Zoe Jagla was a frustrated little girl, throwing temper tantrums as she tried and failed to communicate what she wanted. Her parents searched for a sign language teacher for their severe to profoundly deaf two-year-old, but couldn’t find one until Becky Reeder and Beth Chilman came along and dedicated two to three days a week to teach her American Sign Language.

Link: http://thesouthern.com/news/local/sign-language-making-big-impact/article_0f8331d7-90f2-5c33-a68b-41dd4382d6dc.html

What We Do and Don’t Know About the Hearing or Audiological Data From Identified Children – The purpose of this study was to define the information currently collected by state and territory Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) coordinators and to determine whether best practice guidelines are used.

Link: http://aja.pubs.asha.org/Article.aspx?articleid=1809032

Using DNA as a drug — commonly called gene therapy — in laboratory mice may protect the inner ear nerve cells of humans suffering from certain types of progressive hearing loss, researchers have discovered. While the research is in its early stages, it has the potential to lead to a cure for some varieties of deafness.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140324111918.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain%2Fhearing_loss+%28Hearing+Loss+News+--+ScienceDaily%29

From the Journal of Educational Audiology vol. 19, 2013 – Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) are sensitive to both sensorineural and conductive hearing losses and have the potential to be used as an effective screening measure across all populations, including children. DPOAE offer a quick and straightforward hearing screening technique for the pediatric population that is not influenced by subjective testing and is highly reproducible. In this study, the mean test times and pass/fail rates from 198 preschool participants were compared between two DPOAE screening protocols (1-5 kHz and 2-5 kHz) and a pure-tone screening protocol (1, 2 and 4 kHz). Significantly less time was needed to conduct the DPOAE screenings compared to the pure-tone screenings. Results suggested similar pass/fail rates for both DPOAE protocols compared to pure-tone screenings. Without diagnostic audiologic test results, the sensitivity and specificity of the screening protocols could not be determined. Until the true sensitivity and specificity of DPOAE and pure-tone screening protocols can be determined, it is recommended that clinicians consider adding DPOAE to their current screening protocol, or at least having DPOAE available to screen children who cannot or will not participate in pure-tone screenings.

Link: http://www.infanthearing.org/news/news/1043/Preschool-Hearing-Screenings-A-Comparison-of-Distortion-Product-Otoacoustic-Emission-and-Pure-Tone-Protocols

Missouri School for the Deaf students guided fellow students through hands-on animation and video activities Thursday during the school’s “Reading is Fundamental” (RIF) event.

Link: http://www.fultonsun.com/news/2014/mar/21/missouri-school-deaf-students-dive-movie-animation/

This week we are pleased to share a resource for your May calendar.

On May 1, 2014, the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center of Gallaudet University will present “What the Eyes Reveal about the Brain: Advances in Human Language Acquisition—Insights from Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) and the Brain and Language Laboratory (BL2)” with Dr Laura-Ann Petitto as faculty. This pre-recorded Webcast will air from 2:00 – 3:00 pm EST and will be followed by a live question and answer session. Click on the link below to register for this free event.

This unique format will introduce important research on the impact on brain structure and function. You will learn what BL2 research shows about the bilingual brain, early language acquisition, and the implications for deaf and hard of hearing children.

Laura-Ann Petitto, PhD is the science director and co-principal investigator of the National Science Foundation and Gallaudet University’s Science of Learning Center, VL2. For more information about Dr Petitto’s research, see her web page at http://petitto.gallaudet.edu.

As the Q&A will take place in a live session, you and your colleagues will want to be sure to add this Webcast to your calendars right away. If you participate, we are interested in hearing your feedback and insights!

Link: http://www.123contactform.com/form-816710/Petitto-Webinar-2014

Though he lost his hearing as a baby, Sean Forbes has known from an early age the impact music can have on people and the emotions it can convey. The Detroit-area resident grew up in a musical family (his uncle was an engineer for Bob Seger) that still made music accessible to him, lip-syncing songs for him.

Link: http://triblive.com/aande/music/5631519-74/deaf-music-forbes#axzz2wMy0MqeE

New smartphone apps that link to hearing aids are helping people with impaired hearing to pump up the volume on their devices or to use them as headphones to stream phone calls, YouTube videos and music.

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/03/10/smartphone-apps-link-with-hearing-aids-to-improve-hearing-connect-with/

Most people can understand audiology appointments for a child with hearing loss, and maybe some general “developmental therapy” checkups to make sure the baby is globally on track. But speech? Why?

Link: http://cochlearimplantonline.com/site/why-does-a-baby-need-speech-therapy-the-importance-of-early-intervention/

The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP), with support from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, announces the release of a groundbreaking set of standards and companion background white paper designed to help communities, states, and the nation build and improve systems of care for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) – which includes children who are deaf or hard of hearing. View a press release as well as these standards by going to

Link: http://www.amchp.org/programsandtopics/CYSHCN/Pages/default.aspx