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AGBell-Utah's 5th Annual Fall Conference
Hear-n-Happy
Living a Full and Productive Life with Hearing Loss
Featuring Keynote Speaker
John Anderson
"Navigating Groups in Family and School"
John Anderson works as the Mainstream Adjustment Counselor for the Mainstream Center at CLARKE School for the Deaf/Center for Oral Education. He grew up with a progressive hearing loss and now uses a cochlear implant. He earned his MA in counseling psychology from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene NH. He is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Massachusetts. He works primarily with students in the mainstream who are struggling to succeed either academically and/or socially. He frequently gives workshops on experience of hearing loss for students in mainstream schools and is the author of a children’s book on adjustment to hearing loss called: "My Hearing Loss and Me: We Get Along Most of the Time."
General Session
Music and Hearing Loss: Cadence, Chord, Concerto!
by Mike Page, AuD, CCC-A
Whether you're a parent of a child who is deaf or hard-of-hearing, an adult who is deaf or hard-of-hearing, or a professional that serves the deaf and hard-of-hearing (educational, therapist, governmental, etc) we've got something for you in this conference.
Breakouts:
- Loneliness: An Unanswered Challenge in Mainstreaming
- Newborn Hearing Screening in Utah - The Last Ten Years
- Beyond the Booth: Audiology for the Real World
- Living, Learning & Listening: Language Development - Morning, Noon & Night!
- Teen Panel
- Parents Strategies - The Love and Logic Way
Scroll down to see speaker bios and session abstracts (as they become available)
Also Featuring:
- Silent Auction
- Funds raised by the silent auction go towards college scholarships for high-school seniors who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, and camp scholarships for children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
- Continental breakfast (8:15 - 8:55)
- Lunch catered by Motu's Island Grill (included in registration fee)
- Networking / Socializing
Registration starts at 8:15
Conference Starts at 9:00
Note: Registration ends at 11:00 am on Oct 31 (Our lunch count is required at that time)
After that time, Late Registration fees apply, and lunch will not be guaranteed.
Our 2008 Conference Sponsors
Gold Sponsors / Exhibitors:
Silver Sponsors:
Partners
Session Abstracts:
- Keynote: Navigating Groups in Family and School
- Audience: All
- John Anderson
- See speaker biography above
- John will relate his experience as a Mainstream Adjustment Counselor and an adult with hearing loss. This session will focus on the skills that both a person with hearing loss needs to make groups work and the skills that a person with normal hearing needs to develop to help make the group more accessible for a person with hearing loss. It takes collaboration and cooperation for any group that includes a person with hearing loss to be inclusive. There are complexities around initiative and educating others that require the person with hearing loss to learn how take care of himself in a wide range of groups.
- General Session: Music and Hearing Loss: Cadence, Chord, Concerto!
- Audience: All
- Michael D Page, AuD, CCC-A, Audiologist
- Dr. Page has 24 years experience in adult and pediatric audiology, including cochlear implants and aural habilitation. Professional employment includes Primary Children’s Medical Center and Audiology Associates of Salt Lake City, Inc. He served as a member of the Utah Cochlear Implant team, president of the Utah Speech-Language-Hearing Association, chair of the Advisory Board for the Utah Division for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, member of the Primary Children’s Medical Center Bioethics Committee, and board chair for the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (Audiology and Speech Language Pathology). He has also held adjunct faculty positions at Utah State University, Brigham Young University, and University of Utah. He serves as a member of the American Academy of Audiology Ethical Practices Committee and is currently employed as a Senior Clinical Specialist with Advanced Bionics, LLC, since 2005.
- Music plays an integral role in the human family as evidenced not only by important life events, but also by its daily consumption. In deed, some would claim music as the most complex form of communication – more intricate than written or even spoken forms. Many tout its commanding ability to replicate the entire spectrum of human emotion! But historically, hearing loss and music have not mixed well. This is perhaps, due in part to the anatomy and physiology of hearing loss, as well as limitations of hearing aid and cochlear implant technology, which until recently have made somewhat inadequate attempts to replicate a complex music signal.
This presentation will outline many basic components of the music signal which provide challenges for hearing anatomy and technology. It will highlight recent cochlear implant developments designed for music, hearing aid technology, and will briefly describe a variety of rehabilitative options which include music.
- Parenting Strategies - The Love and Logic Way
- Audience: Primarily Parents, Also anybody else that works with children.
- Michael Cottam
- Mike Cottam is married to one of the world’s greatest husband trainers and is called “Dad” by seven terrific adult children and one (finally!) grandchild.
He is a retired public educator with experience as a music teacher, counselor and prevention specialist. As an educator, he was honored with the United States Department of Education recognition for outstanding achievement in Drug and Alcohol education, the Alpine Excellence in Teaching award and the Utah State PTA Friend of Children award. Magic, balloon art and humor frequently pepper his workshops, keynotes and trainings.
