EHDItion Colorado Newsletter Logo

March/April 2023

Volume 3 | Issue 8

en español

IN THIS ISSUE

From the Director | Announcements & Events | Family-to-Family Equity, Diversity & Inclusion | CDPHE Corner 

From the Director

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Arlene Stredler Brown stands in front of a Saguache Cactus in Arizona

Anniversary wishes are in order!

As of March 31st, Colorado Early Hearing Detection and Intervention’s (COEHDI) tenure within the Colorado Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deafblind (CCDHHDB) will reach the three-year point.


I offer hearty thanks to the vision of Cliff Moers and Christy Scott, our co-principal investigators, for promoting CCDHHDB as a home for COEHDI. During the past three years, Heather Abraham and I, as COEHDI staff, have touched almost every aspect of our EHDI system. We’ve learned a lot. We’ve investigated a lot. We’ve listened a lot. And, we’ve accomplished a fair amount too. 


In March, COEHDI staff will share some of what we have accomplished at two different conferences. Heather will showcase the Ascent Program - providing deaf and hard of hearing adult-to-family support - at the National EHDI meeting. Arlene will report on our Virtual Site Visit (VSV) program and continue to promote tele-health as an optional service delivery platform for audiology and early intervention services. In addition, our COEHDI team will share our collaborative structure for system enhancement and system change at the Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference. 


As the months roll by, the strengths of our system continue to expand. We don’t want to be cavalier about this as there are many challenges and opportunities that we’ve yet to bring to fruition. One of the biggest opportunities will be fulfilling the outcomes of the strategic planning process, facilitated and funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, that has recently concluded. 


There is good news to report on the national front. Congress passed, and President Biden signed, the reauthorization of EHDI. This bill extends funding for an additional five years. Recognition goes to Colorado’s Senator Hickenlooper who actively supported the reauthorization of the law. It appears that level funding will be going to both the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There is also a requirement in the reauthorization for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study to assess program performance and efforts to ensure timely screening and access to early intervention, including a focus on underrepresented populations. 


As you read through this newsletter, you will notice that the format for sharing events has changed in order to keep this newsletter as concise as possible while still sharing information of importance to those in our field. Please click on the link below to see a myriad number of events that will take place during the months of March and April. Before we know it, it will be spring! 


~ Arlene Stredler-Brown, PhD, CCC-SLP, director of COEHDI

Announcements & Events

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Colorado Department of Early Childhood Newsletter

The new Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) publishes a monthly newsletter. Check out their recent publications:

Mark Your Calendar

All COEHDI Alliance, task force, and related stakeholder meetings will be listed here. If you would like your meetings included in our monthly newsletter, contact: info@coehdi.org

Event calendar


Family-to-Family Support

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The Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind

Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind logo

The Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind provides family support through the following programs:

  • Early Literacy and Community events offer a place for families to connect with a variety of families and professionals. These events, while often social in nature, offer literacy supports via storytelling, rhymes and chants, music, and other engaging activities. These events are held regionally, and take place four times each year. 
  • The Colorado Hearing (CO-Hear) Resource Coordinators serve as families’ first point of contact after a clinical audiologist identifies a child with a hearing difference. In addition to working directly with families, they provide resources and help them get connected with Part C early intervention services and family-to-family support.  


MORE INFORMATION

Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind Website

Ashley Renslow, Early Education Coordinator

arenslow@csdb.org

719-327-4109

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

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cartoon drawing of a large and diverse group of individuals varying in age and ethnicity

System Improvements

Colorado EHDI (COEHDI) continues to focus on how to make system improvements supporting families of children, birth-3 through a lens of equity, diversity & inclusion. The goal of this work is to ensure that our state’s EHDI system activities are inclusive of, and address the needs, of the populations it serves. This can include diversity in geography, race, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, family structure, and socio-economic status. 


As a priority, COEHDI’s efforts are focused on Spanish-speaking families who live in rural areas. As COEHDI has embarked on this process, it has become apparent that developing partnerships with local communities and statewide resources is critical; we aim to identify the strengths and needs in the system. Currently, COEHDI is working collaboratively with the Colorado Hearing (CO-Hear) Coordinators and early interventionists to identify Spanish-speaking families who live in rural areas to interview. We want to learn about their experiences. This activity aims to create a comfortable, safe space in which families can share their thoughts and help guide us in determining the kinds of resources they find helpful and the issues that hinder them in their birth to three journey with their child. 


COEHDI staff is looking forward to learning more from our families as we work toward improving the system in our state.

CDPHE Corner

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment logo
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EHDI Systems Map & Quarterly Hospital Reports

An update is pending on the EHDI Systems Map and an update on quarterly hospital reports will be shared on the Newborn hearing screening provider resources webpage once they are completed. In the meantime, please check out the January and February HIDS Newsletters published by CDPHE.

Smiling young woman with long brown hair wearing a dark purple windbreaker poses outdoors on a hiking trail

CONTACT

Questions about HIDS Newborn Hearing info, contact:

Leanne Glenn, MA 

Newborn Hearing Screening Coordinator

Colorado Responds to Children with Special Needs

leanne.glenn@state.co.us

303-692-2603




COEHDI Colorado Early Hearing Detection and Intervention logo
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