Volta Voices October-December 2015 Magazine

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VOLUME 22 ISSUE 4 OCT-DEC 2015

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING

OCT-DEC 2015 // VOLUME 22 // ISSUE 4

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FEATURES 1 2 International Experiences in Advancing Listening and Spoken Language Read about international initiatives and efforts from all corners of the globe to enable children with hearing loss to live life to the fullest and thrive in their societies and communities of choice.

BY SVANTE BORJESSON, PERCIVAL J. DENHAM, JASPAL CHOWDHRY, JINSOOK KIM, AND DOMITILLE LOCHET

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1 8 Professionals Supporting the Whole Child and Family: Bilingual Children with Hearing Loss Read about supporting, assessing and serving bi-/multilingual children with hearing loss and their families.

BY ALLIETE RODRIGUEZ ALFANO, PH.D., CCC-SLP, LSLS CERT. AVT

2 2 Application of the Ling Approach: A Global Perspective from the Ling Consortium The Ling Consortium is dedicated to promoting the principles and practices of Dr. Daniel Ling, a pioneer of auditory-verbal practice. Read about the Consortium’s global perspective in applying the Ling approach.

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TRUDY SMITH, M.ED., LSLS CERT. AVT, MARIETTA PATERSON, ED.D., CED, AND CHRISTINA PERIGOE, PH.D., CED, CCC-SLP, LSLS CERT. AVT

2 6 AG Bell BHSM Writing and Art Contest Winners During the 2015 Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM), AG Bell invited children and teens to be an inspiration for our community in the first ever BHSM Writing and Art Contest. Check out the winners!

2 8 Unfolding the Future for Children with Hearing Loss: Gayla H. Guignard AG Bell's new Chief Strategy Officer shares about herself and her leadership vision for AG Bell and the AG Bell Academy.

INTERVIEW BY ANNA KARKOVSKA, M.A.

3 1 Meet the 2016 AG Bell Convention Chair: Tamala S. Bradham, Ph.D., CCC-A

IN EVERY ISSUE

DEPARTMENTS

2 Want to Write for Volta Voices?

3 Voices from AG Bell Building Bridges: Making Connections

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5 Editor’s Note International Perspectives on Listening and Spoken Language

Voices Contributors

1 0 Sound Bites 4 0

Directory of Services

3 2 Hear Our Voices Serving in the Peace Corps as a Person with Hearing Loss

4 4

List of Advertisers

3 6 Advocacy in Action

Hearing Health in the 114th Congress

3 8 Focus on Chapters Building a Strong Chapter ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING 3417 VOLTA PLACE, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20007 // WWW. AGBELL.ORG

Want to Write for Volta Voices?

Advancing Listening and Spoken Language for Individuals Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing Adopted by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Board of Directors, July 2013

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING 3417 Volta Place, N.W., Washington, DC 20007 www.agbell.org VOICE 202.337.5220 TTY 202.337.5221 | FAX 202.337.8314 Volta Voices Staff Director of Communications and Marketing Susan Boswell, M.A., CAE Editor Anna Karkovska, M.A. Advertising, Exhibit and Sponsorship Sales The Townsend Group Design and Layout GRAPHEK AG Bell Board of Directors President Meredith K. Sugar, Esq. (OH) President-Elect Ted Meyer, M.D., Ph.D. (SC) Immediate Past President Donald M. Goldberg, Ph.D., LSLS Cert. AVT (OH) Secretary-Treasurer Catharine McNally (VA) Chief Executive Officer Emilio Alonso-Mendoza, J.D., CFRE Directors Corrine Altman (NV) Rachel Arfa, Esq. (IL) Jonathan Berger, Esq. (NY) Robert J. Bush (PA) Ivette Cejas, Ph.D. (FL) Howard W. Francis, M.D., MBA (MD) Kevin Franck, Ph.D., MBA, CCC-A (MA)

Submissions to Volta Voices Volta Voices welcomes submissions from both AG Bell members and nonmembers. The magazine is published four times annually. Its audience consists of individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing, parents of children who are deaf and hard of hearing, and professionals in fields related to hearing loss (audiology, speech-language pathology, psychology, otology, social services, education).

For submission guidelines and to submit content, visit the Volta Voices page at www.agbell.org.

Subjects of Interest • Technology—related to hearing loss, new technology, improvements to or problems with existing technology, or how people are using existing technology, accommodations.

• Education—related to public or private schools through post-secondary education, new approaches and teaching methods, legal implications and issues, etc.

• Advocacy—information on legislation, hearing health, special or mainstream education, and accessibility.

• Health—audiology issues relating to children or adults with hearing loss and/or their families and friends.

• Action—stories about people with hearing loss who use spoken language as their primary mode of communication; deafness need not be the focal point of the article.

Editorial Guidelines The periodicals department reserves the right to edit material to fit the style and tone of Volta Voices and the space available.

Articles are selected on a space-available and relevancy basis; submission of materials is not a guarantee of use.

Transfer of Copyright The revised copyright law, which went into effect in January 1978, provides that from the time a manuscript is written, statutory copyright is vested with the author(s). All authors whose articles have been accepted for publication in Volta Voices are requested to transfer copyright of their articles to AG Bell prior to publication. This copyright can be transferred only by written agreement.

Without copyright ownership, the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing cannot issue or disseminate reprints, authorize copying by individuals and libraries, or authorize indexing and abstracting services to use material from the magazine.

Art Submission Guidelines Volta Voices prefers digital images over original artwork. When submitting electronic files, please provide them in the following formats: TIF, EPS or JPG (no BMP or GIF images). Digital images must be at least 300 dpi (at size).

SUBMIT ARTICLES/ITEMS TO: Volta Voices Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing 3417 Volta Place, N.W. • Washington, DC 20007 Email: editor@agbell.org Submit online at www.agbell.org

Letters to the Editor Let us know how we are doing. Write a Letter to the Editor, and you could see your comment in the next issue.

Media Kit Visit www.agbell.org and select “About AG Bell” for advertising information.

Donna Grossman, M.A. (VA) Sara Grosvenor (DC) Susan Lenihan, Ph.D., CED (MO) Teri Ouellette, M.S.Ed., LSLS Cert. AVEd (IN)

On the cover: Building Bridges: Listening and Spoken Language Around the World

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VOLTA VOICES Volume 22, Issue 4, Oct-Dec 2015 (ISSN 1074-8016) is published 4 times per year in March, June, September, and December for $50 per year by Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, 3417 Volta Pl., N.W., Washington, DC, 20007. Periodicals postage is paid at Washington, DC, and other additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Volta Voices, Subscription Department, 3417 Volta Pl., N.W., Washington, DC 20007, 202/337-5220 (voice).

Claims for undelivered issues must be made within 4 months of publication. Volta Voices is sent to all members of the association.

Yearly individual membership dues are $50. Volta Voices comprises $30 of membership dues. Subscriptions for schools, libraries and institutions are $137/year domestic (rate includes online access to The Volta Review), $150/year international (rate includes online access to The Volta Review) or $190/year both domestic and international (rate includes online access to The Volta Review as well as a print compilation volume of the journal).

Copyright ©2015 by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc., 3417 Volta Pl., N.W., Washington, DC 20007. Articles published in Volta Voices do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Acceptance of advertising by Volta Voices does not constitute endorsement of the advertiser, their products or services, nor does Volta Voices make any claims or guarantees as to the accuracy or validity of the advertisers’ offer.

PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40624074 Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4R6

VOICES FROM AG BELL

Building Bridges: Making Connections Listening and spoken language is a bond that connects professionals, families and children worldwide.

This connection was evident at the 2015 AG Bell Listening and Spoken Language Symposium which was a landmark event in forging stronger international partnerships with professionals and organizations around the world. The symposium brought together 55 professionals from a dozen countries, from Australia to India and Korea, to multiple countries in Europe and South America.

As a result of the international exchange at the symposium, new partnerships were established with international organizations that will provide professional training and resources as well as greater access to information, education and support for families and children who have chosen spoken language as their primary mode of communication.

AG Bell will partner with Svante Borjesson, director of Clave, a charity supporting people living with hearing loss in Spain, to create a Web Content Alliance between the two organizations.

Through collaboration with Clave and other organizations, AG Bell will be able to expand access to critical information about hearing loss and listening and spoken language to more families and professionals by translating content from its website in Spanish.

Clave, which is based in Spain, is a multinational group also registered in England and Wales, which provides information and training to professionals in Spain who are involved in the diagnosis, amplification and education of people

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with hearing loss. The organization offers practical and useful information to all Spanish speakers through its website www.oiresclave.org.

Clave also works to translate information into Spanish to make books and other materials about hearing loss accessible to the Spanish-speaking community worldwide. Recently Clave spearheaded the translation of The Hearing Aid Decision (Smith, Alpiner, & Mulvey, 2007) into Spanish to help improve hearing health care by guiding individuals through the process of determining whether amplification is a viable solution.

AG Bell also formed a partnership with Percival Denham, director of Instituto Oral Modelo (IOM; www.iom.edu.ar) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Through this collaboration, IOM will translate selected publications from the AG Bell bookstore into Spanish, expanding the knowledge base for listening and spoken language in South America. Spanish-speaking practitioners and parents alike will be able to learn from the book 101 Frequently Asked Questions About Auditory-Verbal Practice, edited by Warren Estabrooks, which is becoming a global publication that is currently available in Danish.

A pioneering organization in Latin America, IOM was founded in 1956 and remains dedicated to providing students from birth to age 14 with an excellent education using listening and spoken language and by offering a wide range of support services to parents and students.

Program graduates have a strong track record of success, with 75 percent of its graduates completing secondary education and 24 percent completing university education, while 80 percent of its graduates obtain careers as professionals or in entrepreneurial endeavors.

AG Bell developed a collaborative partnership with Jinsook Kim, Ph.D., with the Department of Speech Pathology and

Audiology at Hallym University (http://english.hallym.ac.kr) in South Korea by developing academic collaborations and interchange in research, training and other activities. The partnership will provide for an exchange of staff and students for study, teaching and research, and facilitate joint research activities. It will also provide for greater participation in seminars, conferences and academic meetings, and greater exchange of documents, publications and other materials. The division of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Hallym University was developed in response to the increasing demand for professionals to serve families of children with hearing loss.

Through collaboration with its international partners, AG Bell is planning to host a future AG Bell Listening and Spoken Language Symposium in Spain, providing an international venue for practitioners and scholars in Europe and around the world to gather and exchange best practices, share new research in the field and revel in how far we have come in advancing listening and spoken language worldwide.

Spain is a destination with a rich cultural and architectural heritage that is a host to conferences of organizations worldwide, and one where English is widely spoken to welcome visitors who speak the language of the conference program.

It is an exciting time as our association (and our field) makes great strides in extending its reach internationally—uniting ourselves around a common bond of advancing listening and spoken language for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Sincerely,

Meredith Sugar, Esq. President info@agbell.org

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EDITOR’S NOTE

International Perspectives on Listening and Spoken Language This issue of Volta Voices focuses broadly on making connections and building bridges to advance listening and spoken language for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing in their communities around the globe.

The 2015 AG Bell Listening and Spoken Language Symposium brought listening and spoken language professionals from all corners of the globe. During the symposium, AG Bell convened a meeting of international attendees, which was attended by professionals from a dozen countries, from Australia to India and Korea, to multiple countries in Europe and South America. In “International Experiences in Advancing Listening and Spoken Language,” some of the professionals who attended the international meeting showcase what each of them is doing in their respective country/program to advance listening and spoken language for children with hearing loss.

The Ling Consortium is a group of international listening and spoken language professionals dedicated to promoting the principles and practices of Daniel Ling, O.C., Ph.D., a pioneer of auditory-verbal practice. The Consortium recognizes that many children around the globe still do not have access to sound early in life and have limited auditory experiences compared to their peers with typical hearing. Ling’s work and approach are not only still relevant today, but will be in the future. Read about the Consortium’s global perspective in applying the Ling approach.

As the United States continues its evolution as a polyglottic society, listening

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and spoken language professionals need to meet the demands of the culturally and linguistically diverse children and families entrusted to their care. Alliete Alfano, a multilingual speech-language pathologist working in a culturally and linguistically diverse community in Miami, Florida, writes about supporting bi-/multilingual children with hearing loss and their families and provides resources and tips for assessing and serving diverse children and families.

Art and writing are universal means for connecting people. The individuals that create them reveal themselves, allowing the rest of us to see and hear them in a profound and universal way.

During the 2015 Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM), AG Bell invited children and teens to be an inspiration for our community of people who use listening and spoken language to communicate in the first ever BHSM Writing and Art Contest, in which children and teens used art or writing to share their insights and experiences.

Check out the winners of this contest!

AG Bell is thrilled to welcome back a professional who has dedicated the past 25 years to promoting high expectations and outcomes for children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Gayla H. Guignard, M.A., CCC-A/SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT, began as AG Bell's Chief Strategy Officer on September 1, 2015. Read about Guignard's personal and professional background, leadership vision for AG Bell and the AG Bell Academy, and advice to professionals serving children and families on the path to a spoken language outcome in a special interview article.

In this issue’s “Hear Our Voices,” Rachel Chaikof writes about her experience applying and serving in the Peace Corps as a person with hearing loss and provides tips and strategies for

anyone interested in serving as a Peace Corps volunteer.

For our “Focus on Chapters,” Sue Schmidberger, AG Bell’s chapter advisor, writes about what it takes to build a strong chapter and her new role and efforts to support chapters and enhance collaboration between the national office and the local organizations.

Our "Advocacy in Action" column provides an update on the fall 2015 congressional agenda, its impact on hearing health and AG Bell's advocacy efforts in that regard.

Thank you, as always, for reading.

We are starting the process of editorial planning for the upcoming year and are currently seeking articles that relate to technology, research, new parents of children with hearing loss and academic success. If you are interested in authoring an article, please send an email to editor@agbell.org with a brief description.

Kind Regards,

Anna Karkovska, M.A. Editor, Volta Voices editor@agbell.org

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VOICES CONTRIBUTORS Alliete Alfano, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert.

AVT, is the president of The Alfano Center and a visiting assistant professor at Florida International University in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Alfano has been working with families and their children with hearing loss as a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, and teaches speech-language pathology students in the areas of aural rehabilitation, diagnostics, language development, and anatomy and physiology. She has presented in English and Spanish at the local, state, national and international levels in the areas of bilingualism and children with hearing loss, and mentors professionals on the path towards their Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS®) certification in North and South America and Europe. Additionally, she is the vice president for governmental education for the Florida Association of SpeechLanguage Pathologists and Audiologists.

Svante Borjesson holds a B.S. in Business Administration and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. Borjesson had a long career in banking and venture capital before making a U-turn in his career and taking on the challenge to develop Clave, a charity with a mission of improving the quality of life of individuals with hearing loss, from a blank sheet of paper to what it has become over the last six or so years. He is of Swedish origin but having grown up in Spain, he is fluent in both Spanish and English apart from his native Swedish.

Susan Boswell, M.A., CAE, is the director of communications and marketing for AG Bell.

She has a master’s degree in management from Notre Dame of Maryland University. She can be contacted at sboswell@agbell.org.

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Rachel Chaikof is a bilateral cochlear implant recipient who first received her cochlear implant at age 2 1/2 in 1989 as part of a clinical trial at New York University when the multichannel cochlear implant was not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration for children.

She is currently a Peace Corps volunteer working in community health education in Cameroon. She primarily works with persons with disabilities by educating them about health issues such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and nutrition. She graduated summa cum laude from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2010 with a B.A. in visual communications with a concentration in photography and from University College London in 2011 with an M.A. in material and visual culture. She has given presentations about her life growing up with cochlear implants in the United States, Australia and France.

Jaspal Chowdhry, LSLS Cert.

AVT, holds a postgraduate degree in psychology and has diplomas for teaching children with typical hearing and children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Chowdhry has over 20 years of experience in early intervention and developing listening and spoken language in young children with hearing loss. She has been conducting auditory-verbal training workshops all over India since 1990. At present, she works with Cochlear as habilitation manager for South Asia and provides auditory habilitation support to most of the clinics and hospitals in India.

She also mentors professionals on the path to LSLS certification.

Percival J. Denham is the director general of Instituto Oral Modelo (IOM) where he has served since 2002.

He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and is an expert in educational and rehabilitative digital technology. He has written several books on these topics and given lectures at local and international conferences.

Jinsook Kim, Ph.D., is professor of speech pathology and audiology at Hallym University in Chuncheon, South Korea. She is considered one of the pioneers of audiology in South Korea. Kim is also vice president of the Korean Audiological Society and director of the Research and Development Center for Auditory-Speech Rehabilitation Program, Brain Korea 21 PLUS. She has published over 60 articles on pediatric audiology and electrophysiology in peer-reviewed journals.

Domitille Lochet, M.S., CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT, is a trilingual speech-language pathologist who has worked at The Barton G. Kids Hear Now Cochlear Implant Family Resource Center since 2011, where she assesses and monitors the communication skills of children ages 0 through 5 years pre- and post-cochlear implantation. Lochet received her master’s degree in communication disorders from Florida International University in 2006 and holds a certificate of clinical competence in speech-language pathology from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She obtained her Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS®) certification in 2013.

Marietta Paterson, Ed.D., CED, is associate professor and director of the education of the deaf undergraduate and graduate programs in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Paterson has taught and presented in universities and service programs in Canada, Australia and the United States in the areas of speech assessment and teaching, development and assessment of spoken language, and early auditory-based intervention for children with cochlear implants and hearing aids. From 1999-2004, Paterson worked with parents, children and professionals first as principal of St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf and then director of the Vancouver Oral Centre for

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VOICES CONTRIBUTORS Deaf Children in British Columbia. She is the chair of the Ling Consortium International.

