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Project Name: Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and Intervention (H61)
Applicant Title: Health, Louisiana Department Of
Abstract Text: Louisiana Department of Health Office of Public Health Bureau of Family Health Louisiana Early Hearing Detection and Intervention 1450 Poydras Street Benson Tower, Suite 2049 New Orleans, Louisiana 70112 Dana Hubbard xxx-xxx-xxxx xxx-xxx-xxxx-5854 xxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxx https://ldh.la.gov/page/LouisianaEHDI $235,000 annually per award for Years 1-5 The importance of early hearing detection is paramount to ensuring that newborns, infants, and young children who are identified as deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) receive access to intervention as early as possible. The Louisiana EHDI program (LA EHDI) will continue to strengthen capacity to ensure that families receive the services they need to address language acquisition so their children reach developmental milestones. This is primarily accomplished through timely newborn hearing screening, identification, and referral to and enrollment in early intervention (EI). Through focus on enhancing infrastructure to support services that lead to improved language acquisition in children who are DHH, LA EHDI will continue to identify system-level gaps in enrollment in EI by 6 months of age. Examining the need for language assessment and intervention for children who are DHH is of utmost importance. Significant delays in language acquisition are consistently reported for children who are DHH. Equipped with this knowledge and the growing needs of children who are DHH, LA EHDI will continue collaboration with partners to collect, track, and monitor annual progress of language acquisition outcomes. Collecting EI and language outcome data at the state level will also allow us to assess and analyze the trends and factors related to disparities in language acquisition outcomes. LA EHDI prioritizes the engagement of families who have a child who is DHH, the inclusion of adults who are DHH, and ongoing education of stakeholders. Knowledge gained related to disparities in language acquisition will be shared throughout the LA EHDI system of connections, with the purpose of investing in improved outcomes for children who are DHH in Louisiana. Potentially, LA EHDI will contribute a larger dataset that will characterize the language strengths and challenges of children who are DHH, and will identify variables associated with better language outcomes. LA EHDI is confident in our programmatic ability to support partners working with young children who are DHH in the state, and through our network of providers, will continue to comprehensively collect and analyze language outcome data. Specifically, LA EHDI will: 1) engage EHDI system stakeholders at the state level to improve language acquisition outcomes, 2) disaggregate data to identify underserved populations and address disparities in language acquisition outcomes, 3) provide a coordinated statewide infrastructure to ensure newborns are screened by 1 month of age, diagnosed by 3 months of age, and enrolled in EI by 6 months of age, and reduce loss to follow-up/loss to documentation, 4) support statewide capacity for hearing screening in young children up to age 3, 5) develop mechanisms to support and engage families with DHH children and DHH adults throughout the statewide EHDI system of services, and 6) engage, educate, and train health professionals and service providers in the statewide EHDI system about the 1-3-6 recommendations, the need for hearing screening up to age 3, the benefits of a family-centered medical home, and the importance of communicating accurate, comprehensive, up-to-date, evidence-based information to families to facilitate the decision-making process to enroll in EI services.