ROUGH EDITED COPY

 
EDHI  

Hanover C: The Common Ground Project
 
February 26, 2017 

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This is being provided in a rough‑draft format.  Remote Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. 
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>> All right, welcome.  Welcome to sunny but cold Atlanta, Georgia.  On Thursday it was 78 degrees, last night it was 32.  I was ready to crawl back in bed when I got up this morning.  My name is Rick.  It says Richard.  Somebody printed this and I think they talked to my mom.
>> [away from mic]
>> We will blame you then.  I think my mom must have talked to the coordinator, nobody calls me Richard except her.  My name is Rick Hauan, and really thrilled to be here.  Atlanta has become my second home, we have some strong relationships between my home state and Georgia.  Or ‑‑ see, there you go, my home state of Washington, and the state of Georgia.  So it's great to be here.
Today we have a really wonderful discussion, and this is not your typical presentation, we are going to get into this in a little bit.
>> But I wanted to lay ground rules.  As you saw at the beginning of this presentation, communication can be a little bit dicey.  We want to make sure that everyone has full access.  So we have Chris and Carrie‑Ann in the back of the room, they will be doing the Vanna White mic transfer for everyone when we get to that point.  But we're going to jump right in and get started.
I warned you when we were having some communication problems at the beginning that we may end up running a little long, and I understand if people jump up and run out at the end, but we've got a pretty full agenda for you today.
All right.  I'm going to have each of our panel members introduce themselves.  Actually, I'm going to do this myself, just because it will be a little quicker and we can make up a little bit of time.
So on my immediate left, your right, we have Jay Wyant.  Jay is the chief information accessibility officer for the state of Minnesota and he's also the founding father ‑‑ or one of the founding board members ‑‑ founding father, I think that's good ‑‑ founding board member for Northern Voices in Minneapolis. 
Oh, shoot.  There is that.  Terrible when I'm the technical difficulty.  Okay.  There we go.
Success!  Now will this work?  No, this will not work.  Okay.  We'll just check that at the door.  All right.
So next to Jay is Maura Berndsen.  Maura is the education director at Listen and Talk in Seattle, Washington, she's also a former board member of OPTION schools.  Next to her is David Geeslin.  David is the president‑elect of CEASD, which is the conference for educational administrators for schools and programs for the deaf.  He's also the CEO and superintendent for Indiana School for the Deaf in Indianapolis.  Next to him is Jane Mulholland.  Jane is a former superintendent at Washington School for the Deaf in Vancouver, Washington.  And is a former CEASD board member, and she currently lives in a really tough place, Lincoln city Oregon, right on the beach.  So we all feel bad for Jane.  Next to her is Barbara Raimondo.  Barbara is the executive director for CEASD, she's in Washington, D.C.  And she also in the past has worked on policy for CEASD and has a whole bunch of other hats.  So Barbara.
Next to her is Meredith Berger.  And Meredith is Clarke school's director and a board member at OPTION schools.  She hails from New York City.  
So next to her is Barbara Hecht.  Barbara is the past president of OPTION schools, the director of Clarke Schools program in Boston.  And I think you had a new city you were from, what was it?  Anyway, Boston is good.
Next to her is Joe Finnegan.  Trying to stay out of the limelight, off to the other side of the screen.  Joe is the former CEASD executive director and Joe hails from St. Augustine, Florida.
>> [away from mic]
>> We all wish.  And I introduced myself.  All right.
>> I'll say a little bit about CEASD, you may be familiar with that, it is an organization for school administrators, schools for the deaf, public schools where children are mainstreamed at any programs that have to do with schooling for the deaf, private schools as well.  It's fully inclusive.  And it is focused on sign language as the language of instruction.
Now, most of the funding comes from state‑level funding.  Some private funding, obviously is given to private schools.  We offer training for superintendents, principals, and encourage leadership training, that's our focus.  We also provide workshops on updates having to do with federal issues and exploring how they impact deaf education, how to apply best practices to the field, management and so forth and also risk analysis for schools and risk assessment, making sure our kids are staying safe, strategic planning and development, sharing and also having each state bring together their expertise and networking to help one another.  So we are all in it together, and all of us are trying to do the best work we can as administrators so the children we're working with get the best education possible.
>> Hi.  Wow, that was loud!  And I'm from OPTION schools, and OPTION is the organization of programs, mostly private programs around the country, that provide a listening and spoken language environment for deaf and hard‑of‑hearing children.  And we provide a lot of professional support for directors of those programs.  We develop standards of excellence in listening and spoken language programs.  And we're currently involved in a very large data collection program where all of the schools are entering data into a very large database so we can track how our children are doing.
>> RICK HAUAN:  Okay, the mic is going to be an interesting challenge today.  You've gotten a brief history of the two organizations that are involved in the Common Ground project.  I wanted to go over a brief agenda for today so you know what's coming at you today.  I'll give you a moment to look at the screen and then I'll explain it.
All right, the first thing we are going to do is a brief history of the Common Ground project.  We're going to get to know each other, who's here, why you're here, you might be thinking about that.  We'll have an introduction piece.  You're going to have to keep all of your comments, because we are going ‑‑ this is an interactive day, so please when you're asked to present, make it as quick as you possibly can, but we do want to know who's here.
Building a framework to open dialogue, that's the purpose of getting together is how do we do this and how do we replicate this in other places.  Guided collaboration, we will develop a plan for next steps and talking points.  We will do a table report out and then answer any burning questions and then we will be adjourning.  As we move into the next slide I would like to know how many of you have not heard a presentation from Common Ground?
Okay.  Great.  I asked it the other way last time and I had like three people who hadn't heard us, so I did it the opposite way.  We will jump right in then.
>> So four years ago the relationship between CEASD schools and OPTION schools was abysmal.  At our annual conference of CEASD there was quite a buzz about OPTION schools as the enemy, branding them as horrible people and a horrible organization and so forth.  There was just a lot of very strong emotion there, and I was a little taken aback at that because in Washington State, Washington School for the Deaf and Listen and Talk, listen and spoken language school, we have worked together for many, many years, I would say 15 years or so we've been collaborating, perhaps longer.  So that to me at the national conference I was hearing my colleagues say all of these things and trying to apply it to my home state experience and how well we work together.  So about a month later when I was visiting Maura's program I started thinking, you know, Maura is former superintendent of the OPTION schools and I was on the board for CEASD, and Maura and I like each other, we talk regularly, we work together, so I wonder if Maura and I couldn't use our organizations to start a dialogue.  So I approached her with this, and we wanted to have some kind of bridge, some kind of open dialogue from the start.  So we agreed to start speaking with the leaders within our own organizations.  So I contacted at that time Ron Stern and executive director Joe, would you be willing to ‑‑ and I asked them would you be willing to jump in on this conversation?  And then Maura, do you want to say?
>> So I was having the same conversation with OPTION school leadership.  Our board, you know, again, pointing out that in Washington State we've been able to figure out how to have conversations, how to try to problem‑solve.  And wouldn't it be in the best interest of the kids and families to try this.  And so everybody's like, sure, we'll give it a try.
And our first meeting was actually at this hotel.  We realized that when we were preparing for this presentation the other night.  And I guess there were about six of us, seven, that came into this meeting room and there was ‑‑ I remember noticeable tension and I think Joe actually looked at the agenda which went from, you know, eight traditional 8:30 to 3 type of agenda and I think your comment, Joe, was I think we're going to be done by lunch.  And here we are years later still engaged in these conversations and trying to make a difference.
>> Yeah, and let me just add, that was three and a half years ago.  And truly we did not know at the time if we would last an hour in that conversation, maybe one day would be it, we really didn't know how it would go.
So that day that we came together for the first time from CEASD we were coming in with an idea of perhaps attempting to convince OPTION schools to support a common initiative that we had at that time, called child first.  And we thought that's what we were coming for, to sit and convince them and dialogue with them by any concerns and how we might garner their support for that initiative, and that's not what ended up happening.
>> Very quickly we discovered that we didn't know each other very well, and we were making a lot of assumptions about the other group and what their motives were, what their ‑‑ what they wanted from us.  It was clear that we didn't trust each other.  And I believe it was Barbara that kind of helped us put on the brakes a little bit in terms of the conversation about Child First and suggested that we take a few minutes to just talk about our organizations and what our priorities were.  And Ron Stern went first, and he's describing CEASD.  And mind you, outside of Washington I'd never really had a deep conversation with somebody from CEASD, I had never attended a meeting and I had been working in the field for almost 25 years.  So I was interested in what is this organization all about.  And as Ron spoke, I was sitting there going, huh, that's just like OPTION.  And then he would say something else, and I'd be like, huh, that's just like OPTION.  And this kept going.  And then Barbara and I proceeded to describe OPTION schools and I imagine that there were similar reflections from our colleagues from CEASD.  And if anybody knows me, my favorite organizational graphic is a Venn diagram.
