2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
THE ANTONIA BRANCIA MAXON AWARD FOR EHDI EXCELLENCE
Michele Wilkins
Do you remember your child's (niece's, nephew's, etc.) first word? Imagine being the person that made those first words possible. Dr. Michele Wilkins is just that for hundreds and hundreds of children in the greater Chicago area.
Since 1999, Dr. Michele has been the Executive Director at Child's Voice. Much like Antonia Brancia Maxon, Dr. Michele has a vision for Child's Voice, what can be achieved, and how to better serve children and their families. In her tenure at Child's Voice, she has tirelessly implemented that vision to serve more children, provide services earlier and more effectively, and been a fearless advocate for the profession of education for children with hearing loss and audiology.
As Executive Director, she has expanded programming to include Early Intervention services and therapies for children, ages 0-3; added an Audiology Center that offers testing and support of hearing aids and cochlear implants; furthered expansion of the Audiology Center to include testing of newborns and infants at risk for hearing loss; and extended support for children after they leave Child's Voice programs to ensure their success in their local, neighborhood schools. Dr. Michele has also assisted with developing an incredible reputation for Child's Voice, both regionally, within our school district and educational partners, and nationally, through involvement with multiple advocacy organizations such as EHDI (Early Hearing Detection and Intervention) and OPTION Schools. This has expanded to international partnerships through Dr. Michele's vision, outreach, and presentations to programs in Ecuador and Israel.
The dedication and singular focus on excellence for each and every child, family, and staff member has allowed for incredible moments, from those first words, to graduation ceremonies in our hallways, to successful alumni now completing their college degrees and even advanced degrees, to a graduate becoming a teacher at Child's Voice and truly coming full circle.
2020 and 2021 represented years full of entirely new challenges such as ensuring the safety of students, families, and staff as we navigated the incredible new and choppy waters of the pandemic. Pivoting all education and services to virtual platforms in the spring and summer of 2020 was no easy task. Dr. Michele worked closely with all department heads to establish new practices, methods, support systems, and protocols to support this new method of learning while preparing to return to in-person instruction. Successfully, the programs re-opened in the fall of 2020 for in person learning and have been doing so since. This year, Dr. Michele announced that she will be retiring in June 2022.
Dr. Michele is known for using the term, "The proof is in the pudding, and our alumni are incredible examples of that." We feel that the proof of Dr. Michele's impact is unmistakable.