2025 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 9-11, 2025 • Pittsburgh, PA
DAVID L. LAWRENCE CONVENTION CENTER
| Maintaining High and Appropriate Language Expectations for DHH Children – Utilizing FCEI Principles and Knowledge of Typical Language Development to Inform SLP Assessment, Treatment, and Recommendations
Maintaining High and Appropriate Language Expectations for DHH Children – Utilizing FCEI Principles and Knowledge of Typical Language Development to Inform SLP Assessment, Treatment, and Recommendations
Ample evidence demonstrates that early identification and early enrollment in intervention contributes to improved language outcomes for d/hh children (Yoshinaga-Itano et al., 2017). However, mere enrollment in early intervention does not guarantee age-appropriate language acquisition. We posit that a key to successful language outcomes is maintaining high and appropriate expectations. This presentation will outline the model that the SLP practice in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program (DHHP) at Boston Children’s Hospital uses to maintain high expectations of language development, following EHDI guidelines and FCEI-DHH Principles (Szarkowski et al., 2024). A primary goal of DHHP is to establish care with d/hh infants and their families before 6-months-old, and to connect the family to local specialty service programs (FCEI Principle 1: Early intervention; Principle 7: Trained FCEI-DHH providers). Following this initial visit, the child has communication evaluations on a 4-6 month basis throughout the birth-3 period to provide robust and frequent assessment and provide recommendations accordingly (Principle 9: Developmental assessment; Principle 10: Progress monitoring). Assessment tools utilized include standardized measures, criterion measures, and dynamic assessment. Standardized and criterion measures are used to identify intervention targets based on skills expected at that child’s age in typical language development. Dynamic assessment is used to determine successful intervention strategies to support acquisition of age-expected skill. Recommendations for speech-language intervention are made based on specific gaps noted in age-expected skills with therapeutic strategies provided as identified in dynamic assessment. Deaf/hh children require direct teaching of skills, as they do not overhear language in the same way as hearing peers. Given targeted speech-language intervention of age-appropriate skills, d/hh children can meet language milestones on time. The presentation will conclude with a case study demonstrating this model when applied with cultural considerations (Principle 2: Family-Provider relationships) to a young cochlear implant recipient from a Japanese family.
- Participants will name 3 ways in which assessment results and knowledge of typical language development inform intervention targets and strategies for d/hh children ages birth-3.
- Participants will identify at least 3 assessment tools that can be adapted to use with d/hh children ages birth-3.
- Participants will describe at least 1 way in which they will apply this model to families across cultures within their own practice.
Presentation:
3545975_18197LillianBrown.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Denise Eng
(Co-Presenter), Children's Hospital Boston, denise.eng@childrens.harvard.edu;
Denise Fournier Eng, MA, CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program of Boston Children’s Hospital and a member of the hospital’s Cochlear Implant Team. Mrs. Eng has worked in private school programs for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children, public school settings, and in early intervention. One of the joys of Denise’s professional life has been training new speech-language pathologists who have gone on to specialize in supporting Deaf and Hard of Hearing children and their families. Teaching responsibilities have included instructor positions in the Deaf education master’s degree program at Boston University and at Framingham State College and Emerson College. Mrs. Eng has coordinated several partnerships in the community to support accessible opportunities for Deaf and Hard of hearing children and their families, created parent education programming and in-service training programs for public school personnel. She is the co-author of High and Appropriate Expectations for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children: The Role of Assessment (2014), and has presented at regional, national, and international conferences, including the Family-Centred Early Intervention Congress for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Bad Ischl, Austria in 2018. Mrs. Eng is passionate about addressing issues related to equity, diversity and inclusion, including an ASHA Boston 2023 presentation on Access and Advocacy for DHH Students.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Salary for Employment from Boston Children's Hospital.
Nonfinancial -
• Has a Professional
(Member for certification)
relationship for Other volunteer activities.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with Boston Children's Hospital.
Nature: American Speech-Language Hearing Association
Massachusetts Speech-Language Hearing Association.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Nicole Salamy
(Author), Boston Children's Hospital, nicole.salamy@childrens.harvard.edu;
Nicole Salamy graduated with a Master of Science degree from Boston University. She is currently a speech-language pathologist at Boston Children's Hospital. Previously, she was a speech-language pathologist at The Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, MA for 14 years. Nicole's experience includes working with a variety of children with hearing loss, some who have hearing aids and cochlear implants and others who do not. Her clinical work also includes working with children who have apraxia of speech, cerebral palsy and autism spectrum disorder. She has enjoyed presenting at a variety of conferences throughout the country.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Serena Yuré
(Co-Presenter), Boston Children's Hospital, serena.yure@childrens.harvard.edu;
Serena Yuré is a speech-language pathologist in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. Ms. Yuré brings a decade of experience working as an SLP at the Children’s Center for Communication/Beverly School for the Deaf, fluency in American Sign Language, and expertise in use of assistive technology to her work with DHH children and their families. Serena was part of an interprofessional, multi-institutional study group examining the brain and language, culminating in a poster session at ASHA Boston 2018. She has also offered a Lunch and Learn workshop on parent strategies for language stimulation through the CCC/BSD Clinic. Ms. Yuré’s inquisitive and thoughtful approach to her work make her a valued teammate and an invaluable support for the families she serves.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Salary for Employment from Boston Children's Hospital.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Lillian Brown
(Primary Presenter), Boston Children's Hosptial, lillian.brown@childrens.harvard.edu;
Lillian Brown received her undergraduate education at Vanderbilt University and her graduate training in speech-language pathology at Boston University. Lillian worked as a research assistant in the Child Language and Literacy Lab at Vanderbilt and in the Language Acquisition and Visual Attention Lab at BU. She presented a poster session at ASHA Boston 2018, discussing her thesis findings on the modality of communication in parents and their deaf children using both ASL and spoken English. She brings her research background, her experience as an SLP at The Learning Center for the Deaf, fluency in American Sign Language, and a collaborative spirit to her work in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. Lillian is passionate in her belief that all children must develop a strong language foundation to promote literacy skills and social/emotional development.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Salary for Employment from Boston Children's Hospital.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with Boston Children's Hospital.
Nature: .
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.