1 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:55,380 Aye, staff. 2 00:00:59,470 --> 00:01:16,130 Me, staff, or staff Morgan? You. Sorry, I didn't realize that I had a sign in. They were making it and I, I couldn't remember my password. So, then I had to look it up and then I had to wait for a code. So sorry, guys, that's on me. New system here. 3 00:01:24,430 --> 00:01:26,070 I was just looking to see. 4 00:01:28,090 --> 00:01:33,570 Oh, there's Ashley and she's in charge today. Morning. 5 00:01:34,630 --> 00:01:41,610 Hi, this is Carl. Just so you know, it didn't require a pass code. It told me it was going to require one in Christa's reminder. 6 00:01:42,030 --> 00:01:46,170 And so I went and found it and then it didn't ask for it. So I don't know. 7 00:01:54,630 --> 00:01:56,070 Was that the case for everybody? 8 00:01:58,490 --> 00:02:00,170 Yep. Same. 9 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:08,460 It's just monitoring the Department of Health employees to make sure they don't get in too easy. 10 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:16,940 Well, are we ready for me to begin or should I wait a minute still? 11 00:02:22,260 --> 00:02:23,820 I think we can probably go ahead. 12 00:02:24,380 --> 00:02:25,380 Hey, great. 13 00:02:26,380 --> 00:02:32,840 We'd like to welcome everyone to the August 11th to 2026 Newborn Hearing Screening Advisory 14 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:33,760 Committee meeting. 15 00:02:34,260 --> 00:02:40,080 I am Ashley Sorensen, I'm co-chairperson of this committee, I'm also the parent of a 16 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:46,580 DHH Child and I'm an Eddie Parent Consultant and I would like to call this meeting to order. 17 00:02:47,540 --> 00:02:54,160 It is now 9.05 a.m. on August 11th, 2026. 18 00:02:55,220 --> 00:03:05,600 This meeting is being held virtually by Zoom with an anchor location of 195 North, 1450 19 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:14,300 West, room number 3032, in Salt Lake City, Utah, 84116. 20 00:03:16,670 --> 00:03:18,650 In compliance with Utah's 21 00:03:18,650 --> 00:03:25,690 open meeting laws, this meeting is being recorded in its entirety. This recording 22 00:03:25,690 --> 00:03:33,430 is classified as public record. The following individuals are in attendance. 23 00:03:33,430 --> 00:03:36,030 Chris, are you able to help me with that? 24 00:03:36,450 --> 00:03:37,250 Yep, I can do that. 25 00:03:37,490 --> 00:03:37,870 Thank you. 26 00:03:38,830 --> 00:03:40,430 Uh, Christopher Badger and myself. 27 00:03:41,030 --> 00:03:48,970 Stephanie McZicker, Carl White, Ashley Swanson, Alexis Wait, Annette Stewart, ASL interpreter 28 00:03:48,970 --> 00:03:56,990 D.D., Aubrey Ogden, Brittany Chandler, Erin Zinkin, Farah Bitter, Holly E. Zell, Jacinda 29 00:03:56,990 --> 00:04:05,370 Merrill, Jennifer Jackson, Kevin Baird, Lara Wait, Max Citesinger, Nicole Pilling, Sarah Williams, 30 00:04:06,010 --> 00:04:11,110 Sarah Cordingly, Stephanie Morgan, Tanya Paxton, and Todd Hussman. 31 00:04:12,630 --> 00:04:19,030 Great. Thank you, Chris. And we welcome any visitors or interested persons at this time. 32 00:04:19,770 --> 00:04:23,710 Are there any that we need to introduce? No. 33 00:04:25,350 --> 00:04:31,390 Okay. As a courtesy to everyone participating in this meeting, at this time, we do ask for 34 00:04:31,390 --> 00:04:38,410 all cell phones, pages, and other electronic devices to be turned off or changed to silent 35 00:04:38,410 --> 00:04:44,950 mode. Please keep your microphones on mute, and if you wish to speak, go to the Zoom toolbar 36 00:04:45,330 --> 00:04:53,030 where it says reactions and press raise hand. Committee motions and votes will be recorded 37 00:04:53,030 --> 00:04:56,550 in the minutes and we will now proceed with the agenda. 38 00:04:57,570 --> 00:05:00,670 We sent out the May 12th, 2026 minutes. 39 00:05:01,630 --> 00:05:03,850 Is there a motion to approve the minutes? 40 00:05:08,390 --> 00:05:11,070 This is Carl White, I'll make a motion to approve them. 41 00:05:11,710 --> 00:05:13,770 Thank you, Carl. And a second. 42 00:05:15,170 --> 00:05:16,990 This is on your text in a second. 43 00:05:17,610 --> 00:05:19,570 Okay. Thank you both. 44 00:05:20,670 --> 00:05:24,390 The minutes for May 12th, 2026 meeting are approved. 45 00:05:25,090 --> 00:05:27,110 Does anyone have any public comment, 46 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:31,360 okay? 47 00:05:32,500 --> 00:05:38,000 Moving on to membership, we have one new committee member whose name is Dory Noll. 48 00:05:38,540 --> 00:05:43,580 Unfortunately, Dory is sick today, so we'll have to have her introduce herself another 49 00:05:43,580 --> 00:05:44,080 time. 50 00:05:45,180 --> 00:05:49,800 And we still have open seats for a family physician and a public health nurse. 51 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:53,900 So if you have anyone for either of those, please let us know. 52 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:03,800 and now, let's see, next we would like to turn the time over to Sarah Williams from the Disability 53 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:10,520 Law Center who is going to share with us about a language and communication plan project she has 54 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:16,140 been working on and I'll just real quick say that Aubrey and I as parent consultant and Eddie have 55 00:06:16,140 --> 00:06:22,520 gotten to work some with Sarah already a bit and she is awesome and so we're excited to hear from her 56 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:22,760 today. 