The Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences (SHS) hosted a 2-day professional development symposium for parents, educators, and speech-language-hearing professionals, entitled "Possibilities for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing," on WSU's Pullman campus in October.
Highlights included a presentation on "Auditory Brain Development for Children with Hearing Loss" by Dr. Carol Flexer, distinguished professor of audiology at the University of Akron; panel discussions on the "Spectrum of Communication Options"; and a panel focused on parent and student perspectives.
Susan and Michael Pavel (right) talk with other symposium presenters and attendees.
The symposium was unique in that different communication
approaches—American Sign Language, total
communication, and auditory/oral options—were
addressed by participants in a multidisciplinary fashion.
"In providing optimal services for children who are deaf and hard of hearing, we need to promote accessibility of multiple communication options," said Gail Chermak, SHS department chair. "Historically, the proponents of these different approaches have not worked together. Thus, we have the attention of state-level officials in Washington and Idaho as we work to build bridges across programs built on different philosophical foundations."
A collaborative effort with the WSU College of Education, the symposium was part of a larger initiative to build regional capacity to serve the needs of children with hearing loss. It grew out of the SHS department's groundbreaking Oral Language Enrichment (OLE!) program, which creates an educational environment rich with auditory and oral language learning opportunities for young children with hearing loss.
The Chronicle, College of Liberal Arts, Washington State University