2026 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 15-17, 2026 • Jacksonville, FL
| Collaboration Matters: Listening Access for Diverse Children with Hearing Loss from Rural Areas
Collaboration Matters: Listening Access for Diverse Children with Hearing Loss from Rural Areas
In this powerful and thought-provoking session, participants will explore the critical importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in ensuring equitable listening access for children with hearing loss living in rural and underserved communities.
The presenters will highlight how rural children, especially those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds, face unique barriers to early hearing detection and intervention. These include geographic isolation, lack of language interpreters, limited access to specialized health care and speech-language services, socioeconomic disparities and transportation.
Through compelling case examples, current research, and practical strategies, the session emphasizes:
The need for early, coordinated partnerships between families, health care providers, early interventionists, educators, and community professionals.
Strategies for improving tele-support, ideas on mobile outreach, and culturally responsive service delivery will be shared.
Tools to support language development and auditory access in home, classroom and community settings — even when resources are limited.
Collective voices from families and providers that underscore the importance of trust, flexibility, and respect within the community context.
Attendees will leave the session with a renewed understanding that collaboration is not optional; it’s essential. Especially in rural communities, building strong, local networks and fostering open communication across systems is key to ensuring that ALL children have access to sound, language, and learning.
- Learn how rural children, especially those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds, face unique barriers to early hearing detection and intervention.
- Describe 2 strategies to overcome barriers in providing support to rural children, especially those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds who need support with hearing detection and intervention.
- Identify how providers build trust, flexibility, and respect for families in rural areas within the community context they live.
Presentation:
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Handouts:
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Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Kelly Grillo, Phd
(Primary Presenter), Early Interventionist , kjgrillo@gmail.com;
Dr. Kelly J. Grillo earned her PhD at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and her Deaf Hard of Hearing Certificate at Indiana State University. She is an Associate Adjunct Faculty at Indiana University, Bloomington in the Dyslexia Certificate Program and an Early Interventionist at St. Joseph Hearing + Speech. Her passion is to increase language development of children with disabilities. Her dissertation focuses on Biology Vocabulary Knowledge in High School Students with Learning Disabilities which compliments her passion of supporting content and digital literacies for students with language difficulties. Dr. Grillo has served as a teacher of the deaf for the last two years in tandem with being the student services and special education director of a small rural district in Indiana.
She has worked at the federal level at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) as a National Technology Specialist supporting the delivery of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Dr. Grillo served on the IN*SOURCE board to support family advocacy in Indiana. She is the most recent past president of the Indiana branch of the International Dyslexia Association. She has also served as a member of the Federal Workgroup on Family Engagement, The International CEC Leadership Development Committee, the AIM-AT-UDL FL State Oversight Committee and served the Florida Council for Exceptional Children (FCEC) board for eight years.
Dr. Grillo has numerous publications and over 150 conference presentations and has been featured on many podcasts. Dr. Grillo has been honored with awards ranging from CEC International Teacher of the Year (TOY), 2020; DLD TOY, 2019; Florida CEC TOY, 2018; Landis M. Stetler Award, 2012; and she was honored as a nominee in Washington DC as a STEM Champion for Change, 2011; FCEC CoTeaching Team of Year, 2008. Her enthusiasm for supporting the mission of improved outcomes for persons with disabilities is a personal one; Dr. Grillo has become a national advocate for persons living with Language-based Learning Disabilities so that she herself can accept her own disability. Feel free to find Dr. Grillo on X @kellygrillo, she follows back and always enriches her Professional Learning Network.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Salary for Employment,Teaching and speaking from Indiana University.
• Receives Salary for Employment from St. Joseph Hearing + Speech.
• Receives Consulting fee for Employment,Consulting,Independent contractor from TBD Partners.
Nonfinancial -
• Has a Professional
(Board Support)
relationship for Volunteer membership on advisory committee or review panels.
• Has a Professional
relationship for Volunteer membership on advisory committee or review panels.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with TBD Partners, St. Joseph Hearing + Speech, Indiana University..
Nature: TBD Partners is a technology Company I own that provides access technology design and consultant services.
Indiana University Adjunct Faculty in the School of Education where I teach courses to graduate students in reading/language sciences.
Reading Road Advisory Board and IDA Advisory Board.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Mariana Barquet
(Co-Presenter), Indiana Hands & Voices, mbarquet@health.in.gov;
Mariana Barquet was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. She moved to the US in 2004 and married an Indiana native in 2005. She started working as the Hispanic Parent Guide in Indiana in 2015 and has served in that position since. She spearheaded the efforts to start the Educational Advocacy Program under Hands & Voices, ASTra (Advocacy, Support and Training) and became the ASTra Program Coordinator in April 2019, when the Program officially started to operate. Shortly after, she took over the position of the Guide By Your Side Program coordinator as the previous coordinator stepped down. As the Programs Coordinator she oversees all operations of the ASTra and GBYS Programs that provide Parent to Parent support for all families of newly identified children with hearing differences all the way to exit of High School.
She was awarded the National Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Family Leadership Award for improving the involvement of the Hispanic families with children with hearing difference in the Early Intervention Program by 11% over this population growth in the State of Indiana through the last 4 years grant period under CDC requirements. She has served in the Hands & Voices Latino Council since 2016 and has presented in the EHDI National Conference, Hands & Voices Leadership Conference, and several state conferences in Indiana.
She has a deep passion for supporting families through the different stages of the educational process that often require the parents to become skilled advocates.
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.