So I just like as I'm listening drew it out and started to sketch this and so I was just very excited about us realizing that we have distinct differences between the programs that we're involved in and the programs that we run, and the focus that we share is much stronger than the differences that we have.
And when we started this conversation, I would say the best way to describe it is that we were very focused on our differences and barely acknowledged what we might have in common, because we didn't know we had this in common.
So I'll leave this up and stop talking so that people can look at it.  But truly, the specific points are there just to illustrate that a piece that we have in common is our commitment to quality services for children and families that are experiencing deafness or being hard of hearing.
>> Before Barbara starts on the next slide, I just want to point out that you will be receiving what she's talking about, they're sitting up on the table, but we wanted people to have eyes on the presenters, so we will hand those out at the end.
>> So to follow up on what Maura and Jane said, when we walked into this hotel three and a half years ago, I sort of felt like I needed to have an invisibility cloak so nobody knew I was coming to meet with the enemy.  And there were so many elephants in the room that we could barely fit in the room.  There were lots and lots of ‑‑ there was lots of history, lots of misunderstanding, lots of hurt feelings.  And we really needed to talk through a lot of those before we could even think about whether we were going to jointly support some initiative.
But one of the things that happened as we began to talk and it even really happened that first day in this hotel was that not only did we have those basic ‑‑ those basic items in common in the center of the Venn diagram, but we also actually shared some really important ideas about what was needed for deaf and hard‑of‑hearing children.
And so at the end of that day I think we started to ‑‑ we had all been sort of taking notes, and we started what eventually became our shared understandings document that you will all get a copy of.
And we basically ‑‑ although we started that first day, it took us about a year to wordsmith those understandings, because as we know in this field, every word carries weight, carries history, and so we were very, very careful as we worked through that document.
But ‑‑ and it's still probably a work in progress.
We together came up with these 12 shared understandings, and then in addition to that we had seven goals, goals that we're now working on together that still really define our work.  The shared understandings that you'll have a chance to look at include ideas like that all deaf and hard‑of‑hearing children have the right to services provided by specialist providers with knowledge in the field.  That sort of thing.  That we sometimes feel is obvious but not necessarily obvious outside our field.
>> And I would like to add to that.  This project has always been supported by our board.  So every step that we've taken, we've always gone back to our respective boards, inform them of what we've been doing, specifically related to the shared understanding.  So over the years both of our boards have adopted the shared understandings and have posted them on the respective websites.  I think it's an important for you to know that this is bigger than just this group of individuals.  We have boards who are very in favor of this project and what we've been doing is really part of both of the organizations and what we do.
>> So we want to get to know who's here with us today.  So through knowing you and having you know each other, we're going to be able to dialogue and have a shared vision of what we want for our children, children that we work with.  We're going to be having table activities a little bit later during the presentation.  You've gotten to know us and now we want you to know each other so that you can support one another.
Through this process we never tried to strongarm the other person with our research or the information we had in our perspective of the education of the deaf.  It's important to look for like we've discussed the common goals.  We're going to talk more about the theory used.  I think that's going to help us as a collective have the same goals or move forward with our goals.
So we're going to be quick in this, we have 50 people, it's going to take us 50 minutes if we have one minute per person.  So 30 minutes or less ‑‑ 30 seconds or less.  So and the reason we're doing this is so you can know who's here, who you can reach out to if you want to make collaborations with one another.  So your name, your role, where you live and the reason you chose this session today.  Under 30 seconds I know is a challenge, but we're going to start here with the left‑hand side of the room.
Hello.  I don't need it, I'm signing.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  My name is Steve Florio, I'm the executive director for the Rhode Island commission for Deaf and hard of hearing.  I live in Massachusetts, but I'm right across the border from Rhode Island.  I was a former board of trustee at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, I have a strong interest in the Deaf school because I have three children that attended the School for the Deaf.  So this is my passion.  The state of Rhode Island has gone through a lot.  Okay, I've been cut off.  All right.
>> Please wait for the mic.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  [away from mic]
>> You need to eat the mic, sorry, we were trying to adjust the volume, but when it gets too loud and in front of the speakers, you get feedback.  So everybody if using a mic, put it right next to your mouth.  You are Shania Twain today, go.
>> Again, I am Bethany, from Indianapolis, part of the Center for Deaf and hard of hearing education there.  We as a state are interesting in participating in the Common Ground project, and we want to know nationally what's happening and what we can do as a state.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm Meg Warock.  I work in Indianapolis as well with Bethany, I coordinate the Deaf mentor program, and I'm here because I want to be up to date with everything.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, my name is Janell Frost, I am from Michigan, I am first and foremost a parent of a Deaf‑blind child, I'm also the director for Michigan Hands and Voices, and I'm here today because this is the very thing that we are working on in our state, especially with LEAD‑K going on and trying to get our groups together, even getting a meeting has been difficult.  So this is very relevant to what I need.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hello, everyone.  I'm Dave from the state of Connecticut.  The center for deafness director.  I live in Knoxville Tennessee, I came to look for ways to collaborate, that's my favorite word, collaboration, doing what's best for the the Deaf children is our number one goal.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I'm Sharon Bryant, I'm from Chattanooga, Tennessee.  I'm a community advocate for our organization.  The Tennessee Deaf education initiative, who is trying to work with legislature on the Deaf mentor programs, Deaf education, tracking, and literacy.  So I'm just here to figure out what everybody is doing.
>> Next.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm Marsha Fort, I'm the EHDI coordinator for the state of North Carolina, I live in Raleigh, and I chose this session because I've always had a passion for all children to reach their full potential, and know that everybody needs to work together to make that happen.  And we in North Carolina my advisory committee has asked me to initiate a Common Ground project in North Carolina.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  My name is Diane Doke, I'm executive director of beginnings for parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing, I'm also the mother of an adult son who is hard of hearing himself.  I brought with me Kelly Bland to save time, I will introduce us both.  Beginnings, we are both from Charlotte, North Carolina, beginnings is a North Carolina not for profit that serves parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing.  Our purpose is to inform and educate parents so they can make the communication choice that is in the best interest of their family and their child.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hello, everyone.  I'm Kristi Hollis.  I'm with the New Mexico state School for the Deaf.  Early intervention program.  And the parent‑infant program.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm Amy Hatsell, I'm the board chair of Kentucky board of deaf and hard of hearing, we came to similar understandings as you have that unless we get ourselves together as a group working for our children then we will hit this brick wall in legislation and not be able to get past it.  So we're very interested in what you're doing because that saves us from reinventing the wheel.  Thank you.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I'm Nicole Brown, one of the EHDI coordinators in Minnesota.  I'm also a parent of two daughters who are deaf and one that is not.  And I also manage our grants for our Minnesota Hands and Voices, and I chose this program because I'm intrigued about this important work.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  My name is Lisa Wolf.  I am a parent of a child with hearing loss and also a parent consultant for Indiana EHDI.  I chose this session because I thought it looked like something I'd be be interested in.  So just wanted to know more about it.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I'm Shelby, I'm an audiologist in Oregon.  I work for the Oregon EHDI program and Tucker Matson school, I chose this session because I'm hoping that Oregon can can follow in footsteps to the neighbors in the north and work better together with the two sides of this coin.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I'm Terry, I'm the EHDI program manager for Louisiana.  I live in New Orleans and I chose this session to find ways that we can improve collaboration in Louisiana.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hello, my name is Jessy Holst, I'm a speech language pathologist by profession and work at St. Mary's School for the Deaf in Buffalo, New York, which is the CEASD accredited school.  We did open an aural program in our school about three years ago and on a smaller front are experiencing some of what you're talking about within our own program.  So I am particularly involved in the birth history and also contracting with New York State as a education provider in the Western New York area.  So I am came to this session to talk about how we can bridge that gap within our own school.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, my name is Melissa Simpson, I'm a doctoral student of audiology at UNC.  I currently live in the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and I chose this session because both sign language and spoken language are a passion to me as I am a CODA of two Deaf parents and I also hope to become a pediatric audiologist.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, my name is Danielle, I'm also a student at Chapel Hill.  Audiology.  And I am also here because I have an interest in both sign language and audiology as well.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm Amy Laliose, I'm from Milwaukee, and I work at a nonprofit agency.  We offer services for deaf and hard of hearing individuals through the lifespan, however, I focus primarily on birth to 3.  We are pretty proud that we are able to ‑‑ we strive very hard to offer options and opportunities to families.  And we have individuals that are able to provide services in visual languages as well as spoken languages at our facility.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm Kim Hamron, I'm from Seattle, I work at Listen and Talk with Maura.  And I am interested in this because I have been learning bits and pieces from Maura as she's been a part of this effort and wanted to actually come to a presentation and hear all about it.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, my name is Nichelle Brown, with an N ‑‑ I have to say that.  I am the new birth to 3 coordinator at Listen and Talk.  I'm really excited to be here.  And I live in Seattle, Washington.  I chose this session ‑‑ well, they chose it for me ‑‑ no, I'm joking.  I chose this session because of course it's something I need to know about and this is actually really interesting, and I wanted to see Maura in action as well, kudos to Maura.  And it's a way that I can continue to support Listen and Talk and the kiddos I will be working with and their families.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm Leslie Page, and I'm representing the Clerc center  education center in Washington, D.C.  And I'm a project manager for our national service division, where we are developing resources for parents and professionals, the whole range of deaf and hard of hearing students.  So I missed the OPTIONs discussion at AG Bell, so I made sure I'm here today.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm Julie Behler, I'm from the University of Tennessee health science center department of audiology and speech pathology.  Where I'm a program liaison, I'm an audiologist and speech pathologist, I live in Knoxville, I worked for years with Dave Smith, we work together and feel very much the same, we love the word collaboration in the state of Tennessee, we've always felt like that the groups across our states collaborate very well.  And so I'm just here because who wouldn't want to come to something called the Common Ground?