Christina Perigoe, Ph.D., CED, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT, is associate professor and coordinator of the graduate program in deaf education with a focus on early oral intervention in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Perigoe has taught, presented and consulted extensively in Canada, United States and Australia on the topics of speech perception, speech production and auditory-verbal approaches for children with hearing loss using cochlear implants and hearing aids. She has written numerous articles and chapters on these topics and co-authored articles in two The Volta Review monographs: “Multiple Challenges-Multiple Solutions, Children with Hearing Loss and Additional Disabilities” and “Professional Preparation of Listening and Spoken Language Practitioners.”

Susan V. Schmidberger is the parent of 21-year-old Paige, a college student majoring in communication sciences and disorders who received her first cochlear implant at age 3 1/2 and her second implant at age 18. Schmidberger serves as the president of the New Jersey chapter of AG Bell and is AG Bell’s national chapter advisor. In 1997, she founded a support group for parents of children with hearing loss at Long Island Jewish Hospital that still meets every month. She has also served as a member of the parent advisory group for the Bergen County Special Services District. Currently, she helps with events for Clarke New York, works on the New Jersey Walk4Hearing committee and serves on the State of New Jersey Division of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Advisory Council. She has also taken on the role of the New Jersey parent representative for a federal program, pepnet2, to help improve the postsecondary outcomes for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Trudy Smith, M.Ed., LSLS Cert. AVT, is the manager of continuing professional education at the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) Renwick Centre in Sydney, Australia. Smith has been a teacher of the deaf since 1998 and became a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS®) in 2007.

She spent several years working in inclusive classroom settings before becoming the advisory visiting teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing for the Mount Isa and Longreach Districts in Queensland, Australia. She has worked as a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, supporting children and families in rural and remote settings. Smith then took on the role of statewide education advisor for hearing impairment for the Department of Education in Queensland which she held for three years. Smith is the current chairperson of the National Association of Australian Teachers of the Deaf (NAATD).

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NEWS BITES AG Bell Board Welcomes New Member AG Bell is excited to announce the recent appointment of Howard W. Francis, M.D., MBA, to the AG Bell Board of Directors beginning November 1.

Howard W. Francis, M.D., MBA, is professor and deputy director of the department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck surgery at Johns Hopkins University where he specializes in otology and neurotology and directs the Johns Hopkins Listening Center and its multidisciplinary cochlear implant team. He obtained his medical education from the Harvard Medical School and his internship, residency and fellowship training at Johns Hopkins.

Francis is an internationally recognized ear and skull base surgeon committed to advancing these fields through clinical innovation, research and education.

"Howard Francis is a true luminary in the field and AG Bell has the good fortune to have him join the organization's board of directors," said AG Bell CEO Emilio AlonsoMendoza. "His clinical and academic expertise combine powerfully with his passion to optimize communication outcomes for and improve the lives of all his patients, which truly aligns with AG Bell's mission to advance listening and spoken language for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing."

Visit www.agbell.org/HowardWFrancis to learn more.

AG Bell Members File Class Action Lawsuit over Captioning of Song Lyrics Although Netflix, Sony, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros. and Buena Vista advertise movies and shows as fully captioned, members of AG Bell and other deaf individuals found otherwise. As a result, a class action lawsuit was filed against these major studios for damages they sustained as a result of the studios' practice of not captioning song lyrics in movies and television shows. The case has garnered worldwide media attention.

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AG Bell has long promoted greater captioning accessibility throughout the world of entertainment. "Studios believe that copyright law prohibits them from captioning song lyrics in movies and television shows. That is just flat-out wrong," said John F. Stanton, Esq., AG Bell member. "Courts have made clear that reproducing otherwise copyrighted material for the purpose of making the material accessible to people with disabilities is not a violation of the federal Copyright Act." The Complaint was filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles. The plaintiffs are Christine Anthony, Susan Boswell, Evan Brunell, Darby Leigh, Ken Levinson, Catharine McNally, Pauline Newton and Jay Wyant. The plaintiffs are represented by John “Jack” A. Girardi of Girardi and Keese.

The defendants are Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., Warner Home Entertainment, Inc., Universal Studios Home Entertainment LLC, Paramount Pictures Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., and Netflix.

Visit www.agbell.org/ClassActionSuitOctober2015 to learn more.

AG Bell 2015 College Scholarship Award Recipients The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is pleased to announce the awarding of $100,000 in college scholarships to 20 outstanding applicants. All of our scholars are deaf and hard of hearing and use listening and spoken language. The average unweighted GPA of these 20 recipients is more than 3.78, and each shared a wealth of leadership and achievements through the application process. Scholarships range from $2,500 to $10,000.

We extend our wholehearted congratulations and celebrate the accomplishments of: • Nancy Barker of Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada • Hannah Block of Baltimore, Maryland • Nathan Delvaux of Hilbert, Wisconsin • Asbat Hasan of Riverside, California • Janice Lau of Vancouver, Washington • Madeline McCabe of Grand Rapids, Michigan

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COMPILED BY: ANNA KARKOVSKA, M.A.

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• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Kelin McCloskey of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania Julia Miller of Ballwin, Missouri Drake Palmer of Piedmont, California Nicole Pannullo of Patchogue, New York Ann Marie Resetar of Reynoldsburg, Ohio Alexander Schneider of Huntington Beach, California Alvin Sheng of Kildeer, Illinois Erin Shenouski of Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey Veyd Shringarpure of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey Willa Tsao of Wind Lake, Wisconsin Patrick Tully of Los Angeles, California Jessica Williams of St. Louis, Missouri Alexander Young of Crestwood, Kentucky Megan Zahneis of West Chester, Ohio

George H. Nofer Scholarship Award Recipients The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is pleased to announce the awarding of two George H. Nofer Scholarships for Law and Public Policy for 2015-2016.

We extend our congratulations to these outstanding scholars: • Trevor Kezwer of Thornhill, Ontario, Canada who is entering his final year of law school at the University of Windsor • Nicholas Stone of New Orleans, Louisiana who began his law studies at the University of Oregon this fall Each of our recipients was diagnosed as deaf or hard of hearing by the age of 3 and uses listening and spoken language to communicate. On behalf of the Selection Committee and AG Bell, we applaud each of the Nofer Scholars for their hard work, academic excellence and commitment to leadership.

AG Bell Responds to Pediatrics Article The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing submitted an eLetter response to a June 2015 article in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, "Should All Deaf Children Learn Sign Language?," and has respectfully urged physicians to consider the evidence in support of listening and spoken language for deaf children. The eLetter was selected for publication in the November 2015 issue of Pediatrics.

The article questions whether parents of a deaf child should communicate with their child via American Sign

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Language (ASL) or listening and spoken language (LSL), and suggests that use of ASL outweighs an approach that focuses solely on LSL. AG Bell disagrees with the conclusion of the article and is disappointed with the unbalanced and inaccurate responses among the panelists who participated in the article.

AG Bell fully supports families being made "aware of all communication options in an unbiased manner," including ASL, LSL and other methods.

In counseling families, pediatricians and other health care providers must consider the evidence that supports these approaches.

"ASL is not necessary in many cases for a child born today with hearing loss who has the benefit of early identification, early amplification and good intervention," said AG Bell President Meredith Sugar with her son Jonah. credit: ag bell Meredith Sugar, AG Bell president.

Visit www.agbell.org/AGBellResponsetoPediatrics/ to learn more.

Welcome Back www.agbell.org!

AG Bell is pleased to announce that it has reinstated www.agbell.org as its official Internet address! This change reflects the name of the organization, our organization's history and heritage, and it's easier to search for and remember. Spread the word! The web address of ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org will still remain active and lead to the website.

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in g an d S poke n en st Li l el B G A 15 Th e 20 b roug ht li sten ing m u si o p m Sy e ag u La ng p rofession al s from e ag u g n la n ke o sp an d e for th ree d ays of b lo g e th f o s er rn all co an d inform at ion on e g d le ow kn st te la th e d ea ri n g , la n g u age an h f o ce n ie sc in ra b th e cu tt in g -edge as l el w as t, en m p speech develo ch n iq ues , ti ps an d te n o sd an h , ch ar rese g wit h ch ild re n in rk o w r fo s ie g te st ra th ei r fa m ilies. d an ss lo g n ri ea h wit h

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During the symposium, AG Bell CEO Emilio Alonso-Mendoza, AG Bell Immediate Past President Donald Goldberg, AG Bell President-Elect Ted Meyer, and AG Bell Academy President Teri Ouellette convened a meeting of international attendees, which was attended by professionals from a dozen countries, from Australia to India and Korea, to multiple countries in Europe and South America. Everyone had the opportunity to introduce themselves and their efforts to advance listening and spoken language for children and individuals with hearing loss in their respective countries. The meeting demonstrated a great desire and need among all who attended for engaged, meaningful and multi-pronged collaboration efforts, centered around the common goal of enabling children with hearing loss to live life to the fullest and thrive in their societies and communities of choice.

One of the primary goals of AG Bell is to increase the availability of materials and information for all families and children who are deaf and hard of hearing regardless of location.

The meeting resulted in the creation of a Web Content Alliance between AG Bell and Clave, a charity supporting people living with hearing loss in Spain, aimed at expanding content from the AG Bell website to audiences whose primary language is Spanish.

By working with Clave and other organizations, AG Bell will be able to expand access to critical information about hearing loss and listening and spoken language to more families and professionals by translating content from its website in Spanish.

After the symposium, AG Bell reached out to some of the professionals who attended the international meeting and asked them to showcase initiatives in their respective countries/ programs to advance listening and spoken language for children with hearing loss so that their insights, tips and strategies may help others who are on the same path.

Clave – Spain

BY SVANTE BORJESSON, DIRECTOR GENERAL

Clave is a charity that was originally established and registered in the United Kingdom in 2007 with the mission of improving the quality of life of individuals with hearing loss, regardless of age, degree of hearing loss and means of communication.

As a result of the establishment of universal newborn hearing screening protocols in Spain in 2010, Clave established a stand-alone charity in Spain in 2011, “Fundación oír es clave” (www.fundacionoiresclave.org), in an effort to meet the needs of families of children with hearing loss who desired a listening and spoken language outcome for their children. The mission of the Fundación is not limited to providing quality early intervention at its center located in Madrid but also to serve as a center for training future early intervention professionals throughout the country in order to fulfill its long-term vision of improving the quality of early intervention services available to families of children with hearing loss across Spain. The organization aims to be a reliable and independent source of information and training for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, their families and all professional groups relevant to the field of hearing loss in Spain as well as in other Spanish-speaking countries.

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Svante Borjess on , CEO of Cl ave, and Carm of the Early In en Abascal, m tervention Ce cre dit : ber anager nter at their offi ta bur gu era ces in Madrid (Opposite) Ar . iadna, a patie nt at Instituto a presentatio Oral Modelo, n about Easter is giving to her classm institute's Ed ates as part of ucational Prog the ram . credit: ins tit uto or al mo delo

Clave provides continuous education and training for professionals involved in the diagnosis, intervention and education of children who are deaf and hard of hearing, and offers online courses as well as seminars and workshops established not only for professionals in the field but also for people with hearing loss and their families.

Clave’s website (www.oiresclave.org) is a Spanish-language resource for information. It includes many prestigious Englishlanguage publications translated into Spanish through the organization’s agreements with various organizations in the United States and elsewhere.

In addition to education, training and information, Clave advocates for improved accessibility to public venues such as museums, hotels, educational settings and work environments, the promotion of lower noise levels in society, and improvement of acoustic conditions in buildings, an activity that benefits everyone regardless of hearing status. Clave also organizes social awareness campaigns for school-age children in collaboration with schools, cultural centers and libraries.

Clave’s early intervention center in Madrid opened in 2012 focusing on infants and children from 0-6 years of age. It is built upon the long established U.S. tradition of family-centered early intervention to promote spoken language development through listening. Clave’s therapists and audiologists have been trained, with the help of Clave scholarships as well as generous U.S. help, at the most prestigious U.S. universities and university hospitals specializing in early intervention, education of the deaf and hard of hearing and audiology.

The Fundación has established working relationships with a number of prestigious professionals from the United States that regularly visit the organization in Madrid in order to provide the most up-to-date training to its professionals and give lectures at

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Spanish universities and related institutions. Such international cooperation helps to improve the knowledge, quality of services and, ultimately, quality of life for millions of people with hearing loss worldwide.

Instituto Oral Modelo – Argentina

BY PERCIVAL J. DENHAM

The Instituto Oral Modelo (IOM) (www.iom.edu.ar/) was founded in 1956 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Since its inception, IOM has been exclusively dedicated to helping children who are deaf and hard of hearing learn to listen, think and talk.

One of IOM´s most important goals has always been to advance listening and spoken language programs for children with hearing loss worldwide, particularly for Spanish-speaking countries, through providing resources such as professional development, specialized materials, courses, internships and international seminars. For the last decade, IOM has incorporated new channels through social networks as well as new digital technology for telepractice and teletraining (www.facebook.com/institutooralmodelo).

Today IOM supports around 200 children with hearing loss through various programs and promotes an intensive audiological approach to provide access to speech for the children it serves.

Each child served by IOM has an individual intervention program and receives services from a transdisciplinary team consisting of around 50 professionals covering various fields of hearing health.

The transdisciplinary team includes speech-language pathologists, teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing, pediatric/ educational audiologists, social workers, psychologists, educational psychologists, genetic physicians and otorhinolaryngologists, and neuro-pediatricians. This team is actively involved in all evaluations, follow-ups and meetings, and is in charge of IOM’s professional training. IOM serves around 800 professionals annually through training and courses.

f. erapist Pro y-verbal th l or ra it O d o au ut r d he Instit r mother an coaching session at t Paloma, he en ar p co at a Valeria Bos instituto or al modelo cr ed it : . o. el d o M

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The Early Hearing Intervention Program is mainly focused on family members and covers children from birth to 3 years old.

IOM has an innovative Cochlear Implant Program that focuses not only on the clinical aspects but also on the educational and developmental processes that determine the success of the intervention program.

The Mainstream Program assists children and their families in the school mainstreaming process, together with the Programs of Kindergarten and Primary School. Graduating children into mainstream education is IOM’s main goal.

The families served by IOM receive systematic, ongoing and personalized coaching aligned with IOM’s philosophy that parents are the main promoters for the integral development and success of their children.

IOM is defined by its passion, professionalism and teamwork to succeed in helping children to listen, think and speak.

Auditory-Verbal Therapy in India

BY JASPAL CHOWDHRY, LSLS CERT. AVT

The first time I learned about auditory-verbal therapy was in 2000 while I was with EAR (the Education, Audiology and Research Society in Mumbai)—Cochlear Ltd. had brought Sylvia Romanik to India. This is when I realized the true meaning of the auditory-verbal approach to develop listening and spoken language in children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Thereafter, I attended workshops by Daniel Ling, Warren Estabrooks and Judith Simser in India, Singapore and Australia.

The knowledge, skills, theory and practical application of the auditory-verbal approach that I acquired during these workshops greatly shaped the services I was able to provide to families of children with hearing loss in India. After consolidating what I had learned, I started conducting workshops across Indian institutes in an effort to spread awareness of listening and spoken language and Daniel Ling’s Seven Stages Model of Speech. As part of these workshops I conducted live sessions on stage so parents and therapists could see the principles of listening and spoken language in action.

I joined Cochlear in 2005 as it was the first company to recognize the importance of habilitation for children with cochlear implants. India’s special education, audiology and speech therapy programs were well developed but the use of auditory-verbal practice was limited. Lack of support from the government and vocal proponents of sign language compounded matters. While our workshops were helpful, the only way to institutionalize the listening and spoken language approach in India was by incorporating it in educational institutions, and bringing it on par with Audiology.

We began with a certificate course at Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for Hearing Handicapped (AYJNIHH), the premier institute for hearing health in India. We sponsored international faculty from the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children in Australia and recruited Andrew Kendrick from Cochlear as faculty. With time, we developed local experts. With a lot of hard work, and backed by results, the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) first recognized, and then upgraded, the course to a diploma. This year we start a university diploma course in two W W W. AG B E LL .O RG

well-regarded government institutes in India and plan to add a few more next year. There are already plans for upgrading the course from a diploma to a degree in the near future.

In India, surgeons are at the top of the medical hierarchy, and the game-changer for us was involving surgeons in our auditory-verbal workshops as guests and presenters. With time, surgeons have started insisting on therapy by qualified listening and spoken language professionals for their cochlear implant patients. As a result, more clinics have started focusing on listening, speech and language development and the demand for listening and spoken language professionals has increased.

Better speech outcomes have persuaded the government in funding cochlear implants for children.

Currently, I conduct 8-10 weeklong workshops every year on listening, speech and language across India that include theory, latest findings, case studies, live demonstrations with children and recorded sessions for discussions.

Habilitation tra ining in Mahar ashtra , India language prof with listening essionals from and spoken different Indi Nagpur, Pune an cities such and Mumbai. as Kohlapur, Credit: jaspal chowd hry

I am truly delighted to see my dream of helping children with hearing loss live life to the fullest of their potential being achieved. I have accomplished all this with support from Daniel Ling, Viktorija McDonell, Lynne Richard, Andrew Kendrick, Judith Simser and Carol Flexer. Today, there is not only awareness of the listening and spoken language approach but

Tips and Strategies for Professionals Supporting Inter

BY DOMIT ILLE LOCHE T, M.S., CCC-S LP, LSLS CERT.

AVT

REVIEW BLOGS of providers and parents speaking the same language as my patients.

