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ABSTRACT INFORMATION
Title: 'EduBaby Marshall Islands: A Trans-Pacific Partnership' Track: 3-Early Intervention and Beyond Audience: Primary Audience: Secondary Audience: Tertiary Audeince: Keyword(s): Rural, infant, collaboration, community involvement Learning Objectives: 1. Upgrade services for all children with hearing loss in very rural areas using newborn hearing screening and early intervention as impetus for change. Abstract: EduBaby Marshall Islands: A Trans-Pacific Partnership This presentation describes the remarkable course of events that led to the founding of EduBaby Marshall Islands just four months after Newborn Hearing Screening was initiated in the Republic. Elements of this new service are spelled out along with mechanisms for training teachers, acquiring resources and obtaining funding. Community involvement was critical. On August 24, 2010 3 ½ week old Caila was enrolled in the Marshall Islands’ first birth to three program for children with special needs, her hearing loss diagnosed the week before. Services for Caila were insured the next day when EduBaby Marshall Islands was founded (funded through private and public sources). This rapid chain of events was due to : 1) Efficiency of Newborn Hearing Screening from initiation (May, 2010) to identification and enrollment of the first baby with hearing loss in a new program (August, 2010); 2) Extensive collaboration between governmental and NGO agencies of the RMI and U.S.; 3) The growing relationship between Marshall Islands EHDI Project and school-age programs for deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing; 4) Support from the Pacific Deaf-Blind Project; 5) Summer School for deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing students taught by Deaf Gallaudet University students, through Gallaudet Regional Center, Hawai’i; 6) ASL classes for parents, professionals and the community taught by the Director of Interpreter Training at Kapiolani Community College, Honolulu; and 7) Close collaboration between all of the above Special Education in the RMI begins at three years, but most children with hearing loss start school at four or five. Now services begin in the first months of life. We anticipate that the details of this model will be helpful to other very remote and rural areas with limited professional resources to identify and serve infants while enhancing services for all ages. Handouts: Handout is not Available
SPEAKER INFORMATION
PRESENTER(S): Nancy Rushmer - University of Hawaii, Center on Disability Studies      Credentials: M.A. Deaf Education and Guidance, CED (Council on Education of the Deaf) Certification; Oregon State Early Childhood/ Special Education Certification; Washington State Elementary Education Certification; Washington State Speech and Hearing Certification      Other Affiliations: EHDI Project, Republic of the Marshall Islands; Oregon Speech, Language, Hearing Association       Nancy Rushmer has worked for over 40 years in early intervention with young children with hearing loss and their families. She co-founded a private EI/DHH agency that later produced the first textbook in the field –Parent-Infant Habilitation--; one of two early childhood curricula for infants and families—Parent-Infant Communication; and provided Master’s level training for Infant-Family Specialists-D/HH for 25 years. Nancy continues to provide training for families and professionals throughout the U.S. and the Pacific. Nancy and colleagues have worked to lower the age of identification of hearing loss since 1971 when they began training medical personnel in the Hardy Noisemaker Screening techniques for Well-Baby exams. Katina Peter - Marshall Islands Special Parents Association      Credentials: Grandparent of 12 year old Talianna who is Deaf; President, Marshall Islands Special Parents Association (MISPA).      Other Affiliations: Teacher, EduBaby Marshall Islands; EHDI Project Republic of the Marshall Islands       Katina Peter is the grandmother of 12 year old Talianna who is Deaf. Katina is the President of the Marshall Islands Special Parents Association (MISPA). These families have worked for years trying to get their children the services they need through the public school system. When the EHDI Project began Katina and MISPA joined the partnership and saw immediate results in the first Summer School for students with hearing loss, Sign Language classes for the community and the founding of the new infant-family service (EduBaby Marshall Islands). Katina serves as one of the EduBaby teachers. Mellanie Lee - University of Hawaii, Center on Disability Studies      Credentials: MS, Special Education/Ed Psych Severely Handicapped Teaching Credential Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential      Other Affiliations: Council on Exceptional Children (CEC), TASH, EHDI Project Republic of the Marshall Islands       Project Director/Educational Specialist, Pacific/HI Deaf Blind Projects. Ms. Lee has worked in the field of Deaf-Blindness for the past 25 years. She has an extensive network of colleagues throughout the Pacific and U.S. Mainland. She is an accomplished special education teacher at the preservice and inservice levels and has had experience in the Pacific Island jurisdictions living, teaching classes, conducting workshops and providing technical assistance and training. In addition to Deaf-Blindness her areas of expertise are inclusion, building circles of support for children and adults with disabilties, secondary transition, and supported employment and supported living. Judy Coryell - University of Hawai'i-Kapi'olani Deaf Center and Gallaudet University Regional Center of the Pacific      Credentials: M.A. Deaf Education; Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction      Other Affiliations: EHDI Project Republic of the Marshall Islands       Judy Coryell, Ph.D is the Director of the Kapi'olani Deaf Center and the Gallaudet University Regional Center of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawai'i. She earned an M.A. degree in Deaf Education from California State University, Northridge and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Rochester. Dr. Coryell has directed Deaf Education teacher preparation programs in Maryland and Hawai'i and is currently co-directing the PILI Deaf Education program for preparing teachers in Hawaii and the Pacific. She has worked with deaf children, their families, and teachers from American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Guam, Saipan, and the Marshall Islands. She also collaborates with Gallaudet University to place deaf college students in Internship experiences working with deaf children and their families in the Pacific region. Jan Fried - University of Hawai'i-Kapi'olani Community College      Credentials: MS Teaching Interpretation, CI, C T      Other Affiliations: EHDI Project Republic of the Marshall Islands       *Jan Fried is a Professor and the Coordinator of the American Sign Language/Interpreter Education Program at the University of Hawai'i-Kapi'olani Community College in Honolulu. She is also the Co-coordinator of the Center On Responsive Education, a 4-year, federally funded grant project that prepares educational paraprofessionals and interpreters to work in K-12 settings with children who are deaf/hard of hearing, disabled or are limited English proficiency, and have complex needs. Jan holds a master's degree in Teaching Interpretation, is a trainer for the Hawai'i State Judiciary and presents extensively throughout Hawai'i, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa and the mainland US on various issues related to Interpreter Education, Interpreting, and American Sign Language.   AUTHOR(S): Nancy Rushmer - University of Hawaii, Center on Disability Studies      Credentials: M.A. Deaf Education and Guidance, CED (Council on Education of the Deaf) Certification; Oregon State Early Childhood/ Special Education Certification; Washington State Elementary Education Certification; Washington State Speech and Hearing Certification      Other Affiliations: EHDI Project, Republic of the Marshall Islands; Oregon Speech, Language, Hearing Association       BIO: Nancy Rushmer has worked for over 40 years in early intervention with young children with hearing loss and their families. She co-founded a private EI/DHH agency that later produced the first textbook in the field –Parent-Infant Habilitation--; one of two early childhood curricula for infants and families—Parent-Infant Communication; and provided Master’s level training for Infant-Family Specialists-D/HH for 25 years. Nancy continues to provide training for families and professionals throughout the U.S. and the Pacific. Nancy and colleagues have worked to lower the age of identification of hearing loss since 1971 when they began training medical personnel in the Hardy Noisemaker Screening techniques for Well-Baby exams.