2026 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 15-17, 2026 • Jacksonville, FL
| Feelings and Opportunities: How Family Interviews Can Guide Future Clinicians in Providing Family-Centered Early Intervention Practices
Feelings and Opportunities: How Family Interviews Can Guide Future Clinicians in Providing Family-Centered Early Intervention Practices
The Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) 1-3-6 benchmarks are essential to promoting optimal language and developmental outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). Yet meeting these benchmarks effectively requires more than timely identification—it requires providers to listen to and prioritize the perspectives of families. This presentation will describe how graduate students in a specialized family-centered early intervention training program conducted and analyzed family interviews to better understand family experiences following the identification of a hearing difference.
Through these interviews, students explored how families navigated language and communication opportunities and the emotional journey that followed diagnosis. The analysis identified common themes and unique differences in how families perceived early intervention supports and decision-making processes. Key influences on parental decision-making included family perspectives on opportunities available to their child, the nature and quality of conversations with providers, and access to family-to-family support networks.
The presentation will share how this qualitative approach deepened students’ understanding of the family experience and strengthened their ability to integrate family priorities into evidence-based practice. Emphasis will be placed on how graduate training programs can embed authentic family perspectives to promote empathy, reflection, and collaboration. By balancing professional guidance with family values and experiences, future clinicians can better support informed, individualized, and meaningful early intervention decisions.
- Describe how family interviews can be used to identify themes and insights about family experiences and decision-making following a child’s diagnosis of hearing loss.
- Analyze key influences—such as family perspectives on opportunities, conversations with providers, and access to family-to-family support—that shape parental decision-making in early intervention.
- Design strategies within graduate training or clinical practice that balance evidence-based recommendations with family priorities to enhance family-centered early intervention.
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Presenters/Authors
Grace Alexander
(Co-Author), Idaho State University, gracealexander2@isu.edu ;
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Jessica Rodebush
(Co-Author), Idaho State University, jessicarodebush@isu.edu;
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Lindsey Stokes
(Co-Author), Idaho State University, lindseystokes@isu.edu ;
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Kristina Blaiser
(Primary Presenter,Co-Author), Idaho State University, Kristina.Blaiser@isu.edu;
Kristina Blaiser, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is
a Professor of Speech-Language Pathology in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and directs the HATCH (Helping Adults Talk to Children) Lab at Idaho State University. Dr. Blaiser has extensive experience leading early childhood education programs and evaluating the outcomes of children who are Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing. Her research interests include graduate training and implementation of family-centered early intervention. Dr. Blaiser serves on the national American Academy of Pediatrics Provider Education Committee and on the advisory board for the Family Leadership, Language and Learning Center.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
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Financial relationship with Idaho State University, AAP-PEC, FL3, Office of Special Education Programs.
Nature: employee, Advisory Board Member (AAP-PEC, FL3), Grantee.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.