On
November 16, 2011 the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special
Education Programs (OSEP) held a training session on the new regulations
for implementing Part C of
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Materials from
the session are now available online.

Link: http://osep-part-c.tadnet.org/materials

A new report from the Easter Seals gives a sense for how well each state
takes care of its youngest children with disabilities and delays. It
shows that infants and toddlers
in nearly every state continue to fall behind, many will never catch
up; yet, with the right investment in treatment and therapy before the
age of five, states can change the state of early intervention for
millions of families across the country. See the
read more link for the full report as well as individual state profiles.

Link: http://www.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=ntlc10_mffc_state_profiles_download

President Obama recently announced that the Administration will go forward with final regulations related to recompetition and underperforming Head Start and Early Head Start Agencies. The Administration’s pursuit of excellence ensures that the NHSA and government can work together
through thoughtful and forward-thinking reform measures, resulting in
efficient service delivery and the highest quality standards. Follow the link to the video on President Obama’s Speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/11/08/president-obama-speaks-holding-head-start-programs-accountable

Link: http://www.nhsa.org/statement_on_designation_renewal_rule

Each year, Dr. Sherry Gaddis Weldele and her husband Frank, both licensed doctors of audiology
take mission trips to South America and Mexico to help people hear,
seeing mostly children with hearing problems. These children have no other means to
obtain hearing aids and many of these children have hearing problems because of the lack of
health care. Sherry and Frank take portable testing equipment with them and have a 95 percent accuracy rate to detect hearing loss, something this couple has been doing for the past
10 years. The couple want
people to know any donation, whether it is money or used hearing aids
will be put to good use. The deadline to donate is the end of January 2012.

Link: http://www.journalstandard.com/features/x1904671753/Mission-to-hear-Couple-seeks-hearing-aids-for-children-in-Mexico

This is an article in the latest of a series of case studies
produced by the Catalyst Center and NCHAM on challenges families face in getting their children’s care paid for.  Read about “the Paxton Family: Doing What it Takes to Meet
Chance’s Hearing Needs.” 

Link: http://hdwg.org/catalyst/stories/5

The Minnesota Academy of Audiology (MAA), an organization
representing audiologists within the state, is actively warning hearing
healthcare consumers that the purchase of hearing aids over the Internet
may have serious consequences to their health. The sale of any
hearing device, whether a personal sound amplifier or hearing aid,
without the diagnostic and rehabilitative services of a qualified,
licensed professional puts the consumer at risk, according to the MAA. This is because audiologists must ensure a patient’s hearing loss is not
due to medical or surgical conditions. Unfortunately for the consumer,
a simple online hearing test does not successfully identify hearing
loss that can be treated medically.

Link: http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/89607/group/News/

Nearly one in five Americans age 12 and older experience hearing loss severe enough to interfere with day-to-day communication.The new research, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine,
examined data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination
Surveys, or NHNES, which has collected health information from thousands
of Americans since 1971. The researchers looked specifically at people
age 12 and older — men and women of all races — whose hearing had been
tested during NHANES exams.

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/americans-hearing-loss/story?id=14949805#.Tsam7PIUXng

“EHDI: Partnering for Progress,” a national conference that was held in Raleigh, NC, October 26-28, brought a new approach to conference attendance by combining three previously independent meetings into one location.  This was the first time that these three meetings had combined and allowed conference goers to attend presentations at any and all of the three combined meetings that covered many various subjects tied to the same core topic of “EHDI”.  The Fifth Biennial Pediatric Audiology Symposium, the Sixth Annual Investing in Family Support Conference, and the Fourth Southeastern Regional EHDI Conference all offered a unique lineup of speakers and presentations that tied together an array of subjects concerned with Early Hearing Detection and Intervention. 

Link: http://www.infanthearing.org/ncham_news/docs/partnering_progress_symposium.pdf

Following a 21-year hiatus, The Silent Network, a television network aimed at deaf and hard of hearing viewers, launched as a Broadband Network on the Internet on Tuesday, November 1, 2011.  The network began in 1979 as a cable network with a slate of original programs presented in sign language, subtitles and full sound that ultimately was seen in more than 17 million households.  Featured on the new Broadband Network will be the entertaining children’s series “Happy Hands Kid’s Klub” with comedian-mime CJ Jones, and “Grandma’s House” with Fran Ripplinger. Other programs will include a talk show and a
variety-entertainment series.

The Silent Network can be seen at: www.thesilentnetwork.tv

Link: http://www.thesilentnetwork.tv

Award winning film maker, Judy Lieff, brings us the story of Aneta Brodski who is an Israeli teenager living in Queens, New York.  Aneta is also deaf.  The story chronicles Aneta’s desire to connect with the world and how she accomplishes her dreams of self-expression by putting her words and signs into performing a very raw form of poetry.  See how she collaborates with hearing and non-hearing alike to give the world some perspective on what it means to be Aneta.

Link: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/deaf-jam/film.html