Webinar: It Takes A Village: The Late Onset Hearing Loss Awareness Campaign
When: November 17, 2022 | 12:00 pm (noon) - 1:00 pm MT
Description
In 2019, in the Funding Opportunity Announcement for the state Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Programs (HRSA-20-047), a new requirement was added for states and territories to develop a plan by the end of March 2022 to include a focus on hearing status for children up to age 3 years. Incidence of hearing loss doubles during early childhood and the COVID-19 health emergency has added additional challenges to finding these children before developmental delays have set in.
The Late Onset Hearing Loss Awareness Campaign, which was created in May 2021 by Justin Osmond, CEO and founder of the Olive Osmond Hearing Fund and EHDI parent-champion Valerie James Abbott, seeks to help state EHDI Programs meet the new requirement and improve community awareness around the prevalence, common signs, and risk factors associated with postnatal hearing loss.
This presentation will include important facts about delayed hearing loss. It will also include examples of how state agencies and organizations can leverage this new campaign by helping families, childcare providers, preschools, pediatricians and others connect the dots by asking the question, “Could our concern about this child be linked to postnatal hearing loss?”
Learning Objectives
- Participants will be able to recite key facts about postnatal hearing loss
- Participants will be able to describe need for ongoing hearing health monitoring during the early childhood period
- Participants will be able to identify at least one way they can promote Late Onset Hearing Loss Awareness Week during the May 4-10 campaign
Presenter Info
Valerie James Abbott is a parent-advocate, an award-winning author, and an EHDI-champion who serves as co-chair of the Virginia EHDI Advisory Committee. She works at the Center for Family Involvement at Virginia Commonwealth University, supporting the needs of families of children who are deaf and hard of hearing and leading projects that support the goals and objectives of Virginia EHDI.
She has served on the board of Virginia Hands & Voices and in 2021 she founded the National Late Onset Hearing Loss Awareness Campaign with Justin Osmond, CEO of the Olive Osmond Hearing Fund. Valerie has published several articles online and in print about raising a child with a disability that have gained nationwide attention. Her children’s book Padapillo won (bronze) in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award and is based on the true story of how her family discovered and came to terms with their daughter's late onset hearing loss.