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  You think sitting in the back you're going to get away?
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I'm Deb, I'm the EHDI program coordinator for the state of Michigan.  Like you just said, the title just really intrigued me and I want to learn a little bit more.  Thanks. 
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, everybody, my name is Tommy Jorhase, I am from St. Lewis, [away from mic] ‑‑ I chose this ‑‑ the reason I chose this is for the same reason that everyone else just mentioned, plus I would add to that that I would like to know how we can help contribute to this project.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm Kate, I'm from Virginia.  I run a company called civic access, it's a social enterprise.  We provide communication access services but also we have a advocacy program as well.  And I'm here to learn just like all of you.  And thank you for being brave and navigating through all of this sensitive territory.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I don't know where to stand, I'm just going to stand right here.  I'm Kathy Jury ‑‑ they tell me to turn around.  That going to be helpful?  I'm within Montana School for the Deaf and blind, live many Montana, tiny little town, but I'm here just we have a lot of growth in Montana, and I'm excited to just hear what you're doing and hopefully we can get things going more collaboratively there.  Thank you.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm Julie, I'm from San Antonio, Texas, and I am a parent‑infant advisor at sunshine cottage, which is an OPTION school.  I have seen kind of both ends of the spectrum, and as everybody else is saying I'm just very interested in how we can form relationships to better our families and our children to meet the goals that they have for their children.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, everybody, I'm Lindsay Rodriquez, I do the exact same thing as Juliann that, in the same place, here because personally I'm the mother of a baby boy of 27 years old who uses sign language, and I do listening and spoken language at sunshine.  So I live permanently on common ground, and I would love to get everybody playing in the sand pit in Texas.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Not sure where to stand.  Where do I face?  Okay.  Everybody can see me okay?  My name is Janella, from the University of Rochester, principal of the education school of the elementary school, excuse me, so birth through fifth grade.  So when I hear that word collaboration, I'm here.  That's why I came.
>> I'm going to draw your attention back here, we have two people that have to introduce themselves.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hello, everybody.  I feel badly for the interpreters, they're having to run all around this room.  Good job.
Hi.  My name is Sherry Farina.  CEO, Northern California Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.  We are responsible for 24 northeastern counties within the state.  We work with services for parents, families, deaf individuals from birth all the way with up to death.  From womb to tomb.  So we also campaign director also is another role of mine for LEAD‑K.  Nice to be here.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, and good afternoon, everyone.  My name is Julie, I, like Sherry, am from California.  She is in the Sacramento area, and I am two hours down many the San Francisco Bay area.  And I am President of the California association of the Deaf.  This is now my fourth year in that role.  I'll be finishing up my term this September and focusing more of my efforts on LEAD‑K, which I have been.  I am the public relations director for LEAD‑K and I will continue in that role and be in that full time when I complete my other duty.  And I'm looking forward to working with you because Sherry and I know firsthand what it's like to engage in these collaborative efforts with all the stakeholders to pass LEAD‑K laws.  So really looking forward to working with everyone here.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I'm Emily, and I'm a new Deaf mentor in the state of New Mexico at the New Mexico School for the Deaf.  I've been a teacher for a long time and the parent‑infant program as well from Seattle, Washington.  But I'm here at this seminar because I'm very interested in collaboration.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I'm Hannah, and I co‑direct the children's cochlear implant center at UNC and I currently serve as the option OPTION president.  I can't really imagine a more important meeting over the next few days so I'm really happy to be here at the amazing work that Common Ground is doing.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, my name is René, I'm the new clinical research coordinator at the University of California San Francisco.  I live in the San Francisco bay area.  And today is my first day on the job.  And it represents a major career change for me, I'm a trained librarian with a background in data collection.  And this ‑‑ the title of this workshop just felt like where I should be on my first day.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  My name is Lynette, and I'm from Philadelphia.  I'm an early intervention service provider, birth through 3, providing both home‑based and center‑based services.  The reason for this workshop is because I'd like as many people have said, I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but I collaborate with various observation, one that we have is with Clarke school, and I'm looking for ways to reach out and collaborate with our state at the state level.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm Charlotte, and I work for the magnolia speech school based out of Jackson, Mississippi, and I live in Tupelo, I am here because this can only help me be better at what I do.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  My name is Kristina, I am the parent of a almost 20 year old bilateral cochlear implant user who is a spoken language communicator.  I'm here as the AG Bell New York parent rep.  And I moonlight as the fundraiser for Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, and I'm here because I think everybody in this room has something valuable to contribute and we are better together.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, I'm ‑‑ I'm Don Goldberg, I am faculty member at a college in Ohio, the college of Worcester, and I also play a role at Cleveland Clinic on their implant program.  Past president of AG Bell, and their representative on infant hearing and counsel for the Deaf as a board member, nothing is more exciting to me as a lean towards the end of my time that we do more Common Ground, and those two organizations have really opened my eyes to the need for this for all of us.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  My name is Emily, and I'm from Colorado.  I work at the Colorado School for the Deaf and blind, and I work at the family center early childhood center and we are now setting up our parent‑infant program to start very soon.  So I'm here to learn more about how I can learn skills to help me collaborate with signing programs and with programs that emphasize listening and spoken language and I live in Colorado Springs.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hello, I'm Kathy Anderson, I have a variety of hats, I'm early intervention provider in the state of Minnesota.  I live in the Twin Cities area, Minneapolis and St. Paul, and work in the Minneapolis area.  And the other part of my job is the statewide early intervention ‑‑ the EHDI specialist, big long name, working for the low incidence project, which is a federal grant project under the Minnesota Department of Education, and do a lot of collaboration with other agencies, professional development and so I'm here additional strategies as everyone else for collaboration always increasing.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, he everybody, my name is Jimmy Peterson, I have several hats, I'm current hi the executive director of the Georgia center.  I am a parent of two deaf daughters, both are attend acing schools for the deaf.  I'm also involved with LEAD‑K efforts here in the state of Georgia, I'm one of three in that collaborative effort.  The reason for coming to this meeting is because I'd like to seek best ways to collaborate and employ those for LEAD‑K so we see LEAD‑K successful here in our state.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, my name is Clyde Jones, and I'm retired.  And I live here in the Atlanta area.  I'm involved as a deaf mentor.  And I am working with parents who have deaf children and infants.  So I want to make sure we are giving those kids everything they need.  Speech, sign language, amplification, anything they need for life.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  My name is Nancy Kelly Jones.  Hi.  And for 35 years I was in the classroom.  And I'm not retired, I'm rewired.  I'm now a deaf mentor and a bilingual coach.  I work with this group at this table.  I am born and raised in Atlanta and I work on the LEAD‑K bilingual project as well.  I saw these guys in action, what, a couple years ago in and was blown away by what I saw.  This is exactly what our children need.  They encompass everything that we need for these kids.  And so you guys are singing to the choir, and our table right here is going, well, things are going well in Georgia, yay, Georgia.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi, everyone, my name is Kimberly Kirkpatrick.  I am a deaf mentor along with the folks at this table.  And I'm here to see how it is that we can collaborate successfully together given this model, I'm very eager to learn more.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hello, my name is Wendy Grass.  Let's see, I live here in Atlanta.  I am a former parent coordinator from Massachusetts and moved to Georgia, now I am a specialist at the Atlanta area School for the Deaf.  One of my concerns has to do with the zero to 8 age range for our kids, so I am part of this group at this front table.  We are working towards LEAD‑K efforts in our state.  We're also working with the Georgia pathway leadership team.  So I'm very looking forward to working with everyone here.
