Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Pantagraph.com | News | New ISU program to focus on kids with cochlear implants
Illinois children born with hearing loss who receive cochlear implants should get better instruction to assist their hearing and speech, thanks to a teacher education program that will begin in July at Illinois State University.
ISU announced Tuesday that the university has received a $778,941 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to train teachers, speech pathologists and audiologists throughout Illinois on how to work with children who were born deaf but now have the potential to hear.
“I’m thrilled to be able to meet the needs of deaf babies and their families and to fill a void in the state,” said Maribeth Lartz, ISU professor of special education and coordinator of the deaf education teachers’ training program.
“I think the grant is wonderful,” said Dr. Michael Novak, chief cochlear implant surgeon at Carle Clinic in Urbana, downstate’s only location for children’s cochlear implant surgery.
Teachers, pathologists and audiologists have been trained to work with school-age children, largely with sign language. About 500 Illinois children are born with hearing loss each year.
But newborn hearing screenings have identified deaf children shortly after birth and cochlear implants have provided children with enough hearing that they may learn how to process sound and how to speak, said Novak and Lartz.
“The number of children getting cochlear implants has grown like wildfire,” Lartz said.
The challenge has been that teachers and therapists weren’t trained to work with previously deaf children who now have the ability to hear and speak, Novak said.
“There are only 50 to 60 early interventionists who can work with deaf children,” Lartz said. “We need many, many more than that.”
The grant will bring together 70 teachers and therapists from throughout Illinois who work with hearing impaired children from birth to age three, Lartz said. The teachers and therapists will learn how to work with the children and their families who want to use spoken language in addition to sign language, she said.
At the two Illinois locations where cochlear implant surgery takes place — Carle and Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago — teachers will be allowed to observe surgeries and therapy.
Illinois children born with hearing loss who receive cochlear implants should get better instruction to assist their hearing and speech, thanks to a teacher education program that will begin in July at Illinois State University.
ISU announced Tuesday that the university has received a $778,941 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to train teachers, speech pathologists and audiologists throughout Illinois on how to work with children who were born deaf but now have the potential to hear.
“I’m thrilled to be able to meet the needs of deaf babies and their families and to fill a void in the state,” said Maribeth Lartz, ISU professor of special education and coordinator of the deaf education teachers’ training program.
“I think the grant is wonderful,” said Dr. Michael Novak, chief cochlear implant surgeon at Carle Clinic in Urbana, downstate’s only location for children’s cochlear implant surgery.
Teachers, pathologists and audiologists have been trained to work with school-age children, largely with sign language. About 500 Illinois children are born with hearing loss each year.
But newborn hearing screenings have identified deaf children shortly after birth and cochlear implants have provided children with enough hearing that they may learn how to process sound and how to speak, said Novak and Lartz.
“The number of children getting cochlear implants has grown like wildfire,” Lartz said.
The challenge has been that teachers and therapists weren’t trained to work with previously deaf children who now have the ability to hear and speak, Novak said.
“There are only 50 to 60 early interventionists who can work with deaf children,” Lartz said. “We need many, many more than that.”
The grant will bring together 70 teachers and therapists from throughout Illinois who work with hearing impaired children from birth to age three, Lartz said. The teachers and therapists will learn how to work with the children and their families who want to use spoken language in addition to sign language, she said.
At the two Illinois locations where cochlear implant surgery takes place — Carle and Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago — teachers will be allowed to observe surgeries and therapy.