WA State EHDDI Learning Community Winter 2023 Seminar

The Fall 2023 Webinar on Friday, November 3, 2023,  featured 2 90-minute presentations on topics relevant to the WA EHDDI community:

Title: Congenital Cytomegalovirus and Hearing Loss: Educate and Advocate

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE RECORDED WEBINAR

Description:

Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is the most common infectious cause of birth defects and developmental disabilities. cCMV will cause more disabilities in children than many other well-known infections or syndromes. AND, it is the leading viral cause of hearing loss in children.  However, there is still very little awareness about this virus.  As hearing professionals, we are frequently some of the first providers interacting with children and families impacted by cCMV.  This presentation will discuss a variety of topics surrounding cCMV, including cCMV related hearing loss, different CMV screening approaches, and the current efforts to increase cCMV education and screening in Washington State.

Learning Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Describe cCMV and the serious consequences of this pervasive virus
• Describe the role of hearing professionals as first line providers for children and families impacted by cCMV
• List the current efforts to increase education, awareness, and screening in Washington State

Presenter: Mallory Baker

Mallory R. Baker, AuD, CCC-A, is a pediatric audiologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital.  Prior to joining Seattle Children’s, she practiced at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill.  Her professional interests include pediatric hearing loss diagnosis and intervention, and congenital cytomegalovirus related hearing loss.  Dr. Baker is the founder and director of the Washington CMV Project.  In 2020, she created the Washington CMV Project to increase education about and awareness of congenital CMV, and to advocate for newborn CMV screening in Washington State.  Dr. Baker is the current principal investigator on several studies researching congenital CMV.

Title:  Language Outcomes of Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Assessment Considerations, Risk Factors, and Predictors of Success

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE RECORDED WEBINAR

Description:

Documenting and understanding the language outcomes of children who are deaf or hard of hearing is a critical step in maximizing the language skills of this population. This webinar will explore language outcomes from a variety of perspectives. First, we will cover important considerations when selecting language assessments in terms of both measuring an individual child’s language abilities and when documenting language strengths and challenges across a program or state. General considerations for all children as well as specific issues for sub-groups will be shared. Additionally, we will present information about the language abilities of children with differing hearing levels along with factors that are associated with higher language skills and characteristics that put some children at more risk for language delay.

Learning Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

• List considerations when selecting language assessments for children who are deaf/hard of hearing, including specific sub-groups of children (e.g., children with unilateral hearing differences
• State at least two important considerations when selecting assessments to monitor child language skills state- and/or program-wide
• Suggest specific fields to include in a developmental outcomes database
• Describe factors that are associated with higher language outcomes in children who are deaf/hard of hearing and factors that put some children at more risk for language delay

Presenter: Allison Sedey

Allison Sedey is a speech pathologist, audiologist, and researcher at the University of Colorado-Boulder and is the assessment and accountability coordinator for the Early Intervention Outreach Program at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. Dr. Sedey received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she studied language acquisition in children who are deaf/hard of hearing as well as in children who have Down syndrome. Since that time, she has served as the project coordinator on a variety of grant-funded research projects examining predictors of developmental outcomes in young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Dr. Sedey is currently the director of the Outcomes and Developmental Data Assistance Center for EHDI Programs (ODDACE) funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Disclosure: Mallory Baker and Allison Sedey have no financial on non-financial conflicts of interest in relation to this presentation. Both presenters receive an honorarium for the presentations. The WSELC webinar is funded by the Washington State Department of Health EHDDI program.