• Oír, pensar y hablar (Blog of a Spanish Speech Therap ist Eliana Fredes) oirpensarhablar.com/ • In Auditor Veritas (Blog of mother and auditor y-verba l therapy advocate Caroline Pisanne; in French) www.inauditoveritas.com/in_Audito_Veritas/ bienvenue.html PARTICIPATE IN CONVE RSATIONS on social networ ks (Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) about rehabi litation.

Therapy resources in Spanish can be found by searching the hashtags/key words: “Terapia auditivo verbal,” “Fonoa udiolog ía,” or “Logopedia.” Resources in French can be found search ing “Thérapie auditive verbale,” “Orthophonie,” “orthotwit.”

FOLLO

W TWITTER AND YOUTU BE ACCOU NTS of listening and spoken language professionals from Spain, Mexico , Sweden, Austra lia and other countries.

SERVE

AS A RESOU RCE for providers/families abroad who may not have access to therapy/materials in their home countr y.

CONTACT the rehabilitation specialists of cochlear implant/ hearing aid compa nies to be informed of the free materi als that are already available and to provide suggestions on materials we would like to see created in the future .

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national Families

COLLABORATE with speech-language pathologists abroad on shared cases.

SUBMIT session and workshop abstracts to international conferences such as: • The International Cochlear Implant Conference www.ci2016toronto.org/site/landing/index. html#ac_abstract_submission • Congreso Panamericano de Otorrinolaringología www.orlpana merica nocuba .com/index. php?module=invitation CONNECT FAMILIES with other families who come

the same countr y.

from

PROVIDE FAMILIES with contacts who provide telepractice services in their native language.

LEARN ABOUT FOUNDATIONS that help bring service s to countries with limited resources in the area of listenin g and spoken language/speech therapy. For example: • Partners for a Greater Voice www.g reatervoice.com/index-2.html • The Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss www.childrenwithhearingloss.org/ • Orthophonistes du Monde www.orthophonistesdumonde.fr/?lang=en • The Jackson Health International Kids Fund www.wonderf und.org/

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high demand for professionals practicing it. Hopefully, in the next five years, we will have many more professionals to help many more children.

Korean Aural Rehabilitation for Infants – Korea

BY JINSOOK KIM

In 2007, the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare launched the first newborn hearing screening program in 16 large cities, which found that the incidence of congenital hearing loss in Korea is 1-3 out of 1,000 (0.1~0.3%) newborn babies, similar to the rest of the world. Recently, following the success of this pilot program, the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare declared that the newborn hearing screening program will be expanded to all newborn babies by 2018.

The technology of cochlear implantation is well developed and supported by the government as well. The last, and probably the most important, issue now in Korea is to advance listening and spoken language for children with hearing loss. To this end,

many studies are currently underway, with the aim of gathering fundamental data on the development of listening and spoken language for children with hearing loss such as a study analyzing the characteristics of prelinguistic vocal development patterns for Korean infants with typical hearing.

The Korean Aural Rehabilitation for Infants (KARI) is a systematic structured rehabilitation program, which is currently in its final stages of establishment and operationalization. KARI focuses on babies under the age of 24 months before and after cochlear implantation. KARI promotes four principles.

1. Attachment parenting: a parenting philosophy based on the principles of attachment theory in developmental psychology. Sensitive and emotionally available parenting helps the child to form a secure attachment style which fosters the child's socioemotional development and wellbeing. This is aligned with the traditional Korean way of parenting which emphasizes traditional baby wrapping

At Clarke, children who are deaf or hard of hearing learn to listen and talk.

Children served by Clarke use advanced technologies, including cochlear implants and hearing aids, to maximize their access to sound. Clarke teachers of the deaf, audiologists, and speech pathologists prepare children academically and socially for a world of limitless possibilities.

• • Preschool • • K-8 Program •

• • Professional Development • • Summer Programs

info@ Boston • Jacksonville • New York • Northampton • Philadelphia

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(podaegi), ondol (Korean traditional heating system), life pattern, breast feeding, etc.

2. Auditory–Verbal Therapy (AVT) approach for parent coaching 3. Short, fun input for modeling (SFIM) method, developed to accommodate children’s short attention span, emphasizing lots of repetition and fun skills for modeling.

The SFIM method takes into account Korean vocal sounds and their meaning as well as the need for muscle practice in order to develop language. For example, the stimulation will be structured for 1 second followed by 4 seconds of waiting for repetition. This process is done 12 times for one minute and at least five times a day.

4. Korean traditional play for infant and toddlers called “dan-dong-sip-hun.” This play has 10 different plays and songs similar to ”Old McDonald’s” song. It has been used for centuries in raising Korean children.

KARI combines these four principles to advance listening and spoken language for children with hearing loss in Korea while staying true to the approach embodied in the nine domains of knowledge for the Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS®).

University of Miami Barton G. Kids Hear Now Family Resource Center – Miami, Florida

BY DOMITILLE LOCHET, M.S., CCC-SLP, LSLS CERT. AVT

The University of Miami (UM) Barton G. Kids Hear Now Family Resource Center, housed at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Ear Institute, is a hub for families coming from all over Florida as well as from Latin America, the Caribbean and all the way from Europe. The Barton G. Kids Hear Now Foundation and Family Resource Center was created by renowned event concept designer and restaurateur Barton G. Weiss, whose daughter was born profoundly deaf, and his partner Jill Viner. Weiss and Viner launched the Barton G. Kids Hear Now Foundation in 2008. The center opened its doors in 2010 and its staff includes a psychologist, a cochlear implant audiologist, an auditory-verbal therapist and a coordinator of services.

The center provides families—regardless of their economic background—with guidance, support and resources during the cochlear implant evaluation process; it also connects families of cochlear implant users in the community. The Barton G. Kids Hear Now Center and the University of Miami Ear Institute presently serve families from at least 33 countries worldwide including Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela, Honduras,

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Keishla P ag practicin án , who just mov g produc ed from Puerto R tio who rece ico ntly rece n of the Ling six sounds w to Miami, is seen ived a co chlear im it plant. cre h her son Kenne th dit : do miti ll e lo ch et

Barbados, Trinidad, Cayman Islands, Ukraine, Russia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and the Bahamas.

We also provide services (programming, therapy, evaluations) for international children who are able to travel to the United States through their own means or through the help of the International Kids Fund (Wonderfund), a program part of the Jackson Health Foundation which raises funds to help international children who cannot be treated within their native country. This allows children from many different countries to receive the services they need here in Miami. Josue, a 6-yearold Nicaraguan boy with dual sensory loss (deaf and blind), was able to travel to the United States thanks to the Wonderfund and received his first cochlear implant, free programming and auditory-verbal therapy services at the center.

As a listening and spoken language provider working in this hub, I meet families that have difficulty finding rehabilitation services and support in their home country. In order to broaden my perspective as a clinical provider serving international families I have found that expanding my personal learning network to include audiologists, speech-language pathologists and educators abroad has been of tremendous help. Having colleagues here at the UM Ear institute who come from countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, Portugal and France has also been helpful as we can often provide services and support in our patients’ native language.

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PROFESSIONALS SUPPORTING THE WHOLE CHILD AND FAMILY: Bilingual Children with Hearing Loss

BY ALLIETE RODRIGUEZ ALFANO, PH.D., CCC-SLP, LSLS CERT. AVT

Which Language Should We Pick?

As a multilingual speech-language pathologist working in a culturally and linguistically diverse community in Miami, Florida, this is a question I hear on a daily basis. It comes from parents, caregivers, teachers, interns and physicians alike. Many are surprised when my reply is, "Who said you had to pick only one?"

Too often, parents who speak a minority language are advised to speak to their children in the majority language as it is most often their child’s academic language. While on the surface that appears to make good rational sense, we must delve deeper to understand the ramifications of making such decisions.

The Principles of the Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS®) certification state that LSLS professionals are to “guide and coach parents to use natural developmental patterns of audition, speech, language, cognition, and communication.”

We know that auditory-verbal practice is best when there is excellent access to sound, consistent use of technology, strong family support to attend sessions and parents’ willingness to be fully engaged in language modeling for their child. Armed with this knowledge, professionals tell the families of children with hearing loss that they must ensure their children obtain and wear their technology during all waking hours and that they narrate their lives to their children throughout the day, making sure to involve their children in the world around them through natural play and routines (Graham, 2015).

What would be sacrificed when we suggest to parents to speak a non-dominant language to their children, knowing that the language modeled to them will be lacking in fluidity, richness, appropriateness and authenticity?

In 1995, researchers Hart & Risley changed the playing field of early intervention when they published Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. They documented the results of their groundbreaking longitudinal study of children from different socio-economic backgrounds that had surprising results. They found that some children heard 30 million more words from their parents than other children by their fourth birthday, and those who heard more had better vocabularies and test scores by third grade.

They clearly demonstrated how children's vocabularies (and subsequently, IQs) were strongly associated with their parents' vocabularies. Simply put, the more words children heard during their first three years of life, the more they spoke and the better their academic performance. Meaningful Differences has served as a catalyst for understanding the importance of talk for young children whose brains are developing. Based on these findings, we found that early intervention that started at age 3 was already too late. Early intervention, to be truly impactful, had to begin

"Too often, parents who speak a minority language are advised to speak to their children in the majority language."

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during the first three years of life. As researchers move to harness the treasure trove that is parent talk and attempt to understand how it can translate to better outcomes for families at risk, we are beginning to enjoy the blossoming fruits of their labors.

For example, Dana Suskind, M.D., has established the Thirty Million Words Project, whose parent-directed program leads parents by the hand. Suskind’s team has taken the hard science about language development and translated it into parent-friendly lessons. Using linguistic feedback from the Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) technology, pilot study data has demonstrated that caregivers were able to alter their word counts as well as their conversational turn counts. These behavioral changes were sustained over time, providing evidence for probable improved outcomes for the children in their care.

Additionally, Suskind and her team developed Project ASPIRE, an evidence-based early intervention program for parents of children with hearing loss who have chosen listening and spoken language as their child’s primary mode of communication (Leffel, Suskind, & Suskind, 2013). Pilot data demonstrated significant increase in conversational turn counts and child vocalization counts.

Language of the Family Now, let’s go back to the families who speak minority languages in the home. How can we suggest to them to speak in a language in which they have limited abilities? It just doesn't make good practical sense when we think of all the enriching experiences that will be sacrificed due to erroneous ideas of language development. Furthermore, we need to keep in mind that bilingualism is not an option for many children; it’s a simple fact of life. Restricting them to one language ensures that these children would be essentially cut off from many of the important individuals in their environment who do not speak the majority language. It is very discouraging to see a child who cannot communicate well with his parents or grandparents because of counseling by a professional to speak only English.

We need to remember that strong family connections and cultural ties also build social-emotional development; this cannot be underestimated in children who culturally are not from the societal majority.

You may be thinking to yourself, I understand what you are telling me, but this research you speak of is about dual language

learning in children who do not have special needs. What about children with hearing loss or other special needs? Surely, since they are already at a disadvantage for learning language, it will be too burdensome for them to learn more than one language. Luckily, there is simply no evidence to uphold the belief that dual language learning is too challenging for children with special needs. On the contrary, the evidence continues to mount that not only do children with language difficulties have the capacity to learn more than one spoken language, but that learning other languages does not worsen their language difficulties (Guiberson, 2014; Hambly & Fombonne, 2011; Kay-Raining Bird, Cleave, Trudeau, Thordardottir, Sutton, & Thorpe, 2005; Kohnert, 2013; Waltzman, Robbins, Green, & Cohen, 2003). The literature points to similar development of language for bilingual children as for children with hearing loss (Guiberson, 2014; Waltzman, Robbins, Green, & Cohen, 2003). Strengthened by this fact, we are able to guide our bilingual families in a similar fashion regardless of their children’s hearing status.

Types of Bilingualism It is important to note that individuals may learn a second (or third, etc.) language in many different ways.

Children may be simultaneous or sequential learners: • Simultaneous Bilingualism – Children who are exposed to two languages from birth and acquire them at the same time.

• Early Sequential Bilingualism – Children are exposed to only one language until about 3 years of age, when the first language is in place.

• Sequential Bilingualism in School-age Children – Children are older and have more cognitive maturity and literacy experience to develop the second language.

Additionally, their level of performance in each of their languages will be based on several factors, including amount of support received in the home, community and at school, and the relative importance that the family members place on each of the languages.

"We need to keep in mind that bilingualism is not an option for many children; it’s a simple fact of life"

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Characteristics of Dual Language Acquisition Additionally, knowing typical characteristics seen in children who are learning more than one language, professionals can differentiate between what is to be expected versus what may be indicative of possible language disorders. These include: • Code-switching: the use of elements from two languages in the same utterance or in the same stretch of conversation. Individuals code-switch to different extents and at different rates with different individuals with whom they are speaking.

• Cross-linguistic Influence/Interference: in a child developing more than one language, it is difficult to assume that the languages will not have an interaction on each other. It may be seen in different ways, often as the transfer of word order syntactically or phonetically.

Resources for Serving Diverse Children and Families As the United States continues its evolution as a polyglottic society, we often struggle to meet the demands of the culturally and linguistically diverse children and families entrusted to our care. The numbers of professionals who subscribe to supporting bilingual children are growing; however, we must continue to disseminate the evidence and dispel the myths in order to truly provide the best services. Within our own listening and spoken language community we have experienced the welcome changing of the tides.

In a review of AG Bell publications, we can see that in 101 Frequently Asked Questions About Auditory-Verbal Practice (2012), an extensive review of the literature by Rhoades concluded that “there is an increasing recognition of bilingualism being a worthy goal” (p. 238).

So what to do when a bilingual (or monolingual non-English speaking) child makes his way onto your caseload? First things first: be sure you are up to date on how to provide culturally sensitive and appropriate services. There are many excellent resources at our disposal as professionals: 1. ASHA’s Cultural Competence Checklist: Service Delivery.

2. ASHA’s Cultural Competence Checklist: Personal Reflection.

3. ASHA’s Cultural Competence Checklist: Policies & Procedures.

4. Kathryn Kohnert’s Language disorders in bilingual children and adults, 2nd edition 5. Brian Goldstein’s Bilingual language development and disorders in Spanish-English speakers, 2nd edition 6. Bilinguistics’ Difference or disorder? Understanding speech and language patterns in culturally and linguistically diverse students.

7. Michael Douglas’s Dual-language learning for children with hearing loss. This resource combines bilingual research and best practices for children with hearing loss to map out assessment, intervention and program development for bilingual children with hearing loss. By providing step by step

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instruction, professionals may utilize it from first encounter with the child through treatment sessions and beyond.

Armed with the surety that our practice is culturally competent, we can commence the task of assessing and providing appropriate intervention.

The Clinician–Bilingual or Monolingual?

It is our ethical responsibility to ensure that the bilingual child is assessed by professionals who can adequately address each of the child’s needs. If the clinician is competently bilingual, they should be able to have native or near-native proficiency in the language(s) of the child in order to assess all aspects of language, including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Additionally, they need to select, administer and analyze assessment data to then determine if the presenting symptomology is a language difference or a language disorder warranting therapeutic services.

In the absence of a bilingual clinician who can complete the described tasks competently, the clinician needs to engage others in the process. This can include the use of interpreters and immediate and extended family members who will need to train beforehand (see Hamren & Quigley, 2013).

Assessing the Bilingual Child 1. Begin with research on the cultural and linguistic phenomena of the family. Identify language patterns, phonological patterns, and cultural considerations in order to provide culturally sensitive services.

2. Complete a thorough language inventory of the child and his/her family. Some questions to consider would include: • How long has the family been living in this country?

• Does the family anticipate a return to the native country?

• What language(s) do/does each of the family members speak and what are their proficiency levels?

• With whom does the child spend more time?

• Is the child a simultaneous or sequential bilingual learner?

3. Assess the child in each of his/her languages. You must identify if assessments are available in the child’s language, and determine if the norms are for minority-language monolinguals or bilinguals and from what region in the country. Assessments should include formal and informal measures and you should use the least biased assessments.

4. Identify disorders versus cultural or linguistic differences based on assessment results. Factors to consider must include all areas of language. For example, what appears to be articulation errors noted in English may be an accent due to the interference of first-language phonology. Of particular importance is the fact that a true language disorder will manifest itself in all languages. Apparent gaps in one language while the other language is unaffected simply denotes that the child has not yet had sufficient time to fully develop the language that is less dominant.

5. If intervention is deemed necessary, many factors need to be considered to identify what the goals of intervention are, in what languages intervention should take place, and who the intervention partners are.

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6. Share research findings with parents and families that demonstrate the benefits of dual-language learning, stressing that bilingualism does not cause language disorders.

Treatment Options for the Bilingual Child Based on assessment results and in collaboration with the family, the clinician needs to develop the treatment plan and ensure that the child receives services in the appropriate language(s). As described by Douglas (2014) in Dual-language learning for children with hearing loss, the determination of language(s) for intervention needs to be based on whether the child is a simultaneous bilingual or a sequential bilingual, as well whether the child’s home language(s) include the majority language or not. With these distinctions made, the following options must be considered: • Treatment in the dominant language. This option should be considered if there is a clearly identified dominant language; however, bilingual language learners often fail to show clear language dominance, in which case treatment should be provided in the home language. Support of the home language can help ensure the development of the home language which can then be transferred to a second language.

• Treatment in the home language. This option is preferred for young children with little or no spoken language development.

Treatment in the language that the family uses comfortably and fluently ensures the preservation of the parent-child bond, as well as the assurance that parents are able to provide the rich language environments children require.

• Treatment in the majority language. If the family is proficiently bilingual in the majority language and a minority language, treatment can be in both languages or in the majority language if the parents continue to support the minority language. If this is the case, parents will need additional resources and training in order to ensure complete support for the minority language.

