2026 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 15-17, 2026 • Jacksonville, FL
3/11/2025 | 1:45 PM - 2:15 PM | Improving our Understanding of Diverse Family Experiences within the Toronto EHDI Program | 321
Improving our Understanding of Diverse Family Experiences within the Toronto EHDI Program
Permanent hearing loss (PHL) affects 34 million children and their families globally . It impacts lives across all ethnicities, languages, socioeconomic statuses (SES), cultures, and education levels. In the current deaf and hard of hearing landscape, “chronic underreporting and underrepresentation [of the experiences of more diverse families]” is prevalent in health research and during family panels.
Since family members are the primary clients in Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) practice, their active engagement and self-efficacy skills play a crucial role in their child’s well-being and spoken language development . Although professionals provide guidance and coaching to enhance these skills, family-to-family support not only uniquely enriches a family-centred early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) program but also strengthens a family’s own confidence and competence .
This presentation will feature interviews with family leaders from Toronto, Canada who have Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) children from diverse cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds who have participated in LSL intervention. Families will share their challenges and suggestions for improving EHDI services. They will also discuss strategies and resources that have been successful in supporting their child’s language development, increased their family’s engagement, and have positively impacted their own journeys.
- Participants will describe at least two specific challenges experienced by diverse families within an EHDI program
- Participants will identify the benefits of parent-to-parent support as reported by participants of the parent panel
- Participants will provide at least two examples of how DHH professionals can improve parent engagement, parental self-efficacy skills and EHDI services
Presentation:
3545975_18100AyeshaJohnson.pdf
3545975_18100GillianLalonde.pdf
Handouts:
3545975_18100GillianLalonde.pdf
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Ayesha Johnson
(Co-Presenter,Co-Author), Surrey Place / Infant Hearing Program, ayesha.johnson@surreyplace.ca;
Ayesha Johnson is a Speech-Language Pathologist with the Toronto Infant Hearing Program at Surrey Place in Toronto, Canada. Ayesha is currently pursuing her Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS) certification.
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.
Gillian Lalonde
(Primary Presenter,Co-Presenter,Co-Author), Surrey Place / Infant Hearing Program, gillian.lalonde@surreyplace.ca;
Gillian Lalonde is a Speech-Language Pathologist with the Toronto Infant Hearing Program at Surrey Place in Toronto. Gillian has been working with young children with a variety of communication disorders and their families since 2009. In 2012 she began her training and the provision of a listening and spoken language (LSL) therapy approach to children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. She is currently in her final year of achieving a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS) certification. Gillian’s passions include close collaboration alongside families and professionals in order to best support a family’s goals and holistically address the needs of their child, and contributing to the improvement of early intervention services in order to help all children who are deaf or hard of hearing achieve their full communication potential.
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.
Laura Lanys
(Co-Presenter,Co-Author), Surrey Place / Infant Hearing Program, laura.hopkins@surreyplace.ca;
Laura Lanys is a Speech-Language Pathologist with the Toronto Infant Hearing Program at Surrey Place. Laura has been working with children with a variety of communication disorders and their families since 2016. She has worked with children who are deaf and hard of hearing and their families since 2019. In her work with the Early Abilities Speech and Language program she has demonstrated a keen interest in working with children with motor speech and articulation difficulties, as well as receptive and expressive language delays. She began providing family-centred service to infants and young children diagnosed with permanent hearing loss in 2019 and began participating and delivering the Listening First Maximizing Listening and Spoken Language Potential Pilot Project in 2020.
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.
Madeleine Tait
(Co-Presenter,Co-Author), Surrey Place / Infant Hearing Program, madeleine.tait@surreyplace.ca;
Madeleine Tait is a Speech-Language Pathologist with the Toronto Infant Hearing Program at Surrey Place in Toronto. Madeleine has been working with young children with a variety of communication disorders and their families since 2015. In 2019 she began her training and the provision of a listening and spoken language (LSL) therapy approach to children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. She is currently pursuing certification as a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS).
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.