19th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 8-10, 2020 • Kansas City, MO

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 Where is the Gap?

Parents are refusing Early Intervention Part C Services. There seems to be a gap of why this is happening and no solid data explains this phenomenon. Quantitative and qualitative data was pulled through the methodology of surveys with both the parents that refused services and early intervention agencies. EI agencies were called to inquire about the services and data was measured by how 'helpful' the EI representative was by explaining EI services offered. A map was created that represented the amount of refusals. This was done by county, and linked to the EI agency that serviced that county and others. This was significant as it showed a clear divide between Northern Utah and Southern Utah. There were no refusals south of Salt Lake County. This is imperative as Southern Utah denotes rural areas which can be attributed to social determinants that would suggest high amounts of refusal data due to lower SES. We need to examine why parents are refusing these services that can help their child develop and hit successful milestones regarding language and cognitive development. When the parents were surveyed, a majority of the parents stated that the referral process with Part C Early Intervention was to their liking and few had only partially negative feedback.

  • Why are parents refusing early intervention services?
  • The location of the refusal data does not correlate with geographical data.
  • No pattern with refusals of EI services and correlation with race, ethnicity or education level.

Poster:
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Presenter: Natasha Lamens

Epidemiologist for the Early Hearing Detection Intervention (EHDI) Program within the Bureau of Children with Special Healthcare Needs for the Utah Department of Health.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.

Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.