REFERENCES AG Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language (2015). Principles of LSLS. Available from www.agbell.org/AcademyDocument.aspx?id=563 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2010). Cultural Competence Checklist: Personal reflection. Available from http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/ Cultural-Competence-Checklist-Personal-Reflection.pdf American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2010). Cultural Competence Checklist: Service delivery. Available from http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/CulturalCompetence-Checklist-Service-Delivery.pdf American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2010). Cultural Competence Checklist: Policies & procedures. Available from http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/ Cultural-Competence-Checklist-Policies-Procedures.pdf Bilinguistics (n.d.). Difference or disorder? Understanding speech and language patterns in culturally and linguistically diverse students. Available from http://bilinguistics.com/ catalog/products/difference-vs-disorder-understanding-speech-and-language-patterns/ Douglas, M. (2014). Dual-language learning for children with hearing loss. Durham, NC: MED-EL USA. Estabrooks, W. (2012). 101 frequently asked questions about auditory-verbal practice.

Washington, DC: Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Goldstein, B. A. (2012). Bilingual language development and disorders in SpanishEnglish speakers (2nd ed.) Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.

Graham, M. E. (2015). All waking hours: Strategies to maximize hearing aid wear. Volta Voices, 22(2), 16-19.

Guiberson, M. (2014). Bilingual skills of deaf/hard of hearing children from Spain.

Cochlear Implants International: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 15(2), 87-92.

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While encountering a bilingual child on your caseload may appear to be a daunting task, we must remember that it is our ethical responsibility to ensure that bilingual children receive culturally sensitive and appropriate services. Luckily, we find ourselves in an era of ever-increasing research and resources at our disposition, permitting us to deliver these services to the best of our abilities. We no longer can settle for only one language. ¡Diviértanse! (Have a good time!)

"We no longer can settle for only one language."

Hambly, C., & Fombonne, E. (2011). The impact of bilingual environments on language development in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42, 1342-1352.

Hamren, K., & Quigley, S. (2013). Found in translation: Optimized interpreting for early intervention. Volta Voices, 20(5), 28-30.

Hart, B., and Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H Brookes Publishing.

Kay-Raining Bird, E., Cleave, P., Trudeau, N., Thordardottir, E., Sutton, A., & Thorpe, A. (2005). The language abilities of bilingual children with Down syndrome. American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 14, 187–199.

Kohnert, K. (2013). Language disorders in bilingual children and adults, 2nd edition. San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.

Leffel, K., Suskind, E., & Suskind, D. (2013). Project ASPIRE: Cultivating rich early language environments for all children, Volta Voices, 20(3), 30-33.

Paradis, J., Genesee, F., & Crago, M. B. (2011). Dual language development and disorders: A handbook on bilingualism and second language learning (2nd ed.) Baltimore, MD: Paul H Brookes Publishing.

Sacks, C. (2014). Pilot testing of a parent-directed intervention (Project ASPIRE) for underserved children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 30(1), 91–102.

Suskind, D., Leffel, K., Hernandez, M., Sapolich, S. D., Suskind, E., Kirkham, E., & Meehan, P. (2013). An exploratory study of “Quantitative Linguistic Feedback”: Effect of LENA feedback on adult language production. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 34(4), 199–209.

Waltzman, S., Robbins, A., Green, J., & Cohen, M. (2003). Second oral language abilities in children with cochlear implants. Otology & Neurotology, 25, 757-763.

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APPLICATION OF THE LING APPROACH: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE FROM THE LING CONSORTIUM

By Trudy Smith, M.Ed., LSLS Cert. AVT, Marietta Paterson, Ed.D., CED, and Christina Perigoe, Ph.D., CED, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT The Ling Consortium, founded in 2010 by Dimity Dornan, LSLS Cert. AVT, executive director of the Hear and Say Centre in Brisbane, Australia, is a group of international listening and spoken language professionals dedicated to promoting the principles and practices of Daniel Ling, O.C., Ph.D., a pioneer of auditory-verbal practice. Among his many contributions to the field, he is most known for the Ling speech assessment and teaching model and the Ling “Six-Sound Test” (Ling, 2002).

Members of the Consortium promote teaching listening and spoken language to children with hearing loss that include Ling’s concepts and approaches through university-based and continuing professional education courses.

Ling Consortium members and presenters at the 2014 AG Bell Convention in Orlando, Florida. Back row from left to right: Trudy Smith, Dimity Dornan, Marietta Paterson, Carol Flexer, Rosie Richardson Quayle. Front row from left to right: Aziza Tyabji Hydari, Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Chang Son-A, Christina Perigoe.

Present but not in photo: Roxanne Innes, Andrew Kendrick. credit : jill bader

Ling’s goal of early intervention and early auditory access to spoken language is shared by the Consortium. However, it is recognized that many children around the globe still do not have access to sound early in life and have limited auditory experiences compared to their peers with typical hearing.

Children who lack early auditory access are at risk for speech and spoken language difficulties and delays. Ling’s work and approach are not only still relevant today, but will be in the future.

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Keeping Ling’s Legacy Alive The Consortium has engaged in several activities to raise awareness of Ling and his work. A presentation, titled “Ling's Legacy: Speech in the 21st Century” given at the 2012 AG Bell Convention in Phoenix, Arizona (McGinnis et al., 2012) discussed Ling's assessment tools and provided a live demonstration of speech teaching strategies.

The Consortium then conducted an online survey, which aimed at gathering information on how Ling’s work was used in practice around the globe. The survey was shared over the Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS®) listserv and with interested parties.

Survey results found that practitioners:

• Adhered to the principles and strategies for teaching listening and spoken language detailed in Ling’s publications.

• Translated Ling’s publications into many languages, including Korean, English, French, Hindi, German, Inuktitut and Arabic languages.

• Adapted the principles and strategies to accommodate the more rapid pace that children with cochlear implants and hearing aids move through the stages.

• Made cultural adaptations to activities, games and themes to embed Ling’s strategies in their practice.

• Used the Ling approach when working with children who experience additional disabilities.

• Selected the formal Ling approach for students who were diagnosed after 12 months of age or who did not demonstrate an expected rate of progress.

Ling in Practice around the Globe In 2014, the Consortium presented a second workshop titled "Functional and Practical Application of Ling’s Strategies: A Global Perspective" at the 2014 AG Bell Convention in Orlando, Florida (Dornan et al., 2014). Members provided a global overview of listening and spoken language practice from programs around the world.

Canada Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, LSLS Cert. AVT, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Ottawa Ling established a master’s degree in Auditory-Oral (Re)Habilitation & Education of Hearing Impaired Children (AORE) at McGill University that existed from 1975-1995. There are 50 graduates of this program with an additional 12 research master’s and doctoral-level graduates. Currently, the two Canadian university programs that train professionals in education of the deaf incorporate the Ling speech approach in their courses—York University in Toronto and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. There are also two post-degree programs—the VOICE Organization Mentorship Program in Ontario and the Certificate in Auditory-Verbal Development at the

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University of Ottawa. Both provide intensive theory and practice in Ling’s approach to listening and spoken language.

All available in convenient electronic format

United Kingdom Rosie Richardson Quayle, CertMRCSLT, LSLS Cert. AVT, Auditory VerbalUK (AVUK), Oxford and London Ling’s work is virtually unknown in the United Kingdom (UK), with the exception of the “Six-Sound Test.” Auditory VerbalUK is teaching clinicians the value of Ling’s work across three key areas: a) V alue for Infants - The stages of speech development provide a useful diagnostic tool for analyzing how children and particularly infants use their voices and for what purpose.

Ling’s auditory-first teaching strategies have particular value for late diagnosed, complex or premature infants and is different from the more visually-based assessments in the UK. b) Value for Parents - Ling’s documentation of the stages of speech development provides a clear map of progress and future goals for parents. c) V alue for Professionals - Ling’s principles provide a structure and rationale for flexible goal setting. Professionals are able to apply Ling’s strategies when coaching and guiding parents through play and functional language activities to real-life scenarios to add value to family-centered therapy.

India Aziza Tyabji Hydari, Teacher of the Deaf, AURED, Mumbai Ling’s tools and principles have been incorporated into the Aziza Grid at the AURED Centre. This tool was developed primarily to give a visual picture of the cochlear implant map and to enhance communication among audiologists, therapists, teachers and parents. The Aziza Grid demonstrates how electrode settings relate to frequencies in the Ling “Six-Sound Test.”

As a tool for auditory habilitation, the Aziza Grid tracks speech perception progress post implant activation and provides guidelines for setting appropriate auditory goals.

Korea Chang Son-A, Woosong University, Seoul Korea adopted cochlear implant technology very early with the first implantation occurring in 1989 for adults and children. The number of children receiving cochlear implants increased quickly in the late 1990s and early 2000s alongside the introduction of listening and spoken language practice which placed great emphasis on Ling’s theories and practices. Professionals using Ling principles made adjustments for the Korean language and culture. While the Korean phonetic system has fewer high-frequency phonemes compared to English, the Ling “Six-Sound Test” is still useful to assess perceptual abilities.

Australia Roxanne Innes, LSLS Cert. AVT, Hear and Say Centre, Brisbane, Queensland Australia now screens 97 percent of all newborns for hearing loss and is committed to the provision of amplification prior to 12 months of age for children identified with hearing loss. Ling’s

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GET YOUR LING PUBLICATIONS FROM THE AG BELL BOOKSTORE!

www.agbell.org/bookstore

Speech and the Hearing-Impaired Child Daniel Ling, OC, Ph.D. Back by popular demand, this classic best-seller is now available as an e-book through Amazon and in PDF format from the AG Bell Bookstore.

This book is used by professionals and students all over the world! It incorporates informal strategies appropriate for use with modern technology to promote spoken language development, such as digital hearing aids and cochlear implants. The book also provides descriptions of techniques for developing speech in children for whom digital hearing aids and cochlear implants do not or cannot compensate adequately for particular levels of hearing loss.

This second edition provides a new, user-friendly format that assists with the ongoing evaluation of speech in the context of spoken language. Chapters include studies relating to speech production, the sense modalities in speech reception and production, multisensory speech reception, and levels of speech acquisition and automaticity, among other topics.

Phonetic-Phonologic Speech Evaluations Daniel Ling, OC, Ph.D. The Phonetic-Phonologic Speech Evaluation Pads are now available as an electronic resource (downloadable PDF).

These user-friendly evaluation forms are described in chapter nine of Speech and the Hearing-Impaired Child (2nd ed.). Teachers, students and clinicians who are responsible for speech development in children with hearing loss will find these forms useful and effective. They provide a clear record of a child’s performance with intervals of about six months and clear guidelines on the type of ongoing work that should occur between assessments.

Foundations of Spoken Language Daniel Ling, OC, Ph.D. This landmark PDF e-book emphasizes the perception of speech through residual hearing, either through the use of modern hearing aids or cochlear implants. An important feature of the book is the presentation of the aspects of speech that appear in the octave bands centered on frequencies depicted in audiograms. This knowledge, in conjunction with the Six-Sound Test, allows teachers and clinicians to determine whether or not the frequency response characteristics of hearing aids are adjusted to provide optimal levels of hearing.

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principles and strategies are used throughout Australia and children are monitored through the phonetic and phonologic assessment tools which guide their individual therapy sessions.

An extra sound (“aw”) is often included in the Ling “Six Sound Test” to account for the Australian accent.

United States Marietta Paterson, Ed.D., CED, University of Southern Mississippi, and Christina Perigoe, Ph.D., CED, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT, University of Southern Mississippi Ling’s principles and philosophies are highly relevant for children with hearing loss who also have additional disabilities, which are estimated to account for 40 percent of the population of children with hearing loss (Perigoe, 2013). These additional disabilities may include: sensory (e.g., hearing, vision)

• • • •

motor/physical (e.g., cerebral palsy, oral-motor) cognitive (e.g., Down syndrome) learning disability/disorder (verbal, non-verbal) behavioral and emotional (e.g., attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder/oppositional defiant disorder or ADHD/ODD) • communication (e.g., autism spectrum disorder or ASD).

Ling’s assessment tools are flexible and allow for adaptation for individual hearing age, cognition and language levels. Ling’s strategies continue to be appropriate as they are based on the sense modality most appropriate to each child and allow for the establishment of prerequisite skills. Ling’s approach can be adapted for use with developmentally younger children or those with delayed acquisition of listening and spoken language (Perigoe, 2013).

2014 Workshop Survey Feedback Trudy Smith, M.Ed., LSLS Cert. AVT, Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children Renwick Centre, and Andrew Kendrick, M. SpEd., LSLS Cert. AVT, Cochlear Ltd., Sydney, Australia During the 2014 workshop on “Ling in practice around the globe,” Consortium members took the opportunity to collect additional data to add to the 2012 survey. The workshop attracted over 100 participants including therapists, parents and educators from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Asia, United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico and South America. They were invited to share their own experiences with Ling’s strategies and principles. Selected responses indicated that some participants

use Ling’s seven-stage speech model and many liked the flexibility of Ling’s approach in assessing individual listening and spoken language skills. Many participants reported using the Ling “Six-Sound Test” and used whispering to promote detection. Most participants desired access to more knowledge about Ling’s principles and practices, and access to master teachers demonstrating strategies, discussion of work with “deaf plus” children who have additional disabilities as well as specific continuing education opportunities.

Ling’s Legacy: Flexibility and Adaptability The influence of Ling’s work on current listening and spoken language practice is inspiring. The degree of flexibility built into the materials has allowed for a broad range of adaptations that meet the needs of individual children in their home countries.

The Consortium will continue to identify and develop international resources to be shared on its website, graciously hosted by the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (www.ridbc.org.au/renwick/ling-consortium). This website will include a list of members and their affiliations, survey data and presentation materials, links to original Ling videotapes, and the Ling “Six-Sound Test” cards in a range of languages other than English developed by Cochlear Ltd. In addition, the consortium and its members will continue to identify gaps within programs and locations and seek to develop online and face-to-face training sessions to ensure the continued use of Ling’s materials in the future. We hope our work, like Ling’s legacy, will endure. We encourage you to join us on this journey!

Please direct all enquiries to the Consortium chair Marietta Paterson at marietta.paterson@usm.edu.

REFERENCES Dornan, D., Kendrick, A., Smith, T., Fitzpatrick, E., Richardson, R., Tyabji Hydari, A., Chang, S., Innes, R., Perigoe, C., & Paterson, M. (2014). Functional and practical application of Ling’s strategies: A global perspective. AG Bell Convention, Orlando, Florida, June 2014.

McGinnis, M. D., Dornan, D., Flexer, C., Perigoe, C., Paterson, M. M., & Houston, T. (2012).

Ling’s legacy: Speech in the 21st century. AG Bell Convention, Phoenix, Arizona, June 2012.

Ling Consortium (2012). Survey on the Ling approach. Available at http://survey.ridbc.org.au/index.php/787631/lang-en Ling, D. (2002). Speech and the hearing-impaired child: Theory and practice (2nd ed.).

Washington, DC: Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Paterson, M. M., & Perigoe, C. (2015). Speech production assessment. In T. S. Bradham & K. T. Houston (Eds.), Assessing listening and spoken language in children with hearing loss (pp. 93-132). San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.

Perigoe, C. (2013). Developing speech skills for children who come late to listening or have other special needs. Volta Voices, 20(6), 24-27.

WHO WAS DANIEL LING? Daniel Ling, O.C., Ph.D. (1926-2003), was a professor emeritus and a consultant in early childhood hearing loss. Over his lifetime, he contributed more than 200 articles and several books to the literature on education of children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Born in England, Ling received his doctorate from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he subsequently became director of the aural habilitation program. He also served for several years as the dean of science at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. Additionally, Ling was

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an accomplished musician. He received many major awards for his outstanding contributions to children with hearing loss and their families and to the education of professionals in the field of hearing health care and related sciences. He served as president of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the early 1980s and was a founding member of Auditory-Verbal International Inc. His best known book, Speech and the Hearing-Impaired Child: Theory and Practice (2002), has been distributed around the world as one of the finest sources in the field.

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Leadership OppOrTuniTies FOr Teens (LOFT)

LOFT

2O16 is for high school students who are

2 SESSIONS: DENVER, CO June 26-30 | JuLy 5-9 | 2016

Thank you so much for giving me this incredible opportunity to connect with so many people, and for giving me a life changing experience.

LOFT Teen parTicipanT

deaf and hard of hearing and use listening and spoken language as their primary mode of communication.

This four-day sleep-away program is designed for participants to develop or strengthen skills

in individual leadership, teamwork, group dynamics, public speaking and self-advocacy. The program provides a supportive and structured

environment in which participants increase their self-confidence and understanding of their own strengths and abilities through activities designed to challenge them.

LOFT builds connections, respect and camaraderie among teens who share a common bond. This is a great opportunity for high school and college-bound teens interested in an

enlightening and

confidence-building experience away from home with

LOFT provided my son the opportunity to gain a stronger sense of self. LOFT taught him great leadership skills and self-advocacy. He made a group of lifelong friends to whom he can relate on a personal and professional level. The LOFT team was amazing! They kept me informed every step of the way.

My son can’t stop raving about what an exciting experience he had with the LOFT Program.

LOFT parenT

their peers.

appLicaTiOns are due

Wednesday, February 24, 2016 VO LTA VO I CE S J U L-S EP 201 5

information and an application packet are available on the aG Bell website at www.agbell.org/LOFT

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CONGRATULATIONS! During the 2015 Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM), AG Bell invited children and teens to be an inspiration for our community of people who use listening and spoken language to communicate in the first ever BHSM Writing and Art Contest, in which children and teens used art or writing to share their insights and experiences.

They told us their stories!

2) Winner in Writing: Middle and High School Artem Novoselov - "Faster Than Sound"

1) Winner in Writing: Elementary School or Younger Sophie Birks - "My Favorite Sound"

My Favorite Sound A doorbell ringing, A lady singing, The bark of a dog in town, These are some of my favorite sounds.

