FOR CHILDREN WITH HEARING LOSS, AGES BIRTH TO SIX

“There is nothing more powerful in this world than an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo- the slogan of the National Deaf Education Reform Movement Executive Summary: We are identifying children who are deaf and hard of hearing in Wisconsin through Universal Newborn Hearing Screening, but we are failing families in consistently providing high-quality direct services at the Birth to 3 and early childhood levels. We believe a regionalized system of service delivery will effectively address this issue and request permission for a focused workgroup to develop a strategic plan for implementation of this model. I. Statement of Purpose To gain approval to develop a plan for an alternative interagency intervention and regionalized educational service delivery model for children who are deaf or hard of hearing in the state of Wisconsin, ages Birth to 6. II. Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI)- Wisconsin’s Progress Based on a growing body of research that supports the efficacy of early identification and early intervention for deaf or hard of hearing children, the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) 2000 Position Statement established national evidence-based framework, to ensure that all infants born with congenital hearing loss will have the opportunity to benefit from early intervention services by 6 months of age (Yoshinaga-Itano, 1995 an