CANADIAN ELK CANADIAN ELK ´ELAN CANADIEN - Elks of Canada

VOICE for Hearing Impaired ChildrenAuditory-Verbal TherapyProgram UpdateBy Norah-Lynn McIntyreExecutive DirectorFor over 45 years VOICE for Hearing ImpairedChildren (VOICE) has provided programs and servicesfor families. VOICE is the largest parent supportorganization in Canada for families of childrenwith hearing loss.Thanks to early identification of hearing loss, accessto enabling assistive devices like cochlear implantsand digital hearing aids and the availability ofAuditory-Verbal Therapy (AV), over 94% of childrenidentified with hearing loss in the province ofOntario are learning to hear, listen and speak.These results have tremendous implications. Forthe first time in the history of childhood deafness,children born with even the most profound hearinglosses are talking, attending their communityschools alongside their hearing peers and are fullyparticipating in a hearing society. Most provinces inCanada are now routinely screening babies at birthfor hearing loss. Permanent hearing loss is one ofthe most common congenital conditions and occursmore frequently than any other condition for whichscreening programs already exist. The prevalenceof hearing loss in newborns and infants ranges from1 to 3 per 1000 births. In Canada that represents1100-1200 babies with hearing loss per year. Forchildren with high-risk factors such as prematurityand for those admitted to neo-natal intensive careunits, the prevalence of hearing loss can be as highas 10 per 1000 births. Research shows that byreducing the age of identification and providing earlysupport for communication development there aresignificant benefits for the child and family. VOICEcontinues to advocate for infant hearing screeningprograms and access to auditory-verbal interventionin Alberta and Manitoba, where infant hearingscreening and the a.v. approach are not yet universallyavailable.Since as far back as 1998, the Elks and RoyalPurple Fund for Children has contributed to theVOICE Auditory-Verbal Therapy Program, helpinghundreds of children to learn to hear, listen andspeak. In the past year the VOICE AV Programcontracted seventeen certified AV therapists. In2011 VOICE therapists provided direct AV therapyto 47 children through the VOICE AV TherapyProgram and supervised the intervention of an additional65 students who are deaf or hard of hearingthrough the VOICE professional mentorship program,a program funded by the Ontario Ministry ofEducation to train teachers of the deaf in the auditory-verbalapproach.The AV mentorship training program’s intent is tocontinue to develop the skills of teachers of the deafand/or speech language pathologist so they canoffer the option of auditory-verbal intervention toschool-aged children who are deaf or hard of hearingand continue to support their individual languageand literacy goals. A crucial element of the AV trainingprogram is improved student outcomes in theareas of audition, speech, language and literacyskills. At the completion of this training initiative,twenty five teachers of the deaf or speech languagepathologists will have developed expertise in theAuditory-Verbal approach. VOICE has also collaboratedwith the University of Ottawa (U of O) as theyAnita Bernstein, Director of VOICE Therapy andTraining programs with “Danielle”36