EHDI Conference 2009

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ABSTRACT INFORMATION

Title:	'Connecting the Dots: Deaf Community Participation in EHDI Programs'
Track:	1-EHDI Program Enhancement
Audience:	Primary Audience: State Health Department Secondary Audience: Part C Agency/Program Tertiary Audeince: Early Intervention Provider
Keyword(s):	deaf community, family support
Learning Objectives:	Better understand the meaning of authentic inclusion. Articulate benefits to families of deaf community involvement in EHDI programs, as described in the literature. Identify steps EHDI personnel can take to include deaf community members in EHDI programs.
Abstract:	This session will describe the importance of including deaf community members in EHDI and family support programs. It will describe authentic inclusion and involvement. It will cover research findings and personal experiences that demonstrate the benefits to families of deaf community participation. It will address deaf-hearing partnerships, bridge-building among communities, and supporting parents in their acceptance of their child’s deafness. And it will provide information on steps EHDI directors can take to more equitably include deaf individuals in EHDI systems.
Presentation(s):	Not Available
Handouts:	Not Available

SPEAKER INFORMATION

PRESENTER(S):
Barbara Raimondo - Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf Credentials: Esq.
	Barbara is a long-time advocate for the rights of deaf and hard of hearing individuals and their families. She has worked as a government relations liaison, director of advocacy, parent consultant, attorney, and trainer. She has presented and written about numerous topics including early hearing detection and intervention, education, test equity, civil rights, family support, deaf-hearing partnerships, parent and deaf community involvement, and others. She also has served on the board of the Maryland School for the Deaf, including as president for three terms. She has testified before Congress. She and her husband are the parents of two deaf young adults and in the past hosted a deaf exchange student from Ghana. She received her law degree from George Mason University.
Jodee Crace - Outreach Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children Credentials: M.A.: School Guidance Counseling with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children Other Affiliations: NAEYC and American Society for Deaf Children
	Jodee has lived as a Deaf person all her life and currently works as an Early Intervention Coordinator with the Outreach Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children in Indiana. Her roles involve assessment, eligibility determination, home-based family education services, counseling, Deaf Mentoring, presenting with stakeholders, participating in committee meetings, and drafting various position papers in best practices with Early Intervention. Jodee is married to a Deaf man and they have four sons. One of their son's is totally blind and hard of hearing. The rest of the children are Deaf.
Rosaline Crawford - National Association of the Deaf Credentials: Director, Law and Advocacy Center National Association of the Deaf
	Rosaline Crawford’s association with the deaf and hard of hearing community began in 1990 with the birth of her daughter who is deaf. Together, they participated in early intervention parent-infant and deaf education programs. Rosaline’s life-long passion for civil rights led her to enter law school in 1998. Upon completing law school in 2002, she joined the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), first as a staff attorney and later as director of the Law and Advocacy Center. She provides information on disability civil rights laws, represents people who are deaf or hard of hearing in disability civil rights cases, and advocates on disability civil rights legislative, regulatory, and public policy issues. She also advocates for newborn hearing screening, early identification and intervention, and ensuring that families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing have the resources they need.
Howard Rosenblum - Equip for Equality Credentials: Senior Attorney Other Affiliations: Chair, Public Policy Committee, National Association of the Deaf; Board Chair, Midwest Center on Law and the Deaf
	Howard A. Rosenblum is a Senior Attorney at Equip for Equality, a nonprofit organization designated as Illinois’ Protection and Advocacy entity. He has been an attorney for seventeen years, ten of which were in private practice with Monahan & Cohen. Mr. Rosenblum focuses his legal practice in the areas of disability rights and special education. Having been profoundly deaf since age 2, he is a product of special education and seeks to improve the system. He is also the founder and board chair of the Midwest Center on Law and the Deaf (MCLD), which is dedicated to ensuring that deaf and hard of hearing people have full and equal access to lawyers and the courts. Mr. Rosenblum received his law degree from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law (1992), and his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona (1988).
Beth Benedict - Gallaudet University Credentials: Ph.D. Other Affiliations: American Society for Deaf Children
	Beth S. Benedict, Ph.D., a Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C., has focused on family involvement in schools with deaf and hard of hearing children, early childhood education, advocacy, early communication, and partnerships between deaf and hearing professionals and early intervention programs and services. Her work has been shared in numerous publications and through her work as a national and international presenter. Dr. Benedict is very involved in different organizations and boards. She is the Chair of the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing, President of the American Society of Deaf Children, on the Council of Education of the Deaf, the Maryland Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Advisory Council and actively involved in a variety of other EHDI initiatives.
Tami Hossler - American Society for Deaf Children Credentials: M.A. Education and Early Childhood Education
	Tami Hossler, M.A., is a board member of American Society for Deaf Children (ASDC) and the editor of their magazine, The Endeavor. Tami and her husband have two adult daughters, one Deaf and one hearing. They reside in Ft. Myers, Florida.

