 2014. She has appointments in the Section of Hospital Medicine at Children’s Hospital Colorado and the Center for Global Health at the Colorado School of Public Health.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -