2024 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 17-19, 2024 • Denver, CO

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  |  Partnership Project: Late Identification

Partnership Project: Late Identification

Disparities in timely identification of hearing differences exist among families with children in Colorado. During COVID-19, approximate half of children were identified with hearing differences compared to previous years.Delayed identification leads to later entry into early intervention services, which correlates with poorer language outcomes for children and increased stressors for parents. Upon receipt of a partnership grant in May 2021, Children's Hospital Colorado and Colorado Hands & Voices set out to both deepen their relationship as partners and to explore what we know about late identification, during the challenges of COVID-19, and while the Colorado Department of Health was without an EHDI database until October 2020. We wanted to learn three things about the dilemma of late identification, as noted in the objectives. Join a pediatric audiologist and a parent leader to see what we have gleaned about this important issue to date.

  • 1. Participants will learn about Community-Based Participatory Research.
  • 2. Participants will understand what families say about why their child was late-identified and what resources might have been helpful and were helpful to them in closing the gaps.
  • 3. Participants will understand how best practices can influence hospital and midwifery screening programs to improve sharing of information at screening, follow-up and/or referral programs for families

Presentation:
3353554_15053SaraKennedy.pdf

Handouts:
Handout is not Available

Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference


Presenters/Authors

Sara Kennedy (Co-Presenter), Hands & Voices, Sara@handsandvoices.org;
Sara is a mom of four children, including a daughter born at home and later-identified as deaf after a progressive loss. An occupational therapist by training, Sara has served at Hands & Voices since 2001 as the editor for the quarterly newspaper, the Communicator, and a trainer for the educational advocacy program, ASTra. Sara has a particular interest in advocating for hearing screening in the homebirth community. She was a coauthor for the Virtual Waiting Room web presence at Hands & Voices, the handbook Bridge to Preschool: Navigating a Successful Transition as well as articles and presentations on topics ranging from children's safety, promoting self-advocacy, the decision process around cochlear implants, and supporting fathers and rural families. Sara transitioned out of her role as Director of Colorado Hands & Voices (2011-2022). She finds her new consulting role with young adult children rewarding and challenging.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.

Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.

AAA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.

Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.

Kristin Uhler (Primary Presenter), Children's Hospital Colorado, Kristin.uhler@cuanschutz.edu;
Kristin Uhler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Chair of Audiology, Speech Pathology, and Learning Services; Kelley Family/Schlessman Family Scottish Rite Masons Chair in Childhood Language Disorders; and Co-Chair Bill Daniels Center for Children’s Hearing at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Her research aims to decrease the age at which speech perception can be assessed by developing a biomarker of infant speech perception in infants with and without hearing loss and exploring how speech perception relates to later language development. She has successfully completed several research grants and projects and is currently a recipient of a mentored K23 grant funded through the National Institute of Health/ National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders. A practicing audiologist since 2000, she strives to standardize protocols in support of good clinical practices locally and nationally.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -

Nonfinancial -

AAA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -

Nonfinancial -