2025 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 9-11, 2025 • Pittsburgh, PA
DAVID L. LAWRENCE CONVENTION CENTER
| Meeting the Hearing Care Needs of Children with Complex Disabilities: Perspectives from Educational Audiologists and school-based professionals
Meeting the Hearing Care Needs of Children with Complex Disabilities: Perspectives from Educational Audiologists and school-based professionals
School-age children with complex support needs receive special education services under the eligibility categories of intellectual disability, autism, and multiple disabilities. Educational audiology services play a critical role in supporting school-age children with hearing loss and complex support needs by assessing hearing abilities, providing appropriate amplification devices, and offering auditory training. Educational audiologists work closely with teachers, parents, and other educational staff to ensure that children’s auditory needs are met, promoting better communication, learning, and overall academic success. By providing early intervention and tailored audiological support, educational audiologists can significantly improve outcomes for children with hearing-related challenges, helping them to reach their full potential in the classroom.
This project aims to identify and describe the challenges faced by educational audiologists and related professionals in providing hearing care to students with complex care needs. Led by four LEND trainees enrolled in the Doctor of Audiology program at UNC Chapel Hill, with guidance from UNC faculty, the project gathered input from 34 participants, including educational audiologists, autism spectrum disorder consultants, and educators. These professionals participated in two group interview sessions. The interview transcripts are undergoing content analysis to identify themes and sub-themes. The coding process is being cross-checked for accuracy with discrepancies being resolved through group discussion. The resulting data will be organized into categories and meaning units to allow for analysis and discussion. Despite having disproportionally higher rates of hearing loss, children with complex needs are less likely to receive best practice audiologic care. This project will provide key information regarding challenges to audiologic care in the educational setting and suggestions for improved service provision.
- Attendees will be able to identify challenges reported by educational audiologists in delivering audiologic care to children with complex support needs.
- Attendees will explore potential solutions reported by educational audiologists to overcome common challenges in providing audiologic care to children with complex support needs.
- Attendees will understand the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration between audiologists, educators, and consultants in addressing hearing care for children with complex support needs.
Presentation:
3545975_18346CarnesMathis.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Carnes Mathis
(Primary Presenter,Co-Presenter,Author), carnes_mathis@med.unc.edu;
Carnes Mathis is a first-year student in the doctoral audiology program at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill and LEND trainee at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, UNC School of Medicine. She received a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology with a minor in Philosophy from Emory University in 2024. She aims to pursue a career as a pediatric audiologist and work in early-intervention advocacy.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Grants for Other activities from LEND Fellowship.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with .
Nature: Presenters are LEND trainees .
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Sophia Blessing
(Co-Presenter,Author), Sophia_blessing@med.unc.edu ;
Sophia Blessing is a full-time student in the doctoral audiology program at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Hearing, Speech, and Language Studies from Ohio University. Ms. Blessing is a LEND Audiology Training at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, UNC School of Medicine.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with .
Nature: .
Nonfinancial -
Non-Financial relationship with .
Nature: .
Zakiya Morris
(Co-Presenter,Author), Zakiya_morris@med.unc.edu ;
Zakiya Morris is a first-year doctoral audiology student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and LEND trainee at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, UNC School of Medicine. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in speech and hearing science from UNC in 2022. She plans on working with the pediatric population, with a concentration on co-occurring disabilities.
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.
Sierra Williams
(Co-Presenter,Author), sierra_williams@med.unc.edu;
Sierra Williams is a full-time graduate student in the audiology doctoral program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She received a Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from The University of Oklahoma. Ms. Williams is a LEND Audiology Trainee at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, UNC School of Medicine. She is dedicated to working with the pediatric population, with a particular focus on children who have co-occurring disabilities and hearing loss.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Grants for Other activities from Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities .
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with .
Nature: LEND Fellowship.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Hannah McLean
(Author), hannah_hodsonmclean@med.unc.edu;
Dr. McLean is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC. Her clinical expertise includes pediatric diagnostics and educational audiology.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Nancy Quick
(Author), nancy_quick@med.unc.edu;
Dr. Quick is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, University of North Carolina School at Chapel Hill. Her research interests focus on improving communication and literacy outcomes for students with complex support needs and hearing loss.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Hannah Siburt
(Author), University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, hannah_siburt@med.unc.edu;
Dr. Siburt is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC. She also serves as a LEND faculty member at UNC. Her clinical and research interests include supporting children and families with hearing loss and complex needs.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nature: Employer; LEND Grant Recipient.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.