Collaborating Partners Address Issues Related to Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

April 1, 2013

Universal newborn hearing screen and technological advances have provided children with hearing loss with the opportunity to achieve outcomes comparable to their typically developing peers. Unfortunately, children with hearing loss born into poverty do not always have access to these opportunities and therefore do not always experience the same level of success. This is just one of the many critical issues to be addressed during the 2013 Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Annual Meeting in Glendale, Arizona (April 14-16, 2013) co-sponsored by the National Center for Hearing Association & Management at Utah State University (NCHAM), HRSA, CDC and AAP. Additional topics for this year's meeting include: early intervention; medical home; follow-up, tracking and data management; workforce issues and program evaluation /quality improvement.

As in past years, the 2013 EHDI conference will provide a unique forum for families and the audiology and speech language community to identify areas of concern, to promote collaboration and to share best practices. To complement these goals, AUCD has partnered with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) to organize a pre-EHDI LEND workshop. This two-hour workshop will engage over 40 LEND faculty and students  in a team-based learning format which will include pre-workshop reading materials, a readiness assurance test and small group, case-based discussions. Through this active learning strategy, participants will partner with other LEND students and faculty to apply key concepts in pediatric audiology to scenarios of early hearing detection and intervention.  Organization of this workshop would not have been possible without the generous support of AUCD's collaborating partner, NCHAM and a small group of dedicated planning committee members: Irene Forsman (MCHB); Robyn Schulhof (MCHB); Lisa Mancl (LEND-WA); Robert Fifer (LEND-FL); Diane Sabo (LEND-PA), Anne Harris (LEND-WI) and Jackson Roush (LEND-NC). For more information on the LEND pre-EHDI workshop program or for information on any LEND pediatric audiology activity, please contact Meaghan McHugh at AUCD ([email protected]).