HEAR! HERE!

ENSURING CHILDREN HEAR

HEAR! HERE! SCHEDULES SCREENINGS...

 

So far, 9 children out of 175 have not passed the screenings

 

If a child cannot hear you they cannot; follow instructions correctly, respond appropriately, or communicate fully.  Children, especially young children, often are not aware that they missing words or sounds and therefore meaning.  As a result, children with even a slight hearing impediment experience difficulties not just with their listening skills but also their language skills, their relationships with family, teachers and friends and they often become socially withdrawn and sometimes are even labeled slow learners. These issues, if left undetected, may lead to long-term social, emotional, behavioral and learning issues for the child. Children with a hearing impediment often fall behind grade before they even start school.

As part of their mission to provide support to the hearing impaired of Yolo County, Hear! Here!, the Woodland Chapter of Hearing Loss Association of America, has scheduled over 475 children to be screened for possible hearing loss during the last two weeks of March. Testing will be done by trained personnel from the Center for Hearing Health, in specially equipped mobile vans.

 

  Preschoolers entering the mobile testing van

 

           Mel Russell, one of the coordinators of the program says “It is my believe that the earlier a child’s hearing loss is detected allowing for support to be provided; be it hearing aids, speech therapy, social or emotional guidance, the more chance that child has to lead a successful, well rounded life. If we identify even one preschool aged child that needs help with their hearing hopefully we have helped ensure that child a brighter future.”

Funds for the screening were raised with generous donations from the Soroptimists International of Davis and the Woodland Sunrise Rotary Foundation. A grant from First 5 Yolo and more efficient routing and beneficial pricing during our 2012 testing allowed us to add these additional schools to our schedule. In total we will have tested close to 1000 preschool children during the last year.

NEW THIS YEAR: This year, thanks to the staff at Sutter Medical Foundation, ENT department and audiologist, Sue Holdell, Hear! Here! is also offering a full audiology examination to the children that fail the basic screening test. We are excited to be able to ensure that families will be able to follow up the screening with a full diagnostic test. Not all children who fail the screenings have a permanent hearing loss; it is so important to identify those that do so they can get the help they need.