>> We have three more people over here, just going to wait for an interpreter.
>> We have one more here.
>> Sorry, one more over there.  Sorry.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  So it's my turn?  My name is Ellen Rolater.  And I am also here locally in Atlanta.  I lived in Maryland for 30 years and came back home to Georgia.  I am currently getting to know the deaf community here.  And I am a lead Deaf mentor person for the program here in our state, so I'm working to get the program going for deaf mentors across the state.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi.  My name is Sherry Nybert, I'm a parent of a cochlear implant user.  We're doing listening spoken language at Atlanta speech school, we are very impressed and very happy and we've lived a wonderful life through it, and I want to learn so much more through this conference, so I'm happy to be here.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Hi.  I'm Linda Lasker, I work at the Atlanta speech school, which is an OPTION school as well.  I run the parent‑infant program from birth to 3, and newly elected Georgia Bell president.
>> Hi, I'm Linda Clark.  I'm an early intervention Atlanta speech school.  Also I do Georgia pines, which is an early intervention program here in Georgia, and I do the sky high program and I'm also a sky high trainer.
>> This is a very full room.  Did we get everyone?  If not, can you raise your hand?  Okay, I think we're good.
>> Awesome.  So you might be thinking why would we take so much time to focus on this?  And today we're going to be talking about developing relationships and working on developing a way to be able to reach out to each other and really share in a common goal, in a common vision.  So as we were talking in preparing for this presentation, we felt like the investment of time to get to know each other is just as important as any other activity we would do.  So it was very intentional that we took this time to be able to get it know you and you will have some time after the break to get to know each other better as we are in small tables.
One thing that has impressed me is that you really have matched yourselves up with different folks.  You're not necessarily sitting all clustered together.  So that's wonderful to see.
>> I agree with Rick.  All your stories make us want to continue our work.  Because the work is being done by you as well.  It's not just us we've branched out to the work that all of you are doing.  So the Theory U is a framework for change.  Which is a conflict resolution theory.  It can be used country to country, company to company if they're coming in through a merger.  So if there are struggles, issues, conflicts, there's a wonderful theory to apply to conflict resolution.  It helps you see yourself through another person's eyes.  So we might see somebody but we're not in their shoes.  We might make judgment calls about what they think, what we think others are doing because we're trying to make them fit into our mindset, our mind world, and this helps you really get into somebody else's shoes.
Typically criticism comes from you not seeing the other as someone who can meet your perspective of life.  So what we need to do is change our thought world and what that looks like to come to a place where we can be on equal footing.  That's what all of us have done.  The first time we met each other we were all nervous.  We started the conversation.  And we found out that we were all nervous to meet each other.  Because we had these thoughts about what the other group was doing and that they were monsters and they were trying to do something so different, so polar opposite than what the other was doing.
We realized we had assumptions about one another.  We got into the same thought world, which unfortunately for all of us was a difficult challenge, it was a huge paradigm shift for us to have to go through in order to get to a place of advocacy and discussing what worked best.
We realized we were using solutions that we could share with OPTION schools and vice versa.  Stephen Covey, the famous author of the seven habits of highly effective people, said that the most important mindset is that life is abundant.  That is the important mindset.  For deaf children, we have funding limitations and resource limitations we're all fighting over these limitations.  We need to change our thought process and think of it from a frame of abundance.  And coming together to share the resources, to make sure that we are all doing the best we can, we're providing the best environments of sign, we're providing the best environments via the OPTION schools.  So we can define our world in the future and we can become the leaders who value the abundance and what each program has to offer.  Offered to the children and offered to the community.  So theory U is a mindset shift of how we can see the perspective of the other.  And try to find the commonalities through that paradigm shift.
So we have been working together as we said for almost ‑‑ for a little over a year, as we were talking about theory U through that.  We couldn't have worked together without the help of outside facilities, we did not work with an outside facilitator.  But after about a year we were introduced to the concept of Theory U.  It's very complex, it's simple but it's very deep.  There are many layers to Theory U.  It comes from a research ‑‑ a researcher from MIT, Otto Scharmer, and we're mentioning it to you because this could become a tool for you to be able to utilize in your work as you collaborate with others in the future.  It's very important research.  So I wanted to mention this in addition to what David just said, we talked about the ideas of levels of conversation.  We often have what we call downloading.  Where we're sharing niceties.  But we're not really trying to gather new information.  We say what we expect others to want to hear.  The next level is debate.  Where I'm listening to you but I'm actually thinking about my response.  I'm not processing what you're saying, I'm formulating my response.  That's debate.  Then down to dialogue.  And that's characterized by inquiry.  I want to know what you're thinking.  Why did you say that?  What is the reasoning behind what you said?  So that's where you can start thinking about some more ideas.  So I know, and I'm curious.  And the fourth level is like David explained, like a paradigm shift.  And that's called presencing.  Where I can see new ideas and that actually shifts my way of thinking.  Theory U says that when you leave a conversation feeling energized and motivated, that means that you've been involved in either level three or four in your conversation.  That doesn't mean that level one and level two are particularly negative, I think that debate is important at times and downloading is important at times.  But you're never really going to get to the meat of the conversation and the depth of the conversation on those two first and second levels.  Similarly, there are levels of change.  I know that we have a very short time today, but these are the levels of change if you would like to take a look at the slide.
When you are confronted with a problem, often we look at how do we fix it, the quick fixes or bandaid.  The next level would be I need to change policy, I need to change the rules.  And again, kind of a quick fix.  But not an effective shift that changes over the long term.  The third is reframing.  Looking at a situation from all viewpoints.  And from new perspectives.  That involves values and beliefs and it's a much deeper level of thinking.  And then finally, you have regenerating.  Which is when you create something new, something that has not existed to that point.  So we have created through Common Ground it hasn't existed in the past.  And it's not in its final form.  We are continually changing so that we can grow.
And that doesn't mean that every conversation has to be a level four and every meeting we have to leave with a change of a level four.  But it means that we're committed to trying to find new ways of thinking and new perspectives that we're actually listening to each other and learning from one another.
So I really encourage you to learn more about theory U as our summation of it today was very brief, but we wanted to make sure that you had the information so you could look into it in more depth for yourselves.
>> So trust.  Trust is really foundational to effective change, but trust doesn't come overnight.  And there is really no quick fix for developing trust.  But one of the things that we discovered when we began to meet is that there were certain elements that helped us to develop trust.  One was that we were very clear that we were going to be honest with each other.  That we were not going to try to convince each other of the rightness of our position, but that we would be honestly stating what had happened in the past, what we were feeling, and what we thought was necessary.
The other ‑‑ another really important piece, and this is also something that Otto Scharmer's theory U talks about quite a bit is curiosity.  If you're really interested and curious to learn more about what the other person is talking about, it's easier to really be open and to begin to develop that foundation of trust.
One of the curious things about trust is that it isn't just something that happens, you know, when you're sitting around a table, it also happens as you learn about each other as people.  So from the very first meeting that we had in this hotel, it ‑‑ when Rick sort of decided to convene or help us convene the group, he said we've got to find a really great place to go out to dinner afterwards.
And we've got to be sure that there is wine or beer.  And we've got ‑‑ or ‑‑
>> Or more.
>> Or your beverage of choice.  And other kinds of cocktails.
We had some time to get to know each other as people, to break bread together, to share stories together.  And once that happens, then the other isn't the other anymore, the other is another person that has some different points of view.  So as you're thinking about the situation in your regions and your states, think about not only formal meetings that you might convene or a coffee that you might, you know, decide to embark on, but how can you develop trust partly by getting to know each other as people.  As we met and as we shared our work together, there were things ‑‑ there were bumps in the road that we hit that actually in some cases helped us cement the trust.  So we had a lot of opposition to our meeting together initially, and collectively we decided we were going to move forward, no matter what.  And that cemented our ‑‑ helped really to cement our work together.  We knew that we were getting questions from all sides, but if we stopped then, we were not going to be able to accomplish anything for deaf and hard of hearing children.  But getting through those bumps and understanding that they will come up also helps to develop trust.
So as you're thinking about your own region or where you want to develop relationships, there's this wonderful little acronym TRUST, really having to do with being transparent, being responsive, caring about truly trying to understand and understand that the other person is caring as well.  Being sincere and then being worthy of trust.  And one thing I have to just tell you a quick story, some of you have heard this before, but the first day that we met here in Atlanta, we were taking a break in the afternoon and Bill Corwin, part of our initial team, said that he was going to go out and get some little snack for us.  And he came back with a plate ‑‑ a big plate of cookies.  And I think it was Joe and ‑‑ who else?  And Ron Stern signed to each other off in the corner, I wonder if they're poisoned.