AUTHOR(S):
Barbara Raimondo - Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf Credentials: Esq.
	BIO: Barbara is a long-time advocate for the rights of deaf and hard of hearing individuals and their families. She has worked as a government relations liaison, director of advocacy, parent consultant, attorney, and trainer. She has presented and written about numerous topics including early hearing detection and intervention, education, test equity, civil rights, family support, deaf-hearing partnerships, parent and deaf community involvement, and others. She also has served on the board of the Maryland School for the Deaf, including as president for three terms. She has testified before Congress. She and her husband are the parents of two deaf young adults and in the past hosted a deaf exchange student from Ghana. She received her law degree from George Mason University.
Jodee Crace - Outreach Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children Credentials: M.A.: School Guidance Counseling with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children Other Affiliations: NAEYC and American Society for Deaf Children
	BIO: Jodee has lived as a Deaf person all her life and currently works as an Early Intervention Coordinator with the Outreach Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children in Indiana. Her roles involve assessment, eligibility determination, home-based family education services, counseling, Deaf Mentoring, presenting with stakeholders, participating in committee meetings, and drafting various position papers in best practices with Early Intervention. Jodee is married to a Deaf man and they have four sons. One of their son's is totally blind and hard of hearing. The rest of the children are Deaf.
Rosaline Crawford - National Association of the Deaf Credentials: Director, Law and Advocacy Center National Association of the Deaf
	BIO: Rosaline Crawford’s association with the deaf and hard of hearing community began in 1990 with the birth of her daughter who is deaf. Together, they participated in early intervention parent-infant and deaf education programs. Rosaline’s life-long passion for civil rights led her to enter law school in 1998. Upon completing law school in 2002, she joined the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), first as a staff attorney and later as director of the Law and Advocacy Center. She provides information on disability civil rights laws, represents people who are deaf or hard of hearing in disability civil rights cases, and advocates on disability civil rights legislative, regulatory, and public policy issues. She also advocates for newborn hearing screening, early identification and intervention, and ensuring that families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing have the resources they need.
Howard Rosenblum - Equip for Equality Credentials: Senior Attorney Other Affiliations: Chair, Public Policy Committee, National Association of the Deaf; Board Chair, Midwest Center on Law and the Deaf
	BIO: Howard A. Rosenblum is a Senior Attorney at Equip for Equality, a nonprofit organization designated as Illinois’ Protection and Advocacy entity. He has been an attorney for seventeen years, ten of which were in private practice with Monahan & Cohen. Mr. Rosenblum focuses his legal practice in the areas of disability rights and special education. Having been profoundly deaf since age 2, he is a product of special education and seeks to improve the system. He is also the founder and board chair of the Midwest Center on Law and the Deaf (MCLD), which is dedicated to ensuring that deaf and hard of hearing people have full and equal access to lawyers and the courts. Mr. Rosenblum received his law degree from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law (1992), and his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona (1988).
Beth Benedict - Gallaudet University Credentials: Ph.D. Other Affiliations: American Society for Deaf Children
	BIO: Beth S. Benedict, Ph.D., a Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C., has focused on family involvement in schools with deaf and hard of hearing children, early childhood education, advocacy, early communication, and partnerships between deaf and hearing professionals and early intervention programs and services. Her work has been shared in numerous publications and through her work as a national and international presenter. Dr. Benedict is very involved in different organizations and boards. She is the Chair of the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing, President of the American Society of Deaf Children, on the Council of Education of the Deaf, the Maryland Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Advisory Council and actively involved in a variety of other EHDI initiatives.
Tami Hossler - American Society for Deaf Children Credentials: M.A. Education and Early Childhood Education
	BIO: Tami Hossler, M.A., is a board member of American Society for Deaf Children (ASDC) and the editor of their magazine, The Endeavor. Tami and her husband have two adult daughters, one Deaf and one hearing. They reside in Ft. Myers, Florida.