Illinois Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Organization: Illinois Department of Public Health Address: 535 West Jefferson, 2nd Floor, Springfield, IL 62671 Project Director: Ginger Mullin, AuD Email: Ginger.Mullin@illinois.gov Phone: 217-782-4733 Fax: 217-557-5324 Collaboration Website: www.illinoissoundbeginnings.org IDPH website: www.dph.illinois.gov Funding Requested: Total of $1,175,000/$235,000 for five years The Illinois EHDI program approach is collaboratively-based and family/child focused. Families with children who are Deaf/ Hard of Hearing (DHH) and (DHH) adults are key to the determination of activities and system building. In Illinois, they are also central to developing the policies and practices of state agencies. This grant proposal was developed in partnership with families of children who are DHH as partners in determining priorities, activities and methodology. The goal of this application is to facilitate the building of a sustainable infrastructure in which children who are DHH are being identified, offered resources, supported through family-to-family support and given the opportunity to meet their potential, with a focus on language and literacy development. A solid infrastructure includes: consistent screening; improving timeliness of diagnosis and intervention; on-going surveillance; family-to-family support; exposure to DHH adults utilizing various communication modalities; stakeholder education; effective information systems with reporting protocols; and an emphasis on health equity with quality of life and well-being. The goal of this funding opportunity is to support and collaborate with state agencies and divisions such as Early Intervention, Early Childhood, and Schools for the Deaf and Blind. The programs will work together, reducing the duplication of efforts and improving the experience for families and other stakeholders while targeting sustainability. This philosophy, alo
ng with transparency, is supported by Illinois’ Governor as he works to establish a standalone Early Childhood Agency. As this entity develops, the EHDI program will collaborate to facilitate parents, providers (medical, audiological and early intervention) to make decisions that are educated, informed and follow best practice guidelines where available (i.e.. Joint Committee on Infant Hearing Position Statement). The program will also ensure that providers are educated on best practices and how to support the ILEHDI system. To reach goals, ILEHDI addresses activities leading to: • Engaging system stakeholders to improve language acquisition outcomes; • Identifying and addressing disparities in language and literacy acquisition outcomes, and supporting health equity and improved quality of life and well-being; • Coordinating infrastructures to assure 1-3-6+ goals are met; • Support capacity for on-going hearing surveillance and remediation; • Support and engage families with children who are DHH and DHH adults through family-to-family support, accessible education, 504 compliance, and linguistically and culturally appropriate materials; and • Engage, educate, and train parents, interventionists, and medical care providers on about ILEHDI goals. Phase I will engage all stakeholders to assess the existing resources and opportunities across infrastructures and develop a strategic plan with an updated logic model. Phase II will engage stakeholders in remediating barriers to language and literacy development and educating EHDI tenants about the updated logic model and work plan.