A whispering of trees, The buzzing of bees, A drop of water rippling the pond.

These are all the sounds of which I am fond.

The reason I can hear, Is because of my bionic ears.

Faster Than Sound Artem go forward. Try your best.” My coach encouraged me as the racer in front of me took off the start gate. I was next to go.

I put my ski poles over the wand for 20 seconds and glanced over the Showcase, the trail I was about to conquer. I imagined people being silent at the finish line waiting for me to emerge so they can go wild, my Mom is probably there holding her camera up hoping I won’t crash as I did so many times before.

I snapped out of my thoughts just as the timer beeped letting me know I have 10 seconds before start. “Racer ready?” asked the starter. I mentally reviewed everything my coaches taught me and I could hear the beeping five times: “5, 4, …”, the starter counted down as I burst out of the start gate. I could feel the frustration of my skis as I paid attention to every sound around me turning at each gate. I faintly heard someone scream “Go Artem!!!” but I was concentrating and would not let anything distract me. I was gaining speed. I could hear the wind blowing against my face, the packed snow giving up against my sharp skis along with hard grinding sound from skis scraping the ice.

I could hear my ski poles hitting the snow as if it was a musical rhythm, matching that of my heart beat. I heard the sound my skis make when I am about to fall but I avoided it by turning

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early on that gate. As I felt my speed picking up and I had to push harder against my boots, I could hear my boots making this cracking noise like the floor in my bedroom. After I made my next move, I finally heard the sound that I longed to hear and loved the anticipation of, Whoooosh! I heard the wind swishing by me as I turned into the next red gate. This is going to be a tricky turn. I jumped up with my pair of skis, absorbing the terrain. The crowd cheered and rang bells when they saw me turning the next blue gate. Quickly, I put my hands up before making the red gate turn and there I tucked. I tucked all the way down across the finish line and all I heard was the sound of cheer. People were saying: “Good job!” or “Nice run, Artem” while my Mom was super excited that I did not fall.

When I checked out the score, I smiled excitedly as I realized that I won 3rd place in the U14 boys King of the Mountain race.

At the awards ceremony, I took off my helmet revealing my two cochlear implants as they announced my name inviting me to the podium. I smiled at my parents, holding up my medal and thought to myself: “I am just a regular racer and my hearing loss will not define me or ever hold me back.”

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AG Bell BHSM Writing and Art Contest Winners

3) Winner in Art: Elementary School or Younger Caroline Cooley - "My Hampster's Noise on the Wheel" Caroline’s favorite sound was inspired by her pet hamster, Pip. Pip makes a very soft, very cute pitter patter when she runs on her hamster wheel. Thanks to her cochlear implant, Caroline can lie in bed reading and happily listen to the quiet noises of her hamster!

4) Winner in Art: Middle and High School Shuqi Li - "Listen to the World" Shuqi wanted to show all the beautiful sounds that she can hear now with her two cochlear implants, which she received when she was 11 and 15 years old, like music, people, and animals.

The winning entries were displayed at the 2015 AG Bell Listening and Spoken Language Symposium in July in Baltimore, Maryland and we are sharing them here with all of you!

For more on the winners, go to www.agbell.org/BHSMContestWinners.

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Unfolding the Future for Children with Hearing Loss: Gayla H. Guignard AG Bell is thrilled to welcome back a professional who has dedicated the past 25 years to promoting high expectations and outcomes for children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Gayla H. Guignard, M.A., CCC-A/SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT, began as AG Bell's Chief Strategy Officer on September 1, 2015.

Interview by Anna Karkovska, M.A.

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uignard served as director of the Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education within the Indiana State Department of Health since 2013 and was a consultant and content expert to Indiana’s Office of Management and Budget in the planning and development of the newly formed center. She served for six years as the Program Director for the Indiana Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program. Guignard also was a consultant with the National Center on Hearing Assessment and Management’s (NCHAM) National Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Resource Center at Utah State University. She has over 12 years of experience as a clinical supervisor and instructor at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville in the Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. She returns to AG Bell after serving as the AG Bell Deputy Executive Director of Education and Professional Outreach and Chief Programs Officer from 2003–2007.

The Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) is a newly created position designed to promote and support collaboration, develop strategy to achieve AG Bell’s mission, and work cooperatively on key strategic initiatives of AG Bell and the AG Bell Academy. It supports the organization’s primary goals including advocacy, community building and capacity building with the ultimate goal of supporting the AG Bell mission, Advancing Listening and Spoken Language for Individuals who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Volta Voices recently sat down with Guignard and talked about her personal and professional background, leadership vision for AG Bell and the AG Bell Academy, and advice to professionals serving children and families on the path to a spoken language outcome.

ell us about your personal background and how T it has influenced your career.

My formative years were spent in a close-knit Midwestern farming community/college town with four siblings, numerous cousins (I have 70 first cousins on one side of the family as my mother was one of 17 children) and in a neighborhood with more than 30 kids, and so there was plentiful opportunity to communicate, negotiate, joke and create with other kids. While the siblings, cousins, friends and peers shaped my social and communication skills as well as an ability to be resilient, my parents, who were consistently “there for us,” but whom I barely noticed for the majority of my childhood, quietly shaped me into an enthusiastic, confident, show-up-for-the-party and expect-to-work-while-there kind of girl.

Beginning in junior high school, I was interested in pursuing social work, but as I entered college and began to explore other options, I found myself drawn towards the fields of counseling, law, medicine and education. As I narrowed my scope to audiology and speech-language pathology, one experience, in particular, helped me make a final decision to pursue the field of communication disorders. As a committed “talker” for all of my childhood, in addition to an inclination for solving problems and enjoying people, ultimately, I chose this field because I thought I could be fulfilled, successful and happy doing it and that, in doing so, I could help others help themselves.

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Tell us about your professional background and your work with children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Why and how did you become interested in the field of hearing loss, early intervention, and (re)habilitation?

I am an audiologist and also a speech-language pathologist by training, in addition to being a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist (LSLS Cert. AVT).

I became interested in specializing in work with children who are deaf and hard of hearing during an early practicum experience at the University of Tennessee (UT) in the Child Hearing Services program, where incidentally I later worked for nearly 13 years.

As a graduate student, I was mesmerized by the fact that children who are deaf could talk. My early exposure to children in my home state of Indiana led me to the assumption that is still prominent today—deaf children are/were, well, deaf, as in they could not hear anything, and so they use(d) sign language to communicate. I learned in my UT practicum that everything I had been exposed to in the past had not adequately revealed the potential of these children’s ability to hear and talk.

Over the course of my education at UT, I became aware of the huge impact that quality services have on children and I endeavored to specialize in this area. Through mentorships, coursework, workshops/conferences, reading, hours of watching qualified providers of listening and spoken language services, and many, many hours of supervised practice and detailed feedback, I became skilled at developing listening and spoken language in children to a level that facilitated readiness for full integration into the mainstream of life and school.

How has the field of listening and spoken language

changed since you’ve been involved in it? What do you see as challenges for professionals in the field of listening and spoken language in the future, and how can professionals address those challenges?

The very name of the work has morphed from a group of terms that are sometimes confusing—“oral,” “auditory-oral,” “aural-oral,” “aural habilitation,” “auditory-verbal”—to the more descriptive term “listening and spoken language.” This said, the focus on audition or listening development is more central than in the past.

This is due to the impact of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs, advances in hearing technology and earlier ages of receiving that technology, the findings of brain-based research, and knowledgeable and current early interventionists, educators, audiologists and speech-language pathologists who recognize that developing speech and language through listening is the efficient and effective way for a child to learn to talk.

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What is your leadership vision for AG Bell and the AG Bell Academy as Chief Strategy Officer? What role can AG Bell play in advancing listening and spoken language for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing and in advancing the profession?

and spoken language development are rare and most likely sorely needed in the area in which you reside. Is there someone else who can help?

Begin with the end in mind. Thoughtfully develop long- and short-term developmentally appropriate goals and return to them again and again as you work with the child (and parent if they are present) to assure that progress is made.

The United States is doing a great job of screening newborn babies and we have made great strides in identifying babies during early infancy. However, at a time that most states are routinely identifying babies born deaf or hard of hearing by 3 months of age, it appears that the majority of children are still not reaching school with age-level communication and language skills. This is a serious problem and lost opportunity for children.

I support the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing 2007 Position Statement and the 2013 Supplement, in that every family who has a child who is deaf or hard of hearing is fully informed about hearing, deafness and all the related issues. I would also stress the importance of an early and intentional commitment to a course of action that results in their child learning language at the rate of children with typical hearing of the same age.

Parents and children are the most important beneficiaries of the choices made during the early years of a child’s life. I strongly believe in the commitment of AG Bell to parent choice and in the association's quest to provide information and resources to those families who choose a listening and spoken language outcome.

Don’t assume the child has good access to speech. Do technology checks regularly to make sure the child has access to sound.

What is your advice for professionals serving Never be afraid to ask other professionals and parents “What children and families on the path to a spoken do you think?” Hearing is an amazing sense and “a little bit of language outcome? hearing can go a long way.” Believe.

Regard the opportunity to work with children who are deaf and hard of hearing as an honor and help the parent and child First, take care of yourself—sleep, eat right and exercise. remember what may appear obvious. Ultimately, this is the Spend time with friends and family as a way to enjoy life child’s life. Is the work we are doing in concert with parents and and recharge your batteries. other professionals getting the child to where he/she needs to Second, when child and parent are “in front of you,” make be? Is he/she developing communicative competence, enjoying them “first.” Focus on the task at hand and do what you do best. family, peers and himself/herself, and growing in other areas Remember, you are not responsible along the way? for everything. While counseling and problem-solving may be I am interested in making life better for children and their asked of you, remember that your specialized skills in listening families. With my expertise in listening and spoken language development, experience in working in and outside of systems of service, and Weingarten Children's Center is the new name for desire to make sure that every family who Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the wants listening and spoken language for Deaf located in Redwood City, California. The new their child is able to achieve that outcome, name reflects our expansion of services to children it felt natural to come back to AG Bell, the who are deaf and hard of hearing and their families.

Our programs include: “Beacon on the Hill,” for listening and spoken language.

I have been extremely fortunate to work in this field and am excited to see the future unfold and brighten for children who are deaf and hard of hearing, in part, through the work that AG Bell does and will continue to do.

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Meet the 2016 AG Bell Convention Chair: Tamala S. Bradham, Ph.D., CCC-A AG Bell is thrilled to introduce Tamala S. Bradham, Ph.D., CCC-A, as the 2016 AG Bell Convention chair.

A pediatric audiologist for almost 20 years, Bradham has worked in three prestigious institutions— University of South Carolina, Medical University of South Carolina, and now Vanderbilt. At Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, she is an assistant professor and the associate director of quality, protocols, and risk management for the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences. Bradham is currently pursuing a Doctor of Health Administration in the Executive Program of Health Administration at the Medical University of South Carolina. She received a Ph.D. in speech and hearing sciences and an M.S. in audiology from the University of South Carolina, and a B.A. in mathematics from Columbia College.

While at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, she started the Mama Lere Hearing School for children birth through 6 years of age; developed an outreach intervention program in rural schools; coordinated the pediatric cochlear implant team and pediatric

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aural (re)habilitation services; and managed all outpatient speech-language services for children with hearing loss. "While overseeing the program, the highlight of my day was hearing children singing as they were coming in from the bus stop," says Bradham.

Bradham grew up with a hearing loss and often felt she was the only one who had difficulties. "My family did not have much support or know where to turn for help. When I learned about audiology and speech-language pathology, the world opened up for me. I finally understood how my hearing loss impacted me as an individual. The journey of learning to listen with the new technologies forms memories that are everlasting. I feel honored to be a part of that journey," recalls Bradham.

Save the date for the 2016 AG Bell Convention and join us in Denver, Colorado, June 30-July 3 for what promises to be an outstanding gathering of our cherished listening and spoken language community!

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HEAR OUR VOICES

Serving in the Peace Corps as a Person with Hearing Loss

BY RACHEL CHAIKOF

Since Peace Corps’ inception in 1961, over 60 Americans who are deaf have successfully served in the Peace Corps and an additional 138 Americans who are hard of hearing have also served. I am one of them.

I first applied to join the Peace Corps six years ago, in 2009, but was denied because of my hearing loss. The medical office at Peace Corps had concerns about my ability to learn a new language. I was given the option to appeal, but I decided to move forward and go to graduate school in the United Kingdom.

In 2013, I decided to reapply with a vow that I would fight all the way through if I were to be denied again only because of my disability. The application process was challenging as the medical screening took six months to complete, but at the end I

was cleared to serve in the Peace Corps. In addition to the medical screening, I filled out an application form, wrote essays, and had an in-person interview, all of which went very smoothly. I began my service in September 2014.

Now that I have been in Cameroon for almost a year, I can share insights about what it is like to serve in the Peace Corps as a person with hearing loss and how my experiences have been unique. I also want create awareness that it is possible for people with hearing loss to serve in the Peace Corps in spite of some obstacles that are unique to them. It’s just a matter of knowing how to handle the barriers!

Everyone in my Peace Corps community in Cameroon knows very well that I have hearing loss. I have always been upfront about it since before arriving in Cameroon. When I first joined the Facebook group for all the volunteers who were heading to Cameroon

together last year, I asked questions that pertained to my concerns about serving in the Peace Corps as a person with hearing loss. For example, I asked how common it is for volunteers to be posted with electricity. I also expressed concerns about getting a final medical clearance because I knew that having hearing loss could be an obstacle to being cleared.

Fortunately, I did receive a final medical clearance without any battles.

Device Maintenance Maintaining my cochlear implant devices has not been an issue so far even though I live in a very wet and dusty environment.

While Cameroon has seven months of rainy season, the country also has five months of dry season where there is a lot of dust in the air. One could expect my cochlear implant devices to break easily from a lot of moisture and dust, but they are still working like a charm.

Rachel reacts with excitement when she first receives her invitation to serve in Cameroon. credit: rachel chaikof Cameroonians shop at a local market in Bamenda, the community where Rachel is posted as part of her Peace Corps service. credit: rachel chaikof

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Rachel brought a stockpile of sound processor parts and spare sound processors with her to Cameroon in case of breakage of her devices.

This is because I use a device called “Dry n’ Store,” which is used to store and care for hearing instruments and protect from moisture and earwax buildup for better sound quality. This is another reason why having electricity is important!

credit : rachel chaikof

Arrival Basics and Challenges Accents The very first challenge I encountered when arriving in Cameroon was learning to listen to people’s accents. I struggled at first to understand Cameroonians both in English and French. While my brain takes a longer time than an average person with typical hearing to adapt to hearing different accents, I did eventually reach the ability to understand them with very little difficulties. However, I did face a number of instances where I had to say, “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear what you said. Can you please repeat?” While communicating with Cameroonians has been challenging, it has been the least stressful part of my service. Because I grew up facing communication challenges, I already knew the strategies for handling the situations.

Training When I was in training during the first two months of my service, I spoke up to the trainers and informed them that I have hearing loss and that I may ask for clarification on materials that I may have not understood. The trainers could not have been more understanding as they told me not to hesitate to ask them questions. When they gave presentations using PowerPoint, I always brought my USB key and asked them to transfer the presentation file to my USB key after their presentations so that I could review the information during my own free time.

I sometimes asked other trainees if I could review their notes to make sure I had all the information I needed written down. Even with these supports, the combination of hearing different accents and learning new languages made it exhausting to listen to lectures for seven hours a day. I always made sure I rested after training so that I would have the energy to focus well the following day.

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Rachel is able to use her cochlear implants during her service in Cameroon. credit: rachel chaikof

Learning the Local Language During training, I spent several hours learning foreign languages, French and Pidgin English. While learning foreign languages was my strength in high school and college, I still needed some accommodations to ensure I could reach my fullest potential. The accommodations included making sure the trainers used clear pronunciation as they spoke and provided visual aids when possible.

I was fortunate to come to Cameroon already having years of experience in learning and speaking French. Therefore, in training, I focused on improving my vocabulary skills. I was very open in telling the trainers that it was important for them to pronounce clearly and if there was an unfamiliar word they were saying that I could not understand, I would ask them to write it down. Seeing the words on paper helped me better understand how to pronounce them and also remember them because I’m obviously a visual learner.

Learning Pidgin English was challenging because it’s an oral language.

However, I was fortunate to have a wonderful trainer who understood that some trainees learn languages better by reading and writing. Therefore, he

provided all of us with text materials and also had posters with writings in Pidgin English.

Daily Life Communication In day-to-day life at my post, I would periodically have a moment during a conversation when I say something completely off topic in response to what other people say because I misheard what they said. I didn’t realize this until I saw their facial expression giving me a hint that my response was weird or received feedback that I had misunderstood what they said. All Peace Corps volunteers face this situation too because listening to a language that is not our own is certainly challenging regardless of hearing status.

However, because I grew up having such moments many a time, I have learned that it’s not the end of the world. I always say, “Oh! I’m sorry! I thought you said this…” and then I ask for a clarification.

Stigma I have not faced stigma due to my hearing loss. That is because hearing loss is an invisible disability. Strangers only know that I have hearing loss if I wear my hair up in a ponytail, and they were able to

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Check out these other great posts by Rachel to help on your journey towards becoming a Peace Corps volunteer!

• Packing for the Peace Corps as a Person with a Disability blog.rachelchaikof.com/how-ispacking-for-peace-corps-differentfor-people-with-disabilities/ • Why a Person with a Disability Should Serve in the Peace Corps blog.rachelchaikof.com/so-whyshould-peace-corps-recruit-morepeople-with-disability/ • Rachel Chaikof Peace Corps page, which contains posts such as Application Timeline, Application Process, Why Volunteering Is Awesome, Photo Essays and more blog.rachelchaikof.com/ peace-corps/

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notice my hearing devices, which are actually difficult to see because they are the same color as my hair. The only time people have really taken the time to notice my hearing device and ask me was when I was at a school for the deaf, the deaf children pointed to me and then pointed to their ears.