[Laughter]
And they didn't know that the interpreter actually interpreted that for everybody.  But we laughed about it and now we make sure that we always have cookies at our meetings.
But there are these things that come up as a group where you really have to get ‑‑ you have to acknowledge the lack of trust and that helps ironically to build trust.
>> Mic.  Thank you.  We're throwing around a lot of words here, not too big, after all, many of us are administrators, so we don't use big words.  But I think the one that's key is relationships, relationship building with other people.  You can't just wake up some morning and say I think I want to collaborate with that program on the other side of the city.  And I'm going to convene a meeting and we are going to get together and we're going to collaborate.  Doesn't work that way.
You've got to develop a relationship with the people from that other program.  And you and your people have to be genuinely interested in those people.  Listening, that's a big word you've heard and will hear again today, you've got to listen and get to know each other as Barbara described and develop that level of trust.  So you're building a relationship, you're listening, you're working together, you're playing together, you've got to have some humor, can get a little serious, so you've got to have some humor, and all that will then lead to collaboration.  But it doesn't start there, it ends with collaboration, and it does take time.  Again, you can't meet once and say, okay, we had lunch together and I think those people are okay, I don't know them very well, but I think they're okay, so the next time we're going to put a big project on the table and figure out how to solve it.
You're moving too fast, you really got to take time, make that investment of time, and get to know the people well about let them know you.  Be honest, open, transparent, and work toward that trusting relationship.
>> So I'm going to give you a second to look at this slide and then we can talk about it a little bit.  
So this process is not necessarily a process, as several people have mentions, about convincing other people of what you have in your mind whatever your reason is for initiating a collaboration or a conversation in your community.  There is a point where you have to be vulnerable and you have to be willing to ask of other people and have it genuinely be a meaningful question.  It doesn't mean it has to be the deepest question, it doesn't mean it has to be the biggest project, but there has to be a willingness on your part to not only ask the question but listen to the answer.
And at various points I think that we all still have moments where we've realized we haven't done that.  I don't think this is a one and done, it's not enough to sit here and read these things or watch the videos from theory U, it's an ongoing internal process we all have.  David and I came later to this, we've both been involved with Common Ground since last June, so we came in as the facilitators were working with were introducing theory U and I left that meeting transformed.  I mean, when we talk about it, we say it sounds kind of touchy‑feely, but there is a science to it, and I didn't ‑‑ and I felt I was truly transformed leaving in part because of the people in the room and in part because of the way it does shift the way you look at things.  So but what I find is that ongoingly and this is part of the self‑reflection, there are times where I catch myself in the same old thought patterns.  And you have to keep going back to it.  When you're talking to someone who you have ‑‑ you've heard of before and there are many people in this field where you have heard their names, seen postings on Facebook, seen something on Twitter, there's an assumption that you know who they are, and really going and asking them to explain more, tell me more, don't put your impression or your interpretation on things, really have an open dialogue so that you can understand.  Because trust and understanding are intimately related.  You can't have one without the other.  So figure out the questions that you have.  It could be a question about how did you get started in deaf education.  What's your interest?  It could be a question about someone's program or what the challenges are.  What you hear about the early start of Common Ground was there was a big reason why they were getting together to talk about child first and what they realized was they had to put it aside and talk more about other issues to get to know each other before they could come back to that one.  So finding a way to balance, making the relationship, having real things to talk about, because if it's so superficial, you're not challenging each other and you're not leaving with anything.  You had a pleasure cup of coffee and there's nothing that you're taking away from that other than that was a nice person to spend an hour with.
Hopefully you're getting at least that much.
Ask people for examples.  If you don't ‑‑ don't assume you understand.  I guess the biggest piece of that is get more information from that person and try to take off that hat that you wear that tells you what you think they mean.
We really wordsmith, even though some of these slides are brief, we wordsmithed a lot of meanings of things.  We talked a lot about that relationship.  We talked a lot about the vulnerability we all feel.  We have people we report back to in different ways.  And it's so important that we are able to balance all of those things with ourselves, but you don't ‑‑ you know, if you had a stranger come up and ask you to borrow $5 or borrow your phone, you would be ‑‑ your instinct would be to say no.  It's a stranger, you question their motives.  
But if someone that you know a little bit more and they ask you for help, they ask you for a favor, they offer something vulnerable about themselves, you're able to look at that about in a very, very different way and this process doesn't work without that.
>> Tell me if I'm taking too much time.
But an example of that, we've gotten pretty close, we know a lot about each other, about our families, spouses, children.  Good things and bad things that happened to us.  We communicate in between meetings, we keep each other informed, not a lot of time, but we have that relationship.  It's not just at the professional level, it's at the personal level as well.  And develop a lot of respect and understanding for each other.
We, Maura, has a daughter, lives in Washington State.  I live in Florida.  We started to spend so much time together and she was sending pictures home to her family, we all send pictures, you know, with our phones, her daughter asked one day who's that guy sitting next to you?  She said that's Uncle Joe.  So today when I see her I say, how is my favorite niece doing when I see her.  I mean, we have that kind of relationship and that rapport, and that helps us to get closer and have a more meaningful discussion when we get to the meat of the content of shared understandings and common ground.
>> I mentioned a little earlier that there are going to be bumps in the road as you try to develop these new collaborations.  And we had quite a few, actually.  Certainly from our own constituencies we had a lot of push‑back and it took a lot of courage, actually, to say, no, we're going forward.  Some of you may recall a big controversy about a year ago having to do with Marco ‑‑ Nyle DiMarco, sorry, and there was a lot of feeling.  There had been a letter that was published that created more bad feeling.  And we actually were about to have ‑‑ do a presentation at the AG Bell Association and we suddenly had a crisis.  Was this presentation going to go on?  Would people from CEASD come to the AG Bell convention to present?  And it really is only because we had developed that trusting relationship where we could really talk through some of the issues and get together some of the key people outside of our group to talk to each other with us that we were able to go forward.  But it ‑‑ those kinds of bumps that come up and some of them are big and some of them are little, really can only be ‑‑ we can only transform if we've got those relationships at the heart and we're ‑‑ where we had built trust already it was possible to continue.
>> I was ask if I wanted to add a few more words because I'm the quiet person in the group.  Those of you who know me are very surprised to hear that.  I will give you ‑‑ okay, good.  Much better.  Okay.
So I think the key things to keep in mind also, I'm one with of the new members, this is my second meeting with this group, so I'm still getting to know them.  But because of the trust they had built among themselves, it's much easier for me to join in with them.  I knew one or two people already, the rest I got to know very quickly.  So that helped.  But I think you should also keep in mind that they were not working in isolation, they were always reporting back to their respective board, to their respective schools, creating basically a network of trust, not just trust within the group, but network of trust that even the people who have not met each other know they have a common ally or common group, and that I think is different when you think about the network effects rather than just a collective of people walking around and knowing each other and so it makes it easier for people to join you, you welcome different people to the group.  So I wanted to add that.
>> I would also like to add that I am additionally new to the group.  And in my experience coming in I senses a tone immediately, you may have sensed that already as well.  I came in neutrally but in coming to the room it was like entering a bright sunny space, just an instant positive tone hit me.  And that vibe was really impressive and I internalized that.  So I think the assumption was that everything would be positive from the start.
You know, any agency, any person entering the room sort of absorbed that and was welcomed and so that positive tone was very critical.
>> And I just want to emphasize too that that doesn't mean that we are avoiding the difficult conversations in any way.  We have certainly talked through a number of issues, and I mean a number of them.  And thank you, Barbara, for saying that, and Jay as well.  You know, half of the people involved right now in this effort are new.  And so you may recognize that this project is a little bigger than just the individual people within it.  We have really been working diligently to create something that would be sustainable and replicable.  So right now we are approaching a very short five‑minute break, and I'm going to emphasize that, five minutes, truly.  So when we come back we are going to put you in table groups, you are going to decide for yourselves where you would choose to be.  You can stay where you are, you can huddle up differently, whatever you choose.  One of us from the panel will be joining a group so each group will have one of us present and we will give you some handouts and that will give you an opportunity to start brainstorming and thinking about potential collaborations in your areas and regions.  So we will provide you with more of a framework for instructions on what to do when we get back.  So please, if you're going to leave, just give it a quick five minutes and step right back, we want to get going with the rest of our time.  Okay?  Thank you.
>> All right, we're going to get going in about two minutes, so if you can match folks up.  Two minutes.  We're coming back together.
