The provision of consistent high quality home- and community-based services to children with disabilities living in rural and frontier areas is a challenge. Distance, weather, geographic terrain (mountains, canyons), and shortages of pediatric early interventionists are among the challenges to ensuring appropriate and equitable services.…

For a variety of reasons, professionals are taking greater control over their own professional development and demonstrating a commitment to lifelong learning. Online resources and social media outlets have provided new ways for professionals to connect and form learning communities to build core knowledge and set standards of practice. The…

Many listening and spoken language specialists find themselves serving increasing numbers of children with hearing loss who come from families whose primary language is not English. This manuscript describes a variety of methods that can meet the needs of this ever-growing population by highlighting the dual-language support program at the Center…

Listen and Talk is an early intervention and preschool program based in Seattle, Washington, that provides auditory-verbal education and therapy to children with hearing loss and their families. In addition, staff members provide consultations with public and private schools across the state. The mission of Listen and Talk is to teach children who…

British Columbia (BC) is a vast province in Canada made up of several distinct geographic areas. Most of the province's population lives in a few metropolitan areas, with the greater Vancouver area being the largest. British Columbians living outside these areas must travel significant distances to see specialists of any kind. Treacherous winter…

State coordinators of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs completed a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT, analysis that examined 12 areas within state EHDI programs. Concerning periodic early childhood hearing screening, 47 coordinators listed 241 items and themes were identified within each SWOT…

An observational study investigated the influence of text difficulty (independent, instructional, or frustration level) on the reading experiences of students in grades 1-3 in two schools for the deaf. Participants included 12 students who are deaf or hard of hearing and 5 educators. The most significant findings were twofold. First, students…

The difficulties for students with hearing loss in gaining proficient literacy skills are well documented. However, studies describing the nature and variability of emergent literacy skills for students with hearing loss or the rate at which progress occurs at young ages are limited. We assessed emergent literacy skills and outcomes at the…

The current study examined the early literacy skills of kindergartners with hearing loss who were enrolled in individual inclusion or group inclusion programs as well as those of children with typical hearing. We also examined the relationship between early literacy skills and background variables such as degree of hearing loss, type of sensory…

This study investigated parents' and teachers' expectations of Auditory-Verbal therapy and the child's language development. Data were collected by questionnaires that were distributed to parents and teachers at three early intervention centers. Twenty matching questionnaires were completed and returned. The results of this study showed that the…

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) has developed a new interdisciplinary teacher preparation concentration to address the need for early intervention and early childhood personnel to work with young children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. This concentration focuses on a spoken language approach and…

Children who have both a hearing loss and a visual impairment are a very small but extremely heterogeneous low incidence group. These children vary greatly in the types and degrees of visual impairment and hearing loss. The majority of them have some usable vision and/or hearing, and many have additional disabilities. Most professionals (i.e.,…

The difficulties encountered by students with hearing loss and special learning needs are often attributed exclusively to hearing loss, particularly when there are no other obvious physical or sensory handicaps. A Louisiana public school system has addressed this issue for the past 9 years and has included both regular and special education…