When if I ask strangers such as vendors or drivers to repeat because I didn’t hear what they said, they have not shown rudeness when repeating. I believe it’s because they assume that I didn’t hear because of language differences, which is often true.

While many people with disability face stigma when going to the local health centers for treatments, I haven’t.

I have always received great care. The unfortunate truth is because I am white and therefore, they see me first as a foreigner, not a person with hearing loss.

Talking on the Phone While I normally converse on the phone with ease, using the phone in Cameroon has been challenging because of the different accents and also because I use a cheap quality phone. When I face a situation where I could not understand the person on the phone, I always ask them to please text me to make sure I have the correct information. Because texting is not as popular in the Cameroonian culture, I’m not always able to get a text. Sometimes I will ask someone to contact the person for me and to relay the information to me. On occasion, if there is another individual with me and I’m speaking to a Cameroonian over the phone and can’t understand the person on the phone, then I will ask the person who is present with me to take the phone and relay the information to me.

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Rachel teaches her host family how to make chocolate chip cookies. credit: rachel chaikof

Electricity Electricity is certainly very important for me in my Peace Corps life. While some volunteers may not have electricity, many can have electricity. While I worried about whether or not I would have electricity to be able to recharge my hearing devices before coming to Cameroon, I very quickly learned that I would be able to get access to electricity without any problem.

When I first arrived in Cameroon, I was very upfront with Peace Corps staff about making sure I have electricity at post. They have been wonderful about making sure I have access to electricity.

Of course the electricity does not need to be consistent as I can also use disposable batteries when there is no electricity.

However, I prefer rechargeable batteries because they have a higher waterproof rating than the disposable batteries.

Cameroon has seven months of rainy season when there are heavy rainfalls for several days and thus, it’s very important that I’m able to use the rechargeable batteries to ensure that I can hear my best at all times. I also brought solar panels with me so that if I face power outage for a long period of time, I can at least have the option to still be able to recharge my rechargeable batteries. My solar panels definitely did come in handy a few times!

It’s important to note that while every Peace Corps volunteer with typical hearing will experience their journey

differently, every deaf or hard of hearing person’s experience in Peace Corps is unique too. For example, there are a number of people who are deaf who served in Peace Corps without cochlear implants or hearing aids and so, they did not need to worry about having electricity.

Those who primarily communicated in sign language had their own unique communication barriers such as learning how to communicate in the sign language of their host country.

If you’re a deaf or hard of hearing American and interested in international development work and serving your country, I would encourage you to apply to join the Peace Corps.

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35

ADVOCACY IN ACTION

Hearing Health in the 114th Congress

BY SUSAN BOSWELL, M.A., CAE

The fall 2015 congressional agenda was packed with “must pass� items, including a number of health care issues such as time-sensitive annual appropriations, Medicare and Medicaid legislation, the Affordable Care Act and telepractice.

However, bills for major reauthorizations remain unfinished. Within these major priorities are a slate of bills that are part of the AG Bell advocacy action agenda of key priorities for congress as well as federal agencies.

Under the new leadership of AG Bell Public Affairs Council Chair Bruce Goldstein (see sidebar), AG Bell will be working to advance these bills in partnership with other organizations and coalitions and with the support of its members. Below is an update on key initiatives and activities.

Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) has been a game-changer for children with hearing loss. EHDI grants to states have significantly increased the number of infants screened for hearing loss, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). EHDI federal grants have resulted in about 97% of infants being screened for hearing loss within the first month of life, often before they leave the hospital. Although great strides have been made, more work needs to be done to ensure that newborns with hearing loss receive timely and appropriate services.

Just before Congress left for its annual August recess vacation, the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and

Commerce Committee unanimously passed the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act (EHDI) reauthorization legislation (H.R. 1344). This legislation would reauthorize the federal portion of this important and highly successful initiative for the next five years.

Representatives Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Lois Capps (D-CA), who are the original sponsors of the legislation, are urging congressional leadership to bring this legislation to a vote in front of the entire House of Representatives. Once EHDI passes the House, it will need to be passed by the U.S. Senate and then be signed by the president to be reauthorized.

Please urge your senators and representatives to reauthorize this bill!

G Bell frequently receives calls from adults with A hearing loss of all ages who are seeking financial assistance for the purchase of a hearing aid.

AG Bell supports several bills that would make hearing technology and hearing health care more affordable.

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Financial Assistance for Hearing Technology The AG Bell Family Needs Assessment survey data (www.agbell.orgFamily NeedsAssessment) showed that hearing aid purchases and assistive listening devices, such as FM systems, as well as auditory-verbal/speech-language therapy services were the three items that families rated as being areas posing the most significant financial barriers and where financial assistance would be most valuable.

AG Bell frequently receives calls from adults with hearing loss of all ages who are seeking financial assistance for the purchase of a hearing aid. Currently, there are few resources to which to refer them. AG Bell supports several bills that would make hearing technology and hearing health care more affordable.

The Hearing Aid Assistance Tax Credit would provide a $500 tax credit per hearing aid available once every five years. The benefits to children in supporting listening and spoken language development are immense

Meet PAC Chair Bruce Goldstein The AG Bell Public Affairs Council (PAC) bid a fond farewell last fall to John Stanton, who served as chair of the council since its inception in 2008, following his career transition to government.

Stanton received the 2014 Honors of the Association and is a longtime advocate who recently worked to negotiate an agreement for movie theater captioning with four other consumer and industry organizations. Stanton will remain on the AG Bell PAC and is currently involved in several new initiatives.

PAC member Bruce Goldstein will take the helm of the committee which is charged with providing overall direction and guidance to the AG Bell Board of

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and the benefit to seniors in minimizing the psychosocial impacts of untreated hearing loss are critical. The Hearing Aid Tax Credit is currently being considered by the House Ways and Means Committee (H.R. 1822) and the Senate Finance Committee (S. 315).

Similar legislation has been introduced in the past several legislative sessions, but with this legislative session prospects are stronger as tax reform is one of the few issues on which Congress and the White House have expressed hope of reaching bipartisan agreement. The bill’s best chance for passage is to be included in a broader tax measure.

The Medicare Hearing Aid Coverage Act of 2015 (H.R. 1653) would improve access to hearing aids and related examinations by removing the part of the Social Security Act that prevents Medicare from covering hearing aids.

The bill also directs the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study on insurance programs that provide services to help with hearing loss. The bill, which has five co-sponsors,

is also supported by the Hearing Loss Association of America.

Medicare reform is also the target of the Medicare Audiology Services Enhancement Act of 2015 (H.R. 1116) which would give seniors access to both diagnostic and rehabilitation services provided by audiologists, similar to coverage provided by other health care practitioners. Currently, Medicare covers only diagnostic tests performed by audiologists to assess hearing and balance. Under the proposed legislation, covered services provided by audiologists would be expanded to include auditory treatment and vestibular treatment. All of these services are currently covered under Medicare when provided by other practitioners. This bill would continue to exclude services provided in dispensing a hearing aid and would maintain the longstanding Medicare requirement for a physician referral. This bill currently has seven co-sponsors and is being supported by the American SpeechLanguage-Hearing Association.

Directors on public policy issues and initiatives as well as position statements.

Goldstein is senior partner with the law firm of Goldstein, Ackerhalt & Pletcher, LLP, in Buffalo, N.Y. After his two daughters were diagnosed with deafness in the 1970s, Goldstein changed the course of his career from being a trial lawyer to focusing on disabilities law. Today, he concentrates his practice in the areas of education law, disability law, estate planning, not-for-profit corporation law and health law.

Serving on the PAC was an outgrowth of Goldstein’s involvement in the former Parent Section and serving as president of the AG Bell Board of Directors.

Goldstein views the PAC as empowering the AG Bell Board of Directors and association to address a myriad of public policy issues. PAC membership is multidisciplinary and diverse, providing input from key membership constituencies as well as a vehicle to

provide analysis and discussion about the position and approach to take.

A key example was Goldstein’s leadership of the AG Bell IDEA Task Force in 2013, which analyzed the current Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and developed a position statement that will foster future collaborative relationships with other organizations in the future reauthorization of the law.

“Moving forward, I believe it’s important for the PAC to embrace its role, empowering AG Bell to be responsive and proactive concerning important policy issues that impact our members,” Goldstein said.

He also noted the importance of grassroots advocacy. “Public policy does not advance without constant attention.

Active membership and involvement in AG Bell and other related organizations is essential to further the interests of people with hearing loss, their parents and the professionals that serve them.”

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FOCUS ON CHAPTERS

Building a Strong Chapter David Davis, chair of the 2014 AG Bell Convention held in Orlando, Florida, welcomed convention attendees with this statement: “The AG Bell convention is my mecca - it is the place I come to for inspiration, friendship and truth.” Those of us who have attended conventions in the past—children and adults with hearing loss, their families and the professionals who support them—understood exactly what he meant. For those of us who serve as state chapter leaders, the 2014 convention meant even more. It was there, at the chapter presidents’ meeting, that we had the chance to exchange ideas, learn from one another, and better understand the relationship between our state chapters and the national organization.

There are currently 25 active state chapters across the United States. Each one is a separate entity operating under its own bylaws with the primary goal of increasing awareness of hearing loss and the benefits of early intervention at the state level. Each chapter has an executive board comprised of parents, professionals, and/or adults with hearing loss. Anyone who joins AG Bell automatically becomes a member of both the national association and the chapter based in their home state. You can find a complete list of AG Bell chapters at www.agbell.org under “Connect” – “State Chapters.”

Every chapter is unique. Some have very active boards that manage their own state conferences for families and professionals, create alliances for fundraising and socializing with other nonprofit organizations, or lend support to crucial state legislative initiatives. Other chapters concentrate their efforts on social events to help families connect and support each other. Some have chapter websites, while others do not. No matter what the size or level of activity, all chapters look

for ways to advance listening and spoken language in their states.

At the AG Bell conventions, chapter leaders have the opportunity to meet at a special session for chapters. At that meeting, chapters share tips, strategies and best practices to make the state organizations stronger.

Friendraising, Fundraising and More In Orlando last year, Corrine Altman, co-president of the Nevada chapter and AG Bell board member, led a session that produced concrete ideas to support AG Bell’s strategic plan and help revitalize the relationship between AG Bell and the state chapters. Ultimately, these ideas would lead to the strengthening and expansion of current chapters and new chapter creation.

At the session titled “Building a Strong Chapter: Friendraising, Fundraising and More,” Corrine posed four questions: 1. What activities/events is your chapter currently doing to reach out toward accomplishing each of your goals?

BY SUE SCHMIDBERGER

2. What challenges has your chapter experienced in reaching these goals?

3. What are some ideas you might suggest for other chapters in reaching their goals?

4. What are some ways AG Bell national can show support for chapters in the area of implementing the strategic plan?

After lively small group discussions, chapter leaders shared their answers with everyone in the room. The answers, no matter whether the chapter was large or small, active or not quite so, were fairly consistent. Every chapter touched on a greater need for communication, support and outreach. “Standardization” was also a key word used throughout the session.

The main question became “How do we turn all this information into a workable plan that can be implemented successfully to strengthen and expand our chapters?”

Sue Schmidberger and chapter leaders at the 2014 AG Bell Convention in Orlando, Florida. credit : ag bell

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AG Bell President-elect Ted Meyer, M.D., Ph.D., at the chapter leaders' meeting at the 2014 AG Bell Convention in Orlando, Florida. credit : ag bell

Friendraising, fundraising and more at the 2014 AG Bell Convention in Orlando, Florida. credit : ag bell

Model Chapter In a great collaborative effort, a group of AG Bell staff and high level volunteers worked to develop a “Model Chapter.”

The group included the Chapter and Outreach Committee of the national AG Bell Board of Directors (with Corrine Altman as chair), the AG Bell Chapter Advisor (a newly created position that I assumed), AG Bell Manager of Association Relations Gary Yates, and AG Bell Chief Development Officer Lisa Chutjian. The group took into account considerations such as a chapter’s purpose, administration, legal requirements, financial needs, membership, marketing and funding, and generated strategic elements of a chaptering plan and protocols for advancing chapter initiatives.

Our purpose was not to develop a prescriptive “model,” but to strive to develop an ideal that could be adapted to the needs of each chapter.

The Chapter Advisor In my new role as Chapter Advisor, I am working to update, clean up and merge chapter data and information that has been collected by the national organization into Chapter Profile sheets. We have also been working on increasing communication between the national organization and the chapters by sending emails to chapter presidents announcing AG Bell programs, activities and chapter events.

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Every quarter, we send membership lists to chapters and help chapter outreach activities by providing informational materials and being open to any new attempt to reach out to local communities.

We have solidified and developed alliances with organizations such as Easter Seals, No Limits for Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Hearing Loss Association of America’s (HLAA) Walk4Hearing. We are working on creating a new chapter guidebook to share with established and new chapters.

In the future, chapters will be more formally introduced to the Nevada Chapter’s N*COURAGE*MINT program (which operates in partnership with the John Tracy Clinic), which is designed to educate and support parents of young children with hearing loss. This program will function with chapter support through the help of volunteers to identify families, solicit support, coordinate sessions, and manage a program and support group.

We’ll also be looking at ways for AG Bell chapters (and the national organization) to work with HLAA to help support families. Several states have begun collaborative chapter-level meetings for both organizations.

We are exploring a number of ideas to help with chapter expansion such as working across state borders to plan events that will reach larger audiences (e.g., a metro New York/New Jersey/Connecticut

event); setting up “regions” within a state that allow the chapter to reach out to areas they normally would find difficult to serve (e.g., New Jersey now has a South/Central region, headed by two mothers of children with hearing loss, who are supported by the chapter leadership); securing positions on state deaf and hard of hearing advisory councils and becoming more active in legislation; working more closely with school districts, option schools, hospitals and hearing/speech centers; helping to set up and maintain AG Bell affiliate organizations on college campuses (similar to the American Speech-LanguageHearing Association’s National Student Speech Language Hearing Association); creating more working alliances with companies or organizations that are willing to support individuals with hearing loss; and more. We are also exploring ways for chapters to connect with one another so that they can share and adopt other chapters’ best practices.

The 2014 convention in Orlando, Florida, was just the beginning of the journey our chapters will embark upon in the upcoming years. We know that the “inspiration, friendship and truth” found at past AG Bell conventions will continue on at the 2016 Convention in Denver, Colorado, and beyond. For chapter leaders, it will once again be the place to contribute ideas for the expansion and strengthening of their chapters. The chapter presidents’ meeting will be one session that every leader will want to attend!

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DIRECTORY OF SERVICES

Directory of Services

The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is not responsible for verifying the credentials of the service providers below.

Listings do not constitute endorsements of establishments or individuals, nor do they guarantee quality.

California

Echo Center/Echo Horizon School, 3430

McManus Avenue, Culver City, CA 90232 • 310-838-2442 (voice) • 310-838-0479 (fax) • 310-202-7201 (tty) • vishida@echohorizon. org (email) • www. echohorizon.org (website) • Vicki Ishida, Echo Center Director. Private elementary school incorporating an auditory/ oral mainstream program for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Daily support provided by credentialed DHH teachers in speech, language, auditory skills and academic follow-up.

HEAR Center, 301 East Del Mar Blvd.,

Pasadena, CA 91101 • 626-796-2016 (voice) • 626-796-2320 (fax) • info@hearcenter.org (e-mail) • www.hearcenter.org (website) • Ellen S. Simon, Executive Director • Nonprofit 501c3 since 1954. Provides high quality Speech, Hearing, and Hearing Aid Services. Licensed Audiologists conduct hearing evaluations and dispense HEARING AIDS for all ages (newbornsseniors) with state of the art equipment. Licensed Speech Language Pathologists conduct speech evaluations and therapy for ages 6 months -18 years. HEAR Center also provides free outreach services such as free hearing and speech screenings, health fairs, and educational sessions.

HEAR to Talk, 547 North June Street, Los Angeles, CA 90004 • 323-464-3040 (voice) • Sylvia@hear2talk.com (e-mail) • www.hear2talk. com • Sylvia Rotfleisch, M.Sc.A., CED, CCC, Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist®, LSLS Cert. AVT, Licensed Audiologist, California NPA Certified. Trained by Dr. Ling. Extensive expertise with cochlear implants and hearing aids.

House Children's Hearing Center of UCLA,

2100 W. 3rd Street, Suite 100 Los Angeles, CA 90057 • Voice (213) 353-7005 • FAX (213) 4833716 • Lisa Owens, Au.D, CCC-SLP/A, Director, lowens@mednet.ucla.edu • Where excellence meets compassion in serving children birth-21 with hearing loss. Cutting edge diagnostic, therapeutic and educational counseling services.

House Children’s Hearing Center is a cochlear implant center adjacent to the House Clinic. Our staff is dedicated to partnering with families to maximize each child’s auditory potential.

Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf, 3518 Jefferson Ave. Redwood

City, CA 94062 • jwposd@jwposd.org (email) • www.deafkidstalk.org (website)• Kathleen Daniel Sussman–Executive Director–Pamela Hefner Musladin–Director of School.

A listening and spoken language program where deaf and hard of hearing children listen, think and talk!

Cognitive based program from birth through Kindergarten. Students develop excellent language, listening and social skills with

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superior academic competencies. Services include educational programs, parent/infant, speech/language/auditory therapy, mainstream support, educational/clinical audiology, occupational therapy and Tele-therapy.

John Tracy Clinic, 806 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007 • 213-748-5481 (voice) • 800-522-4582 · PALS@JTC.org • www.jtc. org & www.youtube.com/johntracyclinic.