We actually are going to start with the panelists, or are you just doing did ‑‑ so Jane is going to explain how this is going to work.  I'm going to wait for eyes forward.
All right.  I think we have most eyes forward.  Jane is explaining something.
>> [away from mic] ‑‑ not retired, but rewired, I'm going to steal that, that was very clever, Nancy.
Okay.  So Common Ground folks from up front are joining table by table.  Now, please, do not pass out the papers yet.  Please, panelists, hang onto those.  I know that you're looking to me.  If I see you working with papers, you're going to be distracted, so hold off just a moment.  So Common Ground folks, hang onto those handouts.  Don't pass them out just yet.
Okay.  You are now going to be involved with this task of thinking about your own potential collaboration.  You can take it to a local level, regional, or state.  So just a few things to begin to think about first.  When you're thinking about the issues that need fixing, the issues that need to be addressed, sometimes it's really nice to think about the easiest of those issues first and tackle those in the beginning.  So it's nice to start out with those early successes because success leads to success.  So that low‑hanging fruit, think about choosing what's easiest first and approach that.  Also, I would mention that you not be too overly ambitious, perhaps think about one or two or three things that you might be able to tackle when you leave.  Me personally, I like to make lists, right?  The more things on my list, the more I can check off.  That's who I am.  But think about I would encourage you just one or two or maybe three next steps.
I'll let you look at this.
If those of you in the back can't see what the cartoon, it says don't you ‑‑ do you see coffee in my hand yet in no.  So why are you still talking?
>> Right.  So that being said, it's best to not begin to start with the most pressing, critical issue that might be on your radar.  That's going to be a little overwhelming.  So I encourage you again to think about an easier issue to begin with.
You will be getting the handouts.  You will be.  And they will have four questions for you.  Now, in the first five minutes, and we'll keep on that five minutes, we're going to have you go through that form, just individually.  I want you to take a moment, think about those questions and go ahead and jot down some potential gaps, some potential issues in your home areas.  Also think about who are the potential partners to bring on board, who are you already working with or could work with.  And think about not who automatically would be the go‑to person to choose as a partner, but think about other stakeholders.  Beyond your circle that you may want to include.
Also, give some thought about the potential barriers that you may encounter in that collaborative effort.  And think about some potential steps that you will ‑‑ you will see this once you have the handout in front of you.  Again, that's the first five minutes of table time for you to individually reflect and use that form to help you get some issues down on paper to help you think about your collaborative efforts.
When you're completed in that task, you're going to work in your table group, work as a team, and begin some sharing.  For example, you may turn to someone at your table and say, what are the issues that you're addressing?  Who do you see as a potential partner?  What do you see as potential barriers?  So use that form as a talking point.  And then provide feedback to one another around the table as well.  And just ask points to clarify or whatever it is, just do some active listening with one another, give some feedback and make sure everyone has a turn going around the table so everyone can share what you've developed individually.
Okay?  Any questions so far on that portion?
Okay.  Now, if ‑‑ and we do have three states represented here with large groups in number, most folks are the only or perhaps one of two from their home states, but there are three identified here who are larger in number.  So if you choose to work as your state in those larger groups, that would be fine with us.  I think most folks would prefer to work, you know, on an individual basis or perhaps many a pair.  That's fine as well.
Any questions?
No?  Wow.  Okay.  I did well then.  I guess I explained it clearly.
Well, I'm going to go ahead and give you ‑‑ let's see, we'll pass out the paper that I was referencing, make sure those get to every table.  Does a Common Ground person have representation at every table?  Any tables not have a Common Ground person?
>> We're doing a great job of getting organized.  If you need an interpreter and you don't already have one ‑‑ okay, one in the back.  If I see people standing up I will bring you a chair, I promise.
So this is musical chairs now, everybody who has a chair, sit down.
Does everyone have a handout?  Because we did some shuffling, we matched handouts by chairs and we have left somebody out.  So if you need a handout raise your hand.  Chris or Carrie‑Ann or I will be running around giving the handouts.
>> You should be wrapping up the individual work.  That ‑‑ actually, I gave you three extra minutes.  A couple more minutes?  Okay, a couple more minutes.
>> I'm hearing some chatting at tables, this is a good thing.  So let's move on to the group discussion.
>> RICK HAUAN:  All right.  Sorry.  This is a loud interruption to give you a ten‑minute warning.  10 minutes.  And then we will be starting our report out.  So this is the 10‑minute warning.  The question was are we going to have cards?  We have cards for each of you.  Those are being passed out now.  If you have not turned in your list at your table, get that to Chris or Carrie‑Ann or me and we will get the cards pulled for you.
>> RICK HAUAN:  Just for clarification, the cards are being handed out to be completed after the ten minutes is up.  So this is table talk ten‑minute warning. 
(Mic turned off). 
>> RICK HAUAN:  We are at that witching hour of it's time to switch to the card activity.  So I'm going to give you one minute to wrap up your conversation and then I'm going to explain this activity.
>> RICK HAUAN:  All right.  If you do not have a card ‑‑ if you do not have a card, raise your hand and we will try to ‑‑ oh, you haven't passed them out yet.  I was, okay.
All right.  At your tables your facilitator has the ‑‑ has a card for each of you.  There's two different ones.  This is so awesome.  I hate interrupting.  I truly do.
All right.  At your table your facilitators have cards.  Some of you are registered after last week when we printed these off, some of them I bet we have some errors on.  We brought some blanks, but I don't think we brought enough.  So if you did not get a card, there are cards on your table that look like ‑‑ can somebody hold them up ‑‑ the Marriott ‑‑ or the Hyatt ‑‑ heaven forbid I should say the M word in here ‑‑ the Hyatt cards.  If you don't have a card printed out, use one of the Hyatt cards, we will get them sent to you in an envelope.  So we are giving you two different cards.  You are going to list commitments one or two commitments, these are going to be mailed to yourself.  So you are writing to yourself and you're going to list two or three steps that you will be taking in the next 30 days.  The 30 days will go on the small card.  60 days will go on the large card.  I flipped that backwards, didn't I?  I have all the Common Ground folks saying that's not common at all.  So we will flip that.  Large cards are for 30 days; small cards are for 60 days.
Large cards are for 30, small cards are for 60.
Looking at one or two or however many you want to list, but at least one or two activities that you are going to take, and commitments that you will make to yourself and we will be mailing these back to you in 30 and 60 days.  So about the end of March or beginning of April you will be getting your first card.  And around the first of May you will be getting your second card.
So we're going to have about five minutes to do that and wrap that up.  And when I see heads coming back up and hands up, I will ‑‑ by hands up I mean we're talking again, we will reconvene.
  So there's confusion because I was confusing.  Large cards, 30; small cards, 60.
  All right.  If we could have your attention up at the front.  And an interpreter.
>> If I can get everybody's attention.  Look at all you smiling faces.  I just want to explain three other things at your table that we haven't gone into yet.  So in addition to your activity form you have three other documents.  One is a sample action plan for establishing a collaboration.  So it includes a lot of ideas that we've talked about.  It's just an example.  You may choose to do things differently, but we wanted to give you an example.  That's the first document.
The second document, which is two‑sided, is a white paper, so to speak, that Common Ground developed which provides suggestions to you that you can take back to your states for setting up a large collaboration.  Some of those things are on action plan, but they're a little bit more in depth in the white paper.  And it's just a way for us to encourage you to start establishing those collaborations.
The third is a booklet, which is the Common Ground goals and shared understandings.  We found developing these very valuable for us because the more we worked on them, the more we realized how much we had in common and that our different perspectives actually started to diminish when we found the commonalities and the core values as being very similar.  We recognized that we were struggling with the same things, the same issues, public schools and the like.
So we had so many commonalities we thought it was very valuable to develop that for us.  And I know that you're not going to be establishing this from scratch yourself, but it was so valuable for us we wanted to share it with you.  And if this is helpful to you, wonderful.  If your group wants to formally set your own shared understandings and goals, that's great too.  It's important that you really focus on what your commonalities are.  It helps a great deal.  It helps you to develop your relationship, to provide you energy, and to help you recommit to the work that we do.  So those three documents are on your table.
If you didn't receive them, please raise your hand.
>> RICK HAUAN:  So the next thing that we are going to be doing is reporting out.  I know that we have limited time and many, many things to report out, so at your table if you can think about what you are going to share, one or two things per table maximum.  And you are going to have about one to a minute ‑‑ one to one and a half minutes to report.
So before that I'm going to turn this over to Maura.
>> Thank you everybody.  Great table discussion.  I'm hoping that is a great experience for all the other tables.  A few remarks before we get to the share‑out is this idea about this being a continual process.  I think when we reflect on what has happened among the Common Ground team members from OPTION and CEASD acknowledging that we needed to build trust was huge.  Just putting that on the table.  And investing the time to do that has served us very well.