He is a member of the Utah National Guard and recently received the prestigious Utah National Guard Minuteman Award for 43 years of outstanding service to his country.
-
Do your kids ever argue or talk back? Do your kids ever try to avoid
consequences by arguing and manipulating? Do you ever find yourself
spending too much time on this? We’ll learn some simple and proven
tricks that can make you a black-belt in the art of out-arguing even
the most challenging kid?" The ideas are a short sample of the
skills you will learn by taking the full "Becoming a Love and Logic
Parent" workshop. This is an interactive workshop and you will be
expected to practice ideas with fellow participants.
- Loneliness: An Unanswered Challenge in Mainstreaming
- Audience: Primarily parents, teens, teachers. Also, deaf adults would benefit from discussion.
- John Anderson
- See speaker biography above
- This workshop is about the experiences of loneliness of children who attend regular schools and what we can do to lessen this experience. Professionals frequently make recommendations for skills to keep up with communication. These skills, under the umbrella of self-advocacy, are all important valid skills. Yet many students have great difficulty mastering them because it does not help lessen their loneliness. This workshop will explore the concept of self-discovery as a process than can help a child see the possibilities in his life while learning self-advocacy skills.
We will pose a series of questions about student’s experiences in the mainstream and show how ongoing self discovery through the support of others including adults with hearing loss can lessen the experience of loneliness. I will use case studies from my work as a mainstream adjustment counselor to illustrate the experiences of the students that I try to serve.
- Newborn Hearing Screening in Utah - The Last Ten Years
- Audience: All: Anybody that is interested in how the newborn screening program works, how children that are diagnosed as deaf get referred, and improvements in the system.
- Richard S. Harward, Au.D.., CCC-A
- Dr. Harward is a licensed pediatric audiologist and is currently the Director of Utah’s legislatively mandated Newborn Hearing Screening Program. He is also the Program Manager for the Specialty Services Program, which includes Hearing, Speech, and Vision Services, Physical and Occupational Therapy Services, and the Transition Coordination program, within the Bureau of Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) at the Utah Department of Health. His background includes nearly 30 years in clinical and administrative positions at Primary Children’s Medical Center and the Utah Department of Health. He has an adjunct appointment in the Communicative Disorders Department at Utah State University, and an auxiliary faculty appointment at the University of Utah, School of Medicine. Dr. Harward and wife Martha (a special education teacher) are the parents of an adult daughter (Mandy) who has a profound hearing loss and was diagnosed at 18 months.
- It has been ten years since the Utah legislature mandated newborn
hearing screening. Over 95% of newborns now have their hearing checked
at birth. This session will describe the changes in the past 10 years
and the continuing obstacles and successes of the newborn hearing
screening program in Utah.
- Beyond the Booth: Audiology for the Real World
- Audience: All
- Cache Pitt, M.S., CCC-A, Audiologist
- Cache Pitt is currently employed at
Utah State University where he is a clinical assistant professor of
audiology. Dr. Pitt received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees
from the University of Wyoming and his Doctor of Audiology from PCO,
school of Audiology. He was trained in cochlear implants and pediatric
audiology at the California Ear Institute in Palo Alto, California.
He has been a part of many investigational trials in cochlear implant
technology and routinely lectures on cochlear implants and pediatric
audiology. Dr. Pitt has participated in several humanitarian missions
to provide cochlear implant education and training. His professional
interests lay in cochlear implant successful outcomes.
- Living, Learning & Listening: Language Development - Morning, Noon & Night!
- Audience: Primarily parents and teachers/therapists.
- K. Todd Houston, PhD, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT
- Dr.
K. Todd Houston is an Assistant Professor of Speech-Language Pathology
in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at Utah
State University where he continues to develop auditory-based intervention
and educational opportunities for children with hearing loss who are
acquiring spoken language. He also serves as Director of the Graduate
Studies Program in Auditory Learning and Spoken Language, an innovative
personnel preparation program for graduate students in Speech-Language
Pathology, Audiology, and Deaf Education. Prior to joining the faculty
at Utah State University, Dr. Houston was the Executive Director and
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Alexander Graham Bell Association
for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell), located in Washington, DC.
- Parents and caregivers of children with hearing loss often ponder how to integrate speech, language, and listening goals into their child’s and family’s daily routines. The development of communication skills occur most naturally in everyday situations that are meaningful to the child. Maximizing these “teachable moments” throughout the day can greatly enhance any child’s language growth. During this presentation, attendees will learn how to target developmentally appropriate goals during activities that occur daily within the home, such as eating, getting dressed, bath time, feeding the pet, and helping Mom and Dad with the chores around the house.
- Teen Panel