Early detection, school readiness and parent empowerment since 1942. Worldwide Parent Distance Education and onsite comprehensive audiological, counseling and educational services for families with children ages birth-5 years old. Intensive Summer Sessions (children ages 2-5 and parents), with sibling program.

Online and on-campus options for an accredited Master’s and Credential in Deaf Education.

therapy and auditory verbal therapy, and educational counseling and support. Located on the campus of the John Tracy Clinic, USC C3 is part of the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. Otologic and surgical services are provided by John Niparko, M.D., and Rick Friedman, M.D. For appointments: 855-222-3093. Fax-213-764-2899.

For inquiries regarding services: margaret. winter@med.usc.edu or call 213-764-2801.

Connecticut

Suite 107, San Jose, CA 95129 • 408-345-4949 • Marsha A. Haines, M.A., CED, Cert. AVT, and Sandra Hamaguchi Hocker, M.A., CED • Auditory-verbal therapy for the child and family from infancy. Services also include aural habilitation for older students and adults with cochlear implants. Extensive experience and expertise with cochlear implants, single and bilateral. Mainstream support services, school consultation and assessment for children in their neighborhood school. California NPA certified.

CREC Soundbridge, 123 Progress Drive, Wethersfield, CT 06109 • 860- 529-4260 (voice/TTY) • 860-257-8500 (fax) • www. crec.org/soundbridge (website). Dr. Elizabeth B. Cole, Program Director. Comprehensive audiological and instructional services, birth through post-secondary, public school settings.

Focus on providing cutting-edge technology for optimal auditory access and listening in educational settings and at home, development of spoken language, development of self advocacy–all to support each individual’s realization of social, academic and vocational potential. Birth to Three, auditory-verbal therapy, integrated preschool, intensive day program, direct educational and consulting services in schools, educational audiology support services in all settings, cochlear implant mapping and habilitation, diagnostic assessments, and summer programs.

No Limits Theater Program and Educational Centers, No Limits

New England Center for Hearing Rehabilitation (NECHEAR), 354 Hartford

Listen and Learn, 4340 Stevens Creek Blvd.,

Headquarters: 9801 Washington Blvd., 2nd Floor, Culver City, CA 90232 (310) 280- 0878, www.nolimitsfordeafchildren.org. Individual auditory, speech, and language therapy for DHH children between the ages of 3-18 as well as a literacy program, weekly parent workshops, leadership and mentoring for teens, and a national theater program.

Training and Advocacy Group (TAG) for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Children and Teens, Leah Ilan, Executive Director • 11693

San Vicente Blvd. #559, Los Angeles, CA 90049 • 310-339-7678 • tagkids@aol.com • www.tagkids.org. TAG provides exciting social opportunities through community service, field trips, weekly meetings, college prep and pre-employment workshops, guest speakers and parent-only workshops. Group meetings and events offered to oral D/HoH children in 5th grade through high school seniors.

USC Center for Childhood Communication (C3), 806 W. Adams Blvd, Los Angeles,

CA 90007. USC C3 provides state of the art diagnostic audiology services, hearing aids, and implantable devices to children from birth to adulthood, speech language

Turnpike, Hampton, CT 06247 • 860-4551404 (voice) • 860-455-1396 (fax) • Diane Brackett. Serving infants, children and adults with all degrees of hearing loss. Speech, language, listening evaluation for children using hearing aids and cochlear implants. AuditoryVerbal therapy; Cochlear implant candidacy evaluation, pre- and postrehabilitation, and creative individualized mapping. Post-implant rehabilitation for adults with cochlear implants, specializing in prelingual onset. Mainstream school support,including onsite consultation with educational team, rehabilitation planning and classroom observation. Comprehensive audiological evaluation, amplification validation and classroom listening system assessment.

Florida

Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech / Jacksonville, 9803 Old St. Augustine Road,

Suite 7, Jacksonville, FL 32257 • 904-880-9001 • info@clarkeschools.org • www.clarkeschools. org. Alisa Demico, MS, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert AVT, and Cynthia Robinson, M.Ed., CED, LSLS Cert. AVEd, Co-Directors. A member of the Option Schools network, Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech provides children who are deaf and hard of hearing with the listening, learning and spoken language skills they

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DIRECTORY OF SERVICES need to succeed. Comprehensive listening and spoken language programs prepare students for success in mainstream schools.

Services include early intervention, toddler, preschool, pre-K, kindergarten, parent support, cochlear implant habilitation, and mainstream support. Summer Listening and Spoken Language Program provides additional spoken language therapy for toddler and preschool-aged children.Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech has locations in Boston, Bryn Mawr, Jacksonville, New York City, Northampton and Philadelphia.

Georgia

Atlanta Speech School—Katherine Hamm Center, 3160 Northside Parkway, NW Atlanta,

GA 30327 • 404-233-5332 ext. 3119 (voice/ TTY) • 404-266-2175 (fax) • scarr@atlspsch. org (email) • www.atlantaspeechschool.org (website). Established in 1938, the Katherine Hamm Center at the Atlanta Speech School is a listening, spoken language and literacy program for children ages birth to 6 who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. Children receive language-rich lessons and highly individualized literacy instruction in a nurturing environment.

Teachers and staff work closely with parents to instill the knowledge and confidence they need to help their children reach their full potential. Services include early intervention programs, parent education, audiological support services, a preschool program that supports mainstream opportunities, professional development (coaching) support and independent education evaluations.

Auditory-Verbal Center Inc.—Atlanta Macon Teletherapy, 1901 Century Boulevard, Suite 20, Atlanta, GA 30345 • OFFICE: 404-633-8911 • EMAIL: Listen@avchears. org • WEBSITE: www.avchears.org. AVC provides Auditory-Verbal Therapy that teaches children who are deaf and hard of hearing to listen and speak WITHOUT the use of sign language or lip reading. AVC provides AV therapy expertly by their Listening & Spoken Language Specialists (LSLS®) through their two main locations in Atlanta and Macon but also virtually through teletherapy. Together, the LSLS and the parents work together to maximize each child’s listening and spoken language skills. AVC also has a full Audiology & Hearing Aid Clinic that provides diagnostic testing, dispensing and repair of hearing aids and cochlear implant mapping for adults.

Additional offices: 2720 Sheraton Drive, Suite D-240, Macon, GA 31204, 478-471-0019 (voice)

Illinois

Alexander Graham Bell Montessori School (AGBMS) and Alternatives In Education for the Hearing Impaired (AEHI),

www.agbms.org (website) • info@agbms.org (email) • 847-850-5490 (phone) • 847-150-5493 (fax) • 9300 Capitol Drive Wheeling, IL 60090 • AGBMS is a Montessori school educating children ages 15 months-12 who are deaf or hard of hearing or have other communicative challenges in a mainstream environment with hearing peers. Teachers of Deaf/Speech/ Language Pathologist/Reading Specialist/ Classroom Teachers emphasize language development and literacy utilizing Cued Speech. Early Intervention Services available

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to children under 3. AEHI, a training center for Cued Speech, assists parents, educators, or advocates in verbal language development for children with language delays or who do not yet substantially benefit from auditory technology.

Child’s Voice School, 180 Hansen Court, Wood Dale, IL 60191 • (630) 565-8200 (voice) • (630) 565-8282 , (fax) • info@childsvoice.org (email) • www.childsvoice.org (website). Michele Wilkins, Ed.D., LSLS Cert. AVEd., Executive Director. A Listening and Spoken Language program for children birth to age 8. Cochlear implant (re) habilitation, audiology services and mainstream support services provided. Early intervention for birth to age three with parent-infant and toddler classes and home based services offered in Wood Dale and Chicago. (Chicago– phone (773) 516-5720; fax (773) 516-5721) Parent Support/Education classes provided.

Child’s Voice is a Certified Moog Program.

Maryland

The Hearing and Speech Agency’s Auditory/Oral Program: Little Ears Big Voices, 5900 Metro Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215 • (voice) 410-318-6780 • (relay) 711 • (fax) 410318-6759 • Email: hasa@hasa.org • Website: www.hasa.org • Jill Berie, Educational Director; Olga Polites, Clinical Director; Erin Medley, Teacher of the Deaf. Auditory/Oral education and therapy program for infants and young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Early intervention services are available for children birth to age 3 and a preschool program for children ages 3 through 5. Cheerful, spacious, state-of-the-art classrooms located in Gateway School are approved by the Maryland State Department of Education. Services include onsite audiology, speech-language therapy, family education and support. Applications are accepted year-round. Financial aid available.

Massachusetts

Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech/ Boston, 1 Whitman Road, Canton, MA 02021

• 781-821-3499 (voice) • 781-821-3904 • info@ clarkeschools.org • www.clarkeschools.org.

Barbara Hecht, Ph.D., Director. A member of the Option Schools network, Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech provides children who are deaf and hard of hearing with the listening, learning and spoken language skills they need to succeed. Comprehensive listening and spoken language programs prepare students for success in mainstream schools.

Services include early intervention, preschool, kindergarten, speech and language services, parent support, cochlear implant habilitation, and an extensive mainstream services program (itinerant and consulting). Children and families come to our campus from throughout Eastern and Central Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire for services.

Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech has locations in Boston, Bryn Mawr, Jacksonville, New York City, Northampton and Philadelphia.

Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech/ Northampton, 45 Round Hill Road,

Northampton, MA 01060 • 413-584-3450 • info@clarkeschools.org • www.clarkeschools. org. Bill Corwin, President. A member of the Option Schools network, Clarke Schools for

Hearing and Speech provides children who are deaf and hard of hearing with the listening, learning and spoken language skills they need to succeed. Comprehensive listening and spoken language programs prepare students for success in mainstream schools.

Services include early intervention, preschool, day school through 8th grade, cochlear implant assessment, summer programs, mainstream services (itinerant and consulting), evaluations for infants through high school students, audiological services, and a graduate degree program in teacher education.

Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech has locations in Boston, Bryn Mawr, Jacksonville, New York City, Northampton and Philadelphia.

Mississippi

DuBard School for Language Disorders,

The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Drive #5215, Hattiesburg, MS 394060001 • 601-266-5223 (voice) • dubard@usm.edu (email) • www.usm.edu/dubard • Maureen K. Martin, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, CED, CALT, QI, Director.

The DuBard School for Language Disorders is a clinical division of the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at The University of Southern Mississippi. The school serves children from birth to age 13 in its state-of-the-art facility.

Working collaboratively with 20 public school districts, the school specializes in coexisting language disorders, learning disabilities/ dyslexia and speech disorders, such as apraxia, through its non-graded, 11-month program.

The DuBard Association Method®, an expanded and refined version of The Association Method, is the basis of the curriculum. Comprehensive evaluations, individual therapy, audiological services and professional development programs also are available. AA/EOE/ADAI.

Magnolia Speech School Inc., 733 Flag Chapel Road, Jackson, MS 39209 – 601-922-5530 (voice), 601-922-5534 (fax)– anne.sullivan@ magnoliaspeechschool.org–Anne Sullivan, M.Ed. Executive Director. Magnolia Speech School serves children with hearing loss and/or severe speech and language disorders. Listening and Spoken Language instruction/therapy is offered to students 0 to 12 in a home-based early intervention program (free of charge), in classroom settings and in the Hackett Bower Clinic (full educational audiological services, speech pathology and occupational therapy).

Assessments and outpatient therapy are also offered to the community through the Clinic.

Missouri

CID–Central Institute for the Deaf,

825 S. Taylor Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110 314-977-0132 (voice) • 314-977-0037 (tty) • lberkowitz@cid.edu (email) • www.cid.edu (website) Lynda Berkowitz/Barb Lanfer, coprincipals. Child- and family-friendly learning environment for children birth-12; exciting adapted curriculum incorporating mainstream content; Family Center for infants and toddlers; expert mainstream preparation in the CID pre-k and primary programs; workshops and educational tools for professionals; close affiliation with Washington University deaf education and audiology graduate programs.

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DIRECTORY OF SERVICES The Moog Center for Deaf Education,

12300 South Forty Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141 • 314-692-7172 (voice) • 314-692-8544 (fax) • www.moogcenter.org (website) • Betsy Moog Brooks, Executive Director, bbrooks@ moogcenter.org. Services provided to children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing from birth to 9 years of age. Programs include the Family School (birth to 3), School (3–9 years), Audiology (including cochlear implant programming), Teleschool, mainstream services, educational evaluations, parent education and support groups, professional , workshops, teacher education, and student teacher placements. The Moog Center for Deaf Education is a Certified Moog Program.

New Jersey

HIP of Bergen County Special Services,

Midland Park School District, 41 E. Center Street, Midland Park, NJ 07432. • Contact Kathleen Treni, Principal (201) 343-8982, kattre@bergen.org.

An integrated, comprehensive pre-K through 6th grade auditory oral program. Services include AV Therapy, Cochlear Implant Habilitation, Parent Education and Audiology services. STARS Early Intervention for babies, 0 to 3, with Toddler and Baby and Me groups available. SOUND SOLUTIONS consulting teacher services for mainstream students in North Jersey public schools. Contact Lisa Stewart, Supervisor at 201-343-6000 ext 6511 for information about teacher of the deaf, speech and audiology services to public schools. SHIP is the state’s only 7 through 12th grade auditory oral program.

CART (Computer Realtime Captioning) is provided in a supportive small high school environment and trained Social Worker is onsite to work with social skills and advocacy issues.

Summit Speech School for the Hearing Impaired Child, F.M. Kirby Center is an

exclusively auditory-oral/auditory-verbal school for deaf and hard of hearing children located at 705 Central Ave., New Providence, NJ 07974 • 908-508-0011 (voice/TTY) • 908508-0012 (fax) • info@summitspeech.org (email) • www.summitspeech.org (website) • Pamela Paskowitz, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Executive Director. Programs include Early Intervention/ Parent Infant (0-3 years), Preschool (3-5 years) and Itinerant Mainstream Support Services for children in their home districts. Speech and language, OT and PT and family support/ family education services available. Pediatric audiological services are available for children birth-21 and educational audiology and consultation is available for school districts.

New York

Anne Kearney, M.S., LSLS Cert. AVT, CCC-SLP, 401 Littleworth Lane • Sea Cliff, Long Island, NY 11579 • 516-671-9057 (Voice) • Kearney@ optonline.net. Family-centered auditoryverbal speech therapy for infants, children and adults with any level of hearing loss.

Auditory/Oral School of New York,

3321 Avenue “M”, Brooklyn, NY 11234 • 718531-1800 (voice) • 718-421-5395 (fax) • info@ auditoryoral.org (email). Pnina Bravmann, Program Director. An Auditory/Oral Early Intervention and Preschool Program serving

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children with hearing loss and their families.

Programs include: Early Intervention (centerbased and home-based), preschool, integrated preschool classes with children with normal hearing, multidisciplinary evaluations, parent support, auditory-verbal therapy (individual speech, language and listening therapy), complete audiological services, cochlear implant (re)habilitation, mainstreaming, ongoing support services following mainstreaming.

Center for Hearing and Communication,

50 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10004 • 917 305-7700 (voice) • 917-305-7888 (TTY) • 917-305-7999 (fax) • www.CHChearing.org (website). Florida Office: 2900 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 3, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309 • 954-601-1930 (Voice) • 954-601-1938 (TTY) • 954-601-1399 (Fax). A leading center for hearing and communication services for people of all ages who have a hearing loss as well as children with listening and learning challenges.

Our acclaimed services for children include pediatric hearing evaluation and hearing aid fitting; auditory-oral therapy; and the evaluation and treatment of auditory processing disorder (APD). Comprehensive services for all ages include hearing evaluation; hearing aid evaluation, fitting and sales; cochlear implant training; communication therapy; assistive technology consultation; tinnitus treatment, emotional health and wellness; and Mobile Hearing Test Unit. Visit www.CHChearing. org to access our vast library of information about hearing loss and hearing conservation.

Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech/New York, 80 East , End Avenue,

New York, NY 10028 • 212-585-3500 • info@ clarkeschools.org • www.clarkeschools.org.

Meredith Berger, Director. A member of the Option Schools network, Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech provides children who are deaf and hard of hearing with the listening, learning and spoken language skills they need to succeed. Comprehensive listening and spoken language programs prepare students for success in mainstream schools.

Clarke’s New York campus is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and serves children age birth-5 years old from New York City and Westchester County. Clarke is an approved provider of early intervention evaluations and services, service coordination, and pre-school classes (self-contained and integrated). There are typically little or no out of pocket expenses for families attending Clarke New York. Our expert staff includes teachers of the deaf/hard of hearing, speech language pathologists, audiologists, social workers/service coordinators and occupational and physical therapists.

Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech has locations in Boston, Bryn Mawr, Jacksonville, New York City, Northampton and Philadelphia.

Cleary School for the Deaf, 301 Smithtown Boulevard, Nesconset, NY 11767 • 631-588-0530 (voice) • www.clearyschool.org • Jacqueline Simms, Executive Director. Auditory Oral Programs include Parent-Infant (birth-3years) and Preschool (3-5 years). Offers Teacher of the Deaf, Speech Therapy & AV therapy. The primary focus of the Auditory-Oral Program is to develop

students’ ability to “listen to learn” along with developing age appropriate speech, language, and academic skills. These programs offer intensive speech therapy services with a goal to prepare students for life long learning. Additional services: Autism Resource, Audiological, Music, Art, Library, OT, PT and Parent Support.

Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf,

40 Frost Mill Road, Mill Neck, NY 11765 • (516) 922 – 4100 (voice). Francine Atlas Bogdanoff, Superintendent. State-supported school: Infant Toddler Program focusing on parent education and support including listening and spoken language training by a speech therapist and TOD. Certified AVEd and Audiological services onsite, integrated auditory-verbal preschool and kindergarten programs; comprehensive curriculum utilizes play, music, literacy and hands on experiences to promote listening and spoken language skills and academic standards. Speech, occupational and physical therapies, as well as counseling and Cochlear Implant MAPpings, are available onsite.

