Depending on your questions or concerns regarding a child/youth who is deaf or hard of hearing, services might include:
One of our educational consultants might make a visit to help the family and school team:
WSDS offers local, regional, and state trainings throughout the year on topics relating to children and youths with hearing loss. See our Training Calendar for information on upcoming training opportunities.
If you are a parent, you might simply want to talk with another parent on the phone, join a listserv to get information, borrow some videotapes or books, or be directed to some great websites. You might want information on training opportunities, or state or national conferences. Contact our Family Consultant or check our Resources section.
SKI-HI CURRICULUM: INTENSIVE TRAINING OPPORTUNITY 2010
(Family-Centered Programming for Infants and Young Children with Hearing Loss)
WSDS, in cooperation with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) and the Infant Toddler Early Intervention Program (ITEIP), hopes to offer a third intensive training based on the SKI-HI Curriculum, in 2010. Stay tuned to our website for annoucements later this fall.
This training is open to a limited number of participants, with priority given to direct service providers from rural counties with few specialized services for infants and toddlers with hearing loss. The target audience is professionals with training in speech and language pathology, audiology, deaf education, or early childhood special education. Service providers from related fields will be considered as well.
Kim Hamren (Snohomish County) teaches Elizabeth Flanders (Pacific County) and Laura Jones-Edwards (Okanogan County) how to do a hearing aid check through a listening stethoscope (SKI-HI training Part I, Kitsap Conference Center, July 2008).
Susan Bakke (Thurston County) teaches Becka Robinson (Skagit County) and Pamala Pass (Adams County) the sign for SUNSHINE (SKI-HI training Part II, October 2008, Leavenworth).
Susan Bakke (Thurston County), Sara Burch-Wilhelm (Island County), and Cynthia Benitez (Colville Tribes) get acquainted with 17.2 lbs. of SKI-HI Curriculum (SKI-HI Training, July 2008, Kitsap Conference Center).
Sample comments from 2008 SKI-HI graduates:
"This was so wonderful; great presenters; gave me much more confidence in serving families of children with hearing loss."
"This has changed my thinking universally about how to have conversations with families to support their needs."
"No more 'bag lady' with toys for me! I'm ready to work with families in natural environments using their daily routines."
"I understand better the critical nature of what happens for language and literacy in the birth to 6 month time; also, a much greater understanding of the communication options [for children with hearing loss]."
"Choosing a communication modality is a collaborative process; decisions take many things into consideration and are not final."
"Being deaf or hard of hearing is really an access to language issue---not a disability."
"I had not thought of the necessity of allowing young children [with hearing loss] access to background conversations. . ."
"There are people available to help me as I begin this journey into the child's life."