Program Manager American Academy of Pediatrics Itasca, Illinois, United States
Full Description: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program was established in 2001 and is funded as part of a cooperative agreement between the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the AAP. In 2021 the AAP EHDI program compiled a series of innovative and promising practices from entities who submitted and designed programs outlining tools and strategies to support families of children who are deaf or heard of hearing (D/HH) that are currently in use and based on real-life experiences of those in the field. The Center for Family Involvement, a Virginia-based family advocacy organization was highlighted as the first in a series of practices sharing innovative tools and strategies to support families who are D/HH and strategies for how pediatricians can support this work. By utilizing a “localization” process to disseminate information about the state EHDI program to parents/caregivers from Latinx heritages, Latinx families identified preferences regarding how information was communicated and delivered. A second promising practice submitted by Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Ohio Department of Health audiology work group offered guidelines for diagnostic centers who provide infant audiologic assessment recognizing the growing issue of reduced follow-up after referral on the newborn hearing screening due to severe restriction of outpatient services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our third promising practice highlights how Children's Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) & Facial Plastic Surgery and Audiology restructured their newborn hearing screening program to limit the number of appointments needed by families, in addition to improving timely diagnosis in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To minimize risk, the ENT clinic combined these previous two appointments into one appointment to limit possible exposures for families. This poster will highlight the techniques, strategies, and/or interventions used by pediatric health professionals (eg, pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, nonphysician clinician, public health practitioners) that show some evidence or expectation of effectiveness of enhancing a specific aim or outcome, consistent with the goals and objectives of their program/initiative.
Abbreviated Description: The AAP EHDI program was established in 2001 and is funded as part of a cooperative agreement between the MCHB of the HRSA and the AAP. By collecting innovative and promising practices and sharing innovative tools and strategies to support families of children who are deaf or heard of hearing (D/HH) these summaries will guide opportunities for change in EHDI systems of care while highlighting techniques, strategies, and/or interventions used by pediatric health professionals (eg, pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, nonphysician clinician, public health practitioners) that show some evidence or expectation of effectiveness of enhancing a specific aim or outcome, consistent with the goals and objectives of their program/initiative.