Rochester School for the Deaf, 1545 St.

Paul Street, Rochester, NY 14621 • 585-544-1240 • 866-283-8810 (videophone) • info@RSDeaf. org • www.RSDeaf.org • Antony A. L. McLetchie, Superintendent/CEO. Serving Western and Central New York State, Rochester School for the Deaf (RSD) is an inclusive, bilingual school where children who are deaf and hard of hearing and their families thrive. Established in 1876, RSD goes above and beyond all expectations to provide quality Pre-K through 12th grade academic programs, services and resources to ensure a satisfying and successful school experience for children with hearing loss.

St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf, 1000 Hutchinson River Pkwy., Bronx, NY 10465 • 718-828-9000 (Voice) • 718-828-1671 (TTY) • 347-479-1271 (Video Phone) • www.sjsdny. org. Debra Arles, Executive Director. SJSD has a long history of providing academically rich programs for students with hearing loss from birth to 8th grade. All students receive individual and/or small group speech therapy sessions.

Individual and sound field FM systems are utilized throughout the school day. Onsite audiological services (assessments and amplification fitting/maintenance) are available in addition to occupation and physical therapies, and counseling. Our Parent-Infant Program offers individual family sessions and a weekly group session, and emphasizes language acquisition, development of spoken language and auditory skills. In addition, our vibrant, multi-lingual Parent Education program provides practical information and peer support to empower parents raising a child with hearing loss.

North Carolina

CASTLE- Center for Acquisition of Spoken Language Through Listening Enrichment, 5501 Fortunes Ridge Drive, Suite A, Chapel Hill, NC 27713 • 919-419-1428 (voice) • http:// www.med.unc.edu/earandhearing/castle (website) • CASTLE is a part of the UNC Ear & Hearing Center and the UNC Pediatric Cochlear Implant Team. Our mission is to provide a quality listening & spoken language program

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DIRECTORY OF SERVICES for children with hearing loss; empower parents as primary teachers and advocates; and train and coach specialists in listening and spoken language. We offer toddler classes, preschool language groups, Auditory-Verbal parent sessions, and distance therapy through UNC REACH. Hands-on training program for hearingrelated professionals/university students.

Ohio

Ohio Valley Voices, 6642 Branch Hill-Guinea Pike, Cincinnati, OH 45140 • 513-791-1458 (voice) • 513-791-4326 (fax) • mainoffice@ ohiovalleyvoices.org (email) • www. ohiovalleyvoices.org (website). Ohio Valley Voices’ mission is to teach children with hearing loss to listen and talk. Our primary goal is for children with hearing impairment to leave our program speaking within normal limits and reading at or above grade level. Our vision is for all children with hearing loss to have a bright future with endless possibilities. We provide early intervention, oral deaf education through 2nd grade, intensive speech/ language therapy, parent education, and support groups for families. We offer a 1:3 therapist to child ratio and complete audiology services, including daily maintenance/repairs on children’s cochlear implants and/or hearing aids.

Millridge Center/Mayfield AuditoryOral Program, 950 Millridge Road, Highland Heights,

OH 44143-3113 • Phone 440/995-7300 • Fax 440/995-7305 • www.mayfieldschools.org • Mrs. Elizabeth A. Scully, Principal. Auditory/oral program with a full continuum of services, birth to 22 years of age. Serving 31+ public school districts in northeast Ohio. Parent-Infant-Toddler Program; preschool with typically developing peers; parent support; individual speech, language, and listening therapy; audiological services; cochlear implant habilitation; and mainstreaming in the general education classrooms of Mayfield City School District.

Oklahoma

Hearts for Hearing, 3525 NW 56th Street,

Suite A-150, Oklahoma City, OK 73112 • 405-5484300 • 405-548-4350(Fax) • Comprehensive hearing health care for children and adults with an emphasis on listening and spoken language outcomes. Our family-centered team includes audiologists, LSLS Cert. AVTs, speech-language pathologists, physicians and educators working closely with families for optimal listening and spoken language outcomes. Services include newborn hearing testing, pediatric and adult audiological evaluations, hearing aid fittings, cochlear implant evaluations and mapping.

Auditory-verbal therapy as well as cochlear implant habilitation is offered by Listening and Spoken Language Specialists (LSLS®), as well as an auditory-oral preschool, parent-toddler group and a summer enrichment program. Continuing education and consulting available. www.heartsforhearing.org.

Oregon

Butte Publications, Inc., P.O. Box 1329,

Hillsboro, OR 97123 (866)312-8883 www.

ButtePublications.com. Butte Publications is an educational publisher focused on the needs of deaf or hard-of-hearing students, their

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families, teachers and other professionals.

At Butte, you'll find time tested as well as new titles covering language skill building, professional resources, and other interesting and informative publications. Visit our website to see the scope of our line.

Tucker Maxon School, 2860 SE Holgate

Blvd. Portland, OR 97202(503) 235-6551 • info@tuckermaxon.org • www.tuckermaxon. org • Glen Gilbert, Executive Director • Linda Goodwin, Principal • Founded in 1947, Tucker Maxon offers early intervention, tele-intervention, LSL pre-school, and K-5 education for deaf, hard of hearing and typical hearing children.

Since 2013, we have exceeded the OPTION schools Standards of Excellence in Listening and Spoken Language Education. On-site audiology and speech-language pathology provide assistance to children with cochlear implants and hearing aids. Our average 8:1 student-teacher/EA ratio and co-enrollment with hearing children results in improved listening and speaking skills and inspires a language-rich environment at home. Art, Music, and PE augment our focus on communication, academics, and emotional intelligence. Tucker Maxon: Where every child has a voice.

Pennsylvania

Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech/ Pennsylvania, 455 South Roberts Road,

Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 • 610-525-9600 • info@ clarkeschools.org • www.clarkeschools. org. Judith Sexton, MS, CED, LSLS Cert AVEd, Director. A member of the Option Schools network, Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech provides children who are deaf and hard of hearing with the listening, learning and spoken language skills they need to succeed. Comprehensive listening and spoken language programs prepare students for success in mainstream schools.

Locations in Bryn Mawr and Philadelphia.

Services include early intervention, preschool, parent education, individual auditory speech and language services, cochlear implant habilitation for children and adults, audiological services, and mainstream services including itinerant teaching and consulting. Specially trained staff includes LSLS Cert. AVEd and LSL Cert. AVT professionals, teachers of the deaf, special educators, speech language pathologists and a staff audiologist.

Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech has locations in Boston, Bryn Mawr, Jacksonville, New York City, Northampton and Philadelphia.

Delaware County Intermediate Unit # 25 Hearing and Language Programs, 200 Yale

Avenue, Morton, PA 19070 • 610-938-9000, ext.

2277, 610-938-9886 (fax) • sdoyle@dciu.org • Program Highlights: A publicly funded program for children with hearing loss in local schools.

Serving children from birth through 21 years of age. Teachers of the deaf provide resource room support and itinerant hearing therapy throughout Delaware County, PA. Services also include audiology, speech therapy, cochlear implant habilitation (which includes LSLS Cert. AVT and LSLS Cert. AVEd), psychology and social work.

DePaul School for Hearing and Speech, 6202 Alder Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 •

412-924-1012 (voice) • 412-924-1036 (fax) • www.depaulhearingandspeech.org (website) • nl@depaulhearingandspeech.org (email) • Mimi Loughead, Early Childhood Coordinator.

DePaul School is the only school in the western Pennsylvania tri-state region that provides Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) education to children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

DePaul School serves children in Pennsylvania and from Ohio and West Virginia. A State Approved Private School, most programs are tuition free to approved students. DePaul School provides early intervention services for children (birth to age 5); a center-based toddler program (ages 18–36 months); a preschool program (ages 3–5) and a comprehensive academic program grades K-8.

DePaul School provides clinical services including audiology, Auditory-Verbal and speech therapy, cochlear implant MAPping and habilitation, physical and occupational therapy, mainstreaming support and parent education and support programs. Most children who participate in DePaul School’s early intervention programs gain the Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) skills needed to succeed and transition to their neighborhood schools by first grade.

South Carolina

The University of South Carolina Speech & Hearing Research Center, 1224 Sumter

Street Suite 300, Columbia SC 29201. (803) 7772614 (Voice). (803) 253-4153 (Fax). Sph.sc.edu/ shc/. The center provides audiology services, speech-language therapy, adult aural (re) habilitation therapy, and auditory-verbal therapy.

Our audiology services include comprehensive diagnostic evaluations, hearing aid evaluations and programming. The University also provides a training program for AV therapy and cochlear implant management for professional/university students. Contacts for the AVT or CI programs include Rebecca Brashears (803-777-1698), Jason Wigand (803-777-2642), Gina Crosby-Quinatoa (803-777-2671), Jamy Claire Archer (803-7771734). Appointment’s (803-777-2630). Additional information contact Danielle Varnedoe-Center Director (803-777-2629) daniell@mailbox.sc.edu.

Tennessee

Child Hearing Services (CHS) - University of Tennessee Health Science Center,

578 South Stadium Hall • Knoxville, TN 37996 • 865-974-5451 (voice) • 865-974-1793 (fax) • www.uthsc.edu/allied/asp/hsc/chs.php (website) • Eclark1@uthsc.edu (email) • Emily Noss, M.A. CCC-SLP • CHS provides aural re/habilitation services for children who are deaf or hard of hearing ranging in age from birth-21. Group and individual treatment as well as aural/oral communication assessments, pre and post cochlear implant assessments, auditory training, adult cochlear implant training, and parent guidance are offered. The objectives of CHS are for each child to develop listening and spoken language skills commensurate with their peers.

CHS is also a training program for audiology and speech-language pathology students.

Memphis Oral School for the Deaf, 7901 Poplar Avenue, Germantown, TN 38138 • 901-758-2228 (voice) • 901-531-6735 (fax) • www.mosdkids.org (website) • tschwarz@ mosdkids.org (email). Teresa Schwartz, Executive Director. Services: Family Training

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DIRECTORY OF SERVICES Program (birth-age 3), Auditory/Oral Day School (ages 2-6), Audiological Testing, Hearing Aid Programming, Cochlear Implant Mapping and Therapy, Aural (Re)Habilitation, SpeechLanguage Therapy, Mainstream Service.

and post-surgical treatment for children from birth to 18 years. Our nationally accredited Child Development Program serves children developing typically and allows for the inclusive education of children with hearing impairments.

Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center - National Center for Childhood Deafness and Family Communication, Medical Center

Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children, 603 E. Hildebrand Ave., San

EastSouth Tower, 1215 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37232-8718 • www.mc.vanderbilt. edu/VanderbiltBillWilkersonCenter (web). Fred Bess, Ph.D., Director NCCDFC, fred.h.bess@ vanderbilt.edu; Michael Douglas, M.S., Principal, Mama Lere Hearing School, William.m.douglas@ vanderbilt.edu; Lynn Hayes, Ed.D., Director, Master’s in Education of the Deaf Program, lynn.hayes@vanderbilt.edu; Anne Marie Tharpe, Ph.D., Associate Director of Education, NCCDFC, anne.m.tharpe@vanderbilt.edu.

The National Center for Childhood Deafness and Family Communication (NCCDFC) at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center houses a comprehensive program of research, education, and service for infants and children (birth through 18 years) with hearing loss and their families.

Early intervention services include newborn hearing screening, full range of pediatric audiology services (diagnostic services, hearing aid fittings, and cochlear implant program), infant-family training, and toddler group. The Mama Lere Hearing School provides preschool educational services for listening and spoken language development. Telepractice services, including deaf education, speech-language intervention, audiology services, and professional coaching are available. The Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences offers an innovative, highly-ranked, interdisciplinary graduate program for audiology, speech-language pathology, and deaf education students. The NCCDFC is engaged in cutting-edge, basic and applied research in the area of childhood hearing loss.

Texas

Callier Center for Communication Disorders/UT Dallas, Callier - Dallas Facility:

1966 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX 75235 • Main number: 214-905-3000 • Appointments: 214-905-3030. Callier-Richardson Facility: 811 Synergy Park Blvd., Richardson, TX 75080 • Main number: 972-883-3630 • Appointments: 972-883-3630 • calliercenter@utdallas.edu (email) • www.utdallas.edu/calliercenter. For half a century, the Callier Center has been dedicated to helping children and adults with speech, language and hearing disorders connect with the world. We transform lives by providing leading-edge clinical services, conducting innovative research into new treatments and technologies, and training the next generation of caring clinical providers. Callier provides hearing services, Auditory-Verbal therapy, and speech-language pathology services for all ages.

Audiology services include hearing evaluations, hearing aid dispensing, assistive devices, protective devices and tinnitus therapy. We are a partner of the Dallas Cochlear Implant Program, a joint enterprise among the Callier Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center. Callier specializes in cochlear implant evaluations

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Antonio, TX 78212 • 210/824-0579 • fax 210/8260436. Founded in 1947, Sunshine Cottage, a listening and spoken language school promoting early identification of hearing loss and subsequent intervention teaching children with hearing impairment (infants through high school). State-of-the-art pediatric audiological services include hearing aid fitting, cochlear implant programming, assessment of children maintenance of campus soundfield and FM equipment.

Programs include the Newborn Hearing Evaluation Center, Parent-Infant Program, Hearing Aid Loaner and Scholarship Programs, Educational Programs (preschool through fifth grade on campus and in mainstream settings), Habilitative Services, Speech Language Pathology, Counseling, and Assessment Services. Pre- and postcochlear implant assessments and habilitation. Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement, OPTION Schools International, and is a Texas Education Agency approved non-public school.

For more information visit www.sunshinecottage.org.

The Center for Hearing and Speech, 3636 West Dallas, Houston, TX 77019 • 713-523-3633 (voice) • 713-874-1173 (TTY) • 713-523-8399 (fax) • info@centerhearingandspeech.org (email) www.centerhearingandspeech.org (website). CHS serves children with hearing impairments from birth to 18 years. Services include: auditory/oral preschool; Audiology Clinic providing comprehensive hearing evaluations, diagnostic ABR, hearing aid and FM evaluations and fittings, cochlear implant evaluations and follow-up mapping; Speech-Language Pathology Clinic providing Parent-Infant therapy, Auditory-Verbal therapy, aural(re) habilitation; family support services.

All services offered on sliding fee scale and many services offered in Spanish.

Lalios, M.A,. CCC-A, LSLS Cert. AVT, Director, Therapy Services. Private non-profit agency, near Milwaukee, providing quality, state-of-the-art comprehensive therapy services to individuals, of all ages, who have hearing loss. Highly qualified professionals at CCHD include: LSLS certified practitioners; speech-language pathologists (including bilingual-Spanish); audiologists; teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing; and social worker. Services include family-focused, culturally responsive individualized early intervention; parent education; auditory-verbal therapy; tele-therapy via ConnectHear Program; speech-language therapy; toddler communication groups with typically hearing peers; pre- and post-cochlear implant therapy for all ages; specialized instruction; consultations; professional mentoring as well as agency related programs, resources, ongoing educational and parent-to-parent events.

INTERNATIONAL Canada

Children’s Hearing and Speech Centre of British Columbia, 3575 Kaslo Street,

Vancouver, British Columbia, V5M 3H4, Canada • 604-437-0255 (voice) • 604-437-0260 (fax) • www.childrenshearing.ca (website) • Janet Weil, Principal and Executive Director, jweil@childrenshearing.ca. Celebrating our 50th year, our listening and spoken language clinical educational centre serves children and families from birth through Grade 12 including audiology, SLP, OT, First Words family guidance, preschool and primary classes, itinerant services and video-conferencing/tele-therapy.

Montreal Oral School for the Deaf,4670 St. Catherine Street West; Westmount, QC; Canada H3Z 1S5 • 514-488-4946 (voice/tty) • 514-488-0802 (fax) • info@montrealoralschool. com (email) • www.montrealoralschool.com (website). Parent-Infant program (0-3 years old). Full-time educational program (3-12 years old). Mainstreaming program in regular schools (elementary and secondary). Audiology, psychosocial and other support services.

Utah

Sound Beginnings at Utah State University, 2620 Old Main Hill, Logan UT • 84322-2620, 435-797-9235 (voice) • 435-797-7519 (fax) • www.soundbeginnings.usu.edu. Nicole Martin, M.S., CCC-SLP, Sound Beginnings Program Director, nicole.martin@usu.edu. Lauri Nelson, Ph.D., lauri.nelson@usu.edu; Listening and Spoken Language Graduate Program. A comprehensive listening and spoken language program serving children with hearing loss and their families. Services include early intervention, parent training, toddler and preschool classrooms, pediatric audiology, tele-intervention and individual therapy. The Department of Communication Disorders offers an interdisciplinary Listening and Spoken Language graduate training program in Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology, and Deaf Education.

Wisconsin

Center for Communication Hearing & Deafness, 10243 W. National Avenue • West Allis, WI 53227 • 414-604-2200 • 414-6047200 (Fax) • www.cchdwi.org • Amy Peters

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LIST OF ADVERTISERS Advanced Bionics Corporation.........Inside Front Cover CapTel............................................................ Inside Back Cover Central Institute for the Deaf..................................................9 Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech.........................16 Cochlear Americas......................................................................4 Ear Technology Corp. (Dry & Store)................................35 MED-EL Corporation............................................ Back Cover National Technical Institute for the Deaf—RIT............ 31 Oticon...........................................................................................6–7 St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf........................................34 Weingarten Children's Center.............................................30 AG Bell LOFT...............................................................................25

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DIRECTORY OF SERVICES

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