Yesterday Meredith made a comment about the fact that when someone is invited to a table that's already set, so to speak, that there's already a group that's been established and then after the fact you're invited, there's already a level of hesitation and mistrust.  You know, why wasn't ‑‑ why weren't we all part of this from the beginning?  So if you are in those situations I think it's important to reflect on that and to think about the impact of that situation and how that might be acknowledged.
If you're starting from scratch, include the fullest range of stakeholders that you can.  Include people who are deaf and hard of hearing, people who are deaf and hard of hearing that use ASL, people who are deaf and hard of hearing that use spoken language.  People who are hard of hearing that ‑‑ that one experience doesn't give us the differences in perspective that we need to create something strong and useful I think is how we feel at Common Ground.
And if you do realize, uh‑oh, somebody's missing from this table, reach out as quickly as possible.  And acknowledge you should have been here from the beginning, thank you for being forgiving, that list of things that help us build trust, and invite them.
And expect growing pains.  I think we've all alluded to that but as the conversation continues I think there have been these moments and times where naively we think oh, this is going to get easier.  And then you get to something sticky and don't avoid it and just know that it is part of a good relationship, and I think a solid project.  Conflict can lead to good things.  And a lot of growth.
I know someone that refers to posttraumatic growth instead of ‑‑ instead of just being kind of in that trauma and hurt and damaged by that.
So conflict is an opportunity for growth.
And just keep that momentum going.  I think several people have mentioned that.  That may include using virtual technology.  Zoom is one of our favorite tools, we are all over the country, and we can use digital and virtual technology to connect.  It's not the same as being face to face, but it's better than waiting six months until you can see each other in some cases.
And I guess it's a little messy.  But I think what we've done in our, you know, between OPTION and CEASD is we've remembered that this is about the kids and the families that deserve quality services so they can reach their full potential.  So when I was a preschool teacher I used to say if your kids come home clean at the end of the day it wasn't a good day.  So embrace the mess and use it to learn and grow and continue this good work.
Anything else from my Common Ground colleagues?
Okay.  Reporting out.
>> One thing I was going to mention, Maura mentioned Zoom and how great it is to reach across the country.  I just want to share that today we shared Zoom sitting around the table, because there is a way you can share documents so we were actually able to watch live and edit documents live, thus the PowerPoint.  But the final tweaks on that, it takes a lot to be able to communicate, so use any tool, use it creatively and don't use it the way that it was intended.  Break it.  That's my motto.
All right.  So reporting out.  Again, really briefly, I'm going to go around the room and, Joe, your table?  All right.
>> Okay.  At my table here ‑‑ sorry, let me take this off.  Our table is unique because we're all from Georgia, yay, Georgia.  So we shared out and thought about what's going on in Georgia, what do we currently have, what do we not have.  So I'm going to go through a bit of a list.  There are too many to name so let me pick a couple.  One of the main problems is that we seem to have too many different agencies serving the same population of deaf and hard‑of‑hearing children.  So we have competing services.  We have agencies not talking with each other.  We have every agency claiming their own turf and not wanting to share resources and that leads to parents feeling very confused.  So I think the desire from the table was that we create a sort of one stop shop which is not available yet in our state. 
Also, not knowing who to reach out to we talked about perhaps approaching medical schools and reaching the people who are designing curriculums to teach future doctors to be a little bit more open about how to interact with families who have deaf babies.  Also as far as legislative efforts we need to educate them on making system changes.  And let's see what other notes.  Help me out, I'm forgetting what else.
We need a more effective and efficient system delivery.  We need better communication within our state.  We're not really reaching out to one another.  Some of the barriers that we identified, one big one is the bureaucracy in our state, that puts up a lot of barriers for us.
We also are not on the same page and we need to try to change that.
We also need to bring the agencies together and form one umbrella agency, that was a desire that we all shared that would help us to provide better services for our children.
>> Awesome.  Hands up for Georgia.  All right.  Barbara.
>> [away from mic]
>> Another Georgian, all right.
>> I'll do what I think ‑‑ okay.  So we spoke a lot about the gaps and then we sort of lost time because we have a lot of issues that we wanted to talk about.  Sorry, am I too fast?
Okay.  All right.  So we talked a lot a little bit about poverty and how that is becoming an issue and that's where the follow‑up is happening ‑‑ or not happening, I should say.  A loss to follow‑up, especially in the hospitals after newborn screening tests we're finding that the language is not correct by the nurses and by the doctors and so that the parents don't think there's an urgency to do a follow‑up.  I see a lot of heads shaking, I think that's happening a lot of places.  I know personally as a parent it's happening in Georgia.  There is fluid.  We also talk about that it definitely needs to be changed.  The terminology that it is pass not pass or referred.  And referred should be dropped and it should be the big F word, which is failed in the sense that it's a more of a wake‑up call that there is something that needs to be ‑‑ there's an action that needs to take place and not just ‑‑ you shouldn't be waiting.  You should immediately take action.
I made the comment as a parent that in the pediatric world when I went to my doctors they don't know ‑‑ they know very little about hearing loss.  And I think that's a huge problem because when you're a parent and you're new and you're scared, everything that pediatric says you hold onto and you believe.  So if they say you have time or they say it's not a big deal or they say you don't need to go to an ENT or I'm sure it's just, you know, they're two months old, I'm sure they hear, look, the clap, but are they hearing speech or are they hearing correctly or are you speaking to them correctly if it's sign or if it's listening and spoken language.
So I think that's a big issue.
And funding.  We had talked about funding that there is lack of funding.  And without funding then we don't have the resources that we need to take all these actions.  But I want Linda to talk about WIC and then [indiscernible]
>> Okay.  We also talked about Loss to follow‑up.  In Georgia if we cannot get ahold of the parent we know that texting is better than a phone call.  The second part of it is is that if they did not get them back into the hospital we get them at the WIC office.  So when they are going to get their food or diapers or whatever, if their name is flagged, there is someone there to do the second screening to get them going.  So that ‑‑ we found that sort of helped our parents in poverty.
It's still a big issue in Georgia, but it was a great way to get some of these loss to follow‑up children.
>> [indiscernible]
>> You got like five seconds. 
>> Okay.  Very quickly.  I think in terms of the collaboration, we had lots of discussion about just recognizing, respecting all the differences for children and families and programs and it can't be like one thing in the state, but that collaborative work together to provide options for families and those communication opportunities, we call it, in Minnesota recognizing that different states and programs have different systems and structures.  So it's not a one size fit all, but work within your area and your state to who can you bring together to have those deeper conversations, not just projects, but really get to the true discussion and getting to know each other.  Anything else?
>> So I'm going to at that time mic for a second so I can give of two brave souls at this table a chance to volunteer themselves.  We at this table did it a little bit differently because people were from different areas, so they really thought about the individual projects or collaborative relationships that they might engage in when they go home, knowing that most of the people at the table were not the people they would be doing that with.  So I think it will be interesting to hear the response.  So do I have a first volunteer?  You want it?  Okay.
>> We talked about so many different things.
>> What did you get from this?
>> Okay.  So we talked about ‑‑ a lot about connecting the services that are available to general social injustices and looking at the services in your area in a bigger picture.  So that you're not always reinventing the wheel, but collaborating with a much larger group.  I also took away from this because I work at a school that is kind of a microcosm of this situation, having an aural approach as well as a manual approach really discussing that Theory U and bringing together a team to have shared goals and mindsets and clear programmatic efforts in the next school year of how you can bridge that gap and work together.
>> So we spent some time talking about the people that weren't at the table, happened that there were two African Americans at this table but there weren't any at your tables, and just have do we engage in ways that really is not primary a white audience, and having parents, I don't know how many parents, African American parents will be here this week.  I'm sure there will be a lot of white parents here.  But then we started talking some about having different organizations ‑‑ like your organization may be small and may focus on hearing loss.  Another organization that is small is focusing on a different disability.  But has the same issue of parents of color coming to meetings.  So maybe bridging ‑‑ you know, the bridge may not be the issue of the children, but these are families that aren't your typical families, they're a family dealing with something.  So having them come together.  For me that was a great take‑away.
>> Just real quick, one thing that we also talked about was the ‑‑ sorry.  One thing that we also talked about was the boundary of complacency.  There seems to be that there can be an attitude of, well, you know, that's the best they're going to get in that area for that family for ‑‑ insert whatever the situation is.  And it really is very sad and hurtful when that comes from the people at the top that have the power to possibly change those things.
So kind of getting in there and finding an ally basically within the systems that has some power to make some changes and really getting some of that voice heard.  And then helping the families to understand that they don't necessarily have to be okay with that complacency and that they can dream and they can have big goals.
>> Great, thank you so much.  Jay, your table.
>> Okay, I'm a brave soul, I will give them a chance to raise their hand if they want to.  What I will do is I will say a few things and that will give them a chance to make a statement.  So I will give you a couple of quick overviews.  Generally we have a lot of similarities with everybody else, all the other tables, but one issue that came up was the rural‑urban divide that you might have services that work or services that are delivered in the rural area but not necessarily the ‑‑ I'm sorry, the urban area, but not necessarily the rural.  Or that the rural area can take offense when somebody from the urban area comes to their town and telling them what to do.  So that the kind of issue can come up.  We talked about issues regarding rules and sometimes rules don't always seem to fit the problem at hand.  We talked about lack of resources, financial resources.  And the fight, the struggle between organizations for what is perceived to be a limited pool of resources.
We talked about [indiscernible] that seemed to be a common theme here.  We talked about the role of the larger organizations, like the implant center and other organizations that seem to have a stake in the game but don't necessarily seem to want to help the majority of the elements in the game.  What else?  Did I leave anything else out?  Anybody that can add anything to it?  No, wow, okay.  They all seem to be happy with that.  Thank you.
>> Thank you so much.  Let's go in middle to Jane's table.
>> I'm sorry.  I wasn't ready there.
>> Jay has one more thing.
>> I'm sorry.  One other thing, a lot of ‑‑ one challenge that people had, I think all of you had that's probably seems so big, the issues seem so large that even thinking about the low hanging fruit, which is intimidating.  So I think that can get they were told to fill out the postcard, they went what?  I had to think of those things in 30 days?  That was pretty intimidating, I'm hoping they'll be able to meet that next step.
>> I think I'm going to stand over here.  Come with me.  Come with me.  I'm going to pull you over here to the wall.  I don't like my back to other folks, so I wanted to come back here.  We represented six different states at our table, so it was interesting to see the variety in our group and the different goings‑on.  Some people didn't know where to start.  Others didn't know how to start the collaboration.  Others had collaborations but wanted to work with other states.  So New York, for example, they have more resources so they're trying to figure out based on the shape of your state, sorry, I can't draw it in the air because I don't actually know the shape of your state, but ‑‑ so maybe some other states near by can offer resources and there could be collaborations in that.  For Virginia there's quite a diverse group and many things happening in their state currently.  And with how to start collaborations, they recognize very many opportunities for collaboration, but because there's such a wide range of entities, I think the research is what's the first step of actually starting.  And I don't believe you have a Hands and Voices ‑‑ oh, you do now, okay, sorry.  So it was interesting to see who had resources and other states did not.
In California we have many resources but we want to make sure that they're accessible out of state.  And that's where we've had a struggle.  We've recognized that big gaps are in place for deaf leadership.  So training for deaf leaders.  So when we get back we need to have more trainings offered to deaf leaders, that's our action plan.  On to you.
>> All right.  The other three states, North Carolina, parent confusion, which resonates here, I think that was mentioned over at this table, right?  The amount of ‑‑ the sheer amount of information that parents have to process once they learn that their baby has a hearing loss, how can we deal with that and make it the ‑‑ the process smoother for them so they're not receiving 17 phone calls in those first moments when they learn.
Texas, we in Texas in our area, this was regional rather than state, so in the San Antonio area we do have a problem with Part C services.  Because it's such a huge turnover of ECI personnel, we may go out with our ‑‑ what we call teachers of the deaf from the school district counterparts and do trainings for the ECI.  But then within six months it's all a whole bunch of different people.  And they do not understand eligibility for Part C services.  So we would love to create some kind of better MOU so that everybody's on the same page about even a baby with minimal unilateral hearing loss can receive Part C services.
And finally, Montana.
[Laughter]
Montana, the frontier state.  By her own admission, the blank state.  So rather they're a blank slate.  That's better than state, right?  A blank slate for thinking about all these things looking into Common Ground and setting up a much Burnet work of services for the deaf and hard of hearing babies there.  That's what we did.
>> Awesome.  Thank you.  That's a lot of hard work.
David, last table.
>> Hi, our table had four ‑‑ had four different states that we represented, and we all kind of talked about having some legislative issues or most of us did.  And so when we were talking about is that in order to get ‑‑ get these bills passed that we want, we needed some solidarity because our organizations across the state have not been able to really get on one page.  So we talked about misconceptions and that's a real big problem, especially fake news, which is a term being thrown around today.  And how do to kind of combat that.  So we wrote down some things.  One thing was, you know, make some more personal connections.  And to reach out to different individuals within the group.  So individuals that you may not have seen before and get around those that may have been negative and not moving forward.  Get some national help from those organizations.  So kind of go to a national level and reach out to those individuals and see if they can help.  And really to just build relationships.
>> Great, thank you.  Anyone have a burning thing that did not come up in the report‑outs that you want to share? 
Burning item.
Barbara?  Vanna.
>> One thing that ‑‑ question that came up at our table that maybe some of you are wondering about is how do you find somebody to facilitate discussion?  Because we talked about the value, especially if you're having trouble coming to agreement, the value of having facilitators.  And so somebody asked is there ever a ‑‑ is there a list, is there some ‑‑ how do you go about finding people who are professional facilitators or somebody who could volunteer to be in that role.
>> We have a comment in the audience.  Actually, a couple of them.  This is called building relationships.  Over here.  Right, we will.  There's an interpreter standing right next ‑‑
>> Someone had mentioned a moment ago about the question of how to bring in a good facilitator, give you some experience here in Georgia, we are moving forward with LEAD‑K and we meet regularly.  We brought in this case in to be a facilitator and Nancy Kelly Jones as well served in that role for us.  So one hearing and one deaf facilitator, and we had a lot of different representatives from the speech school and so forth.  Our very first meeting was contentious and by the second meeting it was a little bit better.  With Rick's help, I really strongly suggested that you bring in someone, I wish we had brought in someone at the very first meeting so that would be my tip to you to get the warmth flowing and I want to thank Rick and Nancy for helping us with our LEAD‑K meetings here in Georgia.
>> I'll pay you later.  Okay, next.  You got it?  Okay.  We do have one more comment over here.
>> I agree in hiring an out side fairly.  In Indiana our department is under the Department of Health, and we had a facilitator that came in from out of state.  I wish that we actually had a deaf and non‑deaf team.  The person who came and facilitated could hear and was a parent, which was great, but I think it would have gone more smoothly if we had a deaf‑hearing team.
>> [away from mic]
>> I want to emphasize again that our group, the person who spoke on behalf of us, was discussing facilitators but also inviting a variety of stakeholders, including African Americans and people of color.  It's very important that we recognize ‑‑ I mean, this is a strongly white‑led organization, so we have white ASL teachers, white parents, white instructors, white audiologists, so providing services to, you know, the parents who are also white benefit more seemingly than others.  I think SES is a strong contributor to this, that families might not be able to afford various services but we need to involve every stakeholder, that includes those who are facilitating.  I know it's easy to say come on board, let's do that, but here Atlanta, Georgia, I'm on the planning committee, and it should be easy to contact the Georgia Black Deaf Organization, but we have to create a safe space so that individuals from the various organizations can feel safe in coming into these types of collaborations.  We have to look at ourselves and whether or not we are creating the safe spaces for people of other groups that might not be typically invited to the table.
>> Thank you so much for your comment.  That was incredibly important and it is one thing that we challenge, I think is a challenge nationally is how we involve a diverse population at the table.  So, yeah, I appreciate that.  Wow, I am so impressed with the work you did today.  And there's so much more to be done.  It's so easy to fall into the trap of trying to accomplish a resolution prior to a relationship or the other way around, you work too hard on the relationship and you don't get much done.  Both ways you fail.  Lean on each other.  We've asked you fill out your cards.  I'm going to ask that you leave those with your facilitator, and I thank you for allowing us to run over time.  
And I love this quote, so we are closing with this quote and then I'll flip to the last slide, which is just our contact information, but the only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.
So with that, believe that it's possible, know that you can, it happens with all of us doing our part, and if you fall, get up and move on.  Find somebody to help you, reach out for a hand, it's going to be there.  But together we can do this.  And I really appreciate all that you have.  There are EHDI evaluations that need to be completed.  I'd ask that you would complete those also.  Okay.  Awesome.  The PowerPoint with all of these contacts, the contact information is all hyperlinked and the PowerPoint is on the EHDI website.  Thank you all for coming.  Thank you for bearing with us a little longer than the scheduled time.  Have a great evening and a great conference!
(Ended at 4:15 PM.)
 
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This is being provided in a rough‑draft format.  Open Captioning is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. 
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