57 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:30,440 Great. Hi. Thank you so much for that introduction. It's been great to work with both of you as well 58 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:36,720 and I was really excited when I was invited to present today with this group. I know there's just 59 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:43,120 decades of experience and perspectives and I hope that I can contribute something meaningful. So 60 00:06:43,660 --> 00:06:49,200 I do have a presentation I'll share in a minute. It's going to go over that language and communication 61 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:54,260 plan project, but it's also just going to do, we're going to kind of have an overview of 62 00:06:55,260 --> 00:07:01,220 the federal laws that are behind the language and communication plans. So just double checking, 63 00:07:01,580 --> 00:07:08,620 do I have about 50 minutes an hour? Is that still a good amount of time? Okay. All right, 64 00:07:08,740 --> 00:07:10,540 sounds good. I'm going to see if I can share my screen. 65 00:07:17,670 --> 00:07:21,730 Okay. Let me know if you can see 66 00:07:24,580 --> 00:07:26,880 that slide and not my slide notes. 67 00:07:27,060 --> 00:07:28,020 We can read it. 68 00:07:28,580 --> 00:07:28,780 Great. 69 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:30,800 Okay. 70 00:07:33,730 --> 00:07:34,210 All right. 71 00:07:34,750 --> 00:07:38,770 So I'll just start with a brief introduction. 72 00:07:39,190 --> 00:07:43,190 So like was mentioned, I am at the Disability Law Center 73 00:07:43,190 --> 00:07:45,290 and I'm an equal justice works fellow there. 74 00:07:45,450 --> 00:07:47,830 So we'll kind of explain both parts of that. 75 00:07:48,430 --> 00:07:50,590 Starting with the Disability Law Center. 76 00:07:50,810 --> 00:07:53,270 So if you're not familiar with the DLC, 77 00:07:54,090 --> 00:08:02,510 We are Utah's protection and advocacy agency for individuals with disabilities and a little 78 00:08:02,510 --> 00:08:03,350 bit of background there. 79 00:08:03,570 --> 00:08:12,250 Every state has a P&A designated by federal law requires that every state have a P&A. 80 00:08:12,790 --> 00:08:21,350 And then each state designates a nonprofit agency or law firm to serve as that P&A. 81 00:08:21,350 --> 00:08:28,310 So ever since that law was put into place, it's been the DLC, and we're coming up on 50 years. 82 00:08:29,190 --> 00:08:37,450 So the DLC is kind of the enforcement for a lot of those federal civil rights and disability-related laws. 83 00:08:37,970 --> 00:08:47,110 So there's lots of different focus areas that I've listed here, and they are hosting me for two years as an equal justice works fellow. 84 00:08:47,110 --> 00:08:53,590 So that is a nationwide fellowship, like I mentioned, two years that allows the fellow 85 00:08:53,590 --> 00:09:00,970 to design a legal project designed to focus on kind of an underserved population. 86 00:09:01,850 --> 00:09:06,630 So I designed my project to focus on deaf and hard-of-hearing children. 87 00:09:07,170 --> 00:09:15,310 I started last September, right after Labor Day, so I'm coming up on one year and my overarching 88 00:09:15,310 --> 00:09:28,510 One sentence mission statement would be that the project is designed to ensure that every deaf and hard of hearing child in Utah can fully access and fully participate in their educational setting. 89 00:09:29,330 --> 00:09:35,750 So I've been working on that through I would summarize it in four different approaches. 90 00:09:36,810 --> 00:09:42,830 Obviously, there is the individual representation piece, working with parents, families, one-on-one 91 00:09:42,830 --> 00:09:48,310 through different administrative processes, IEP meetings, all of those kinds of things. 92 00:09:48,830 --> 00:09:55,230 There is the policy piece, which is where that language and communication plan comes into 93 00:09:55,230 --> 00:09:55,530 play. 94 00:09:55,770 --> 00:09:57,030 That's been a huge focus. 95 00:09:57,030 --> 00:10:06,190 And then there's just outreach, education, traveling around Utah, kind of seeing how services 96 00:10:06,190 --> 00:10:12,450 are provided in different regions of the state, and then of course having workshops and presentations 97 00:10:12,450 --> 00:10:13,130 where I can. 98 00:10:13,270 --> 00:10:17,630 And then the last piece, which I've been really working on this summer, is the self-advocacy 99 00:10:18,710 --> 00:10:25,710 materials piece that I, it's so important to me, it really drives the rest of the project 100 00:10:25,710 --> 00:10:29,610 to ensure that parents and families understand these rights, 101 00:10:29,710 --> 00:10:35,130 because they'll be with that child throughout their whole journey, 102 00:10:35,350 --> 00:10:38,810 educational journey, and much longer than I will be doing this fellowship. 103 00:10:39,570 --> 00:10:44,450 So that's a little bit about the Equal Justice Works project that I'm doing, 104 00:10:44,970 --> 00:10:46,530 and a little bit about the DLC. 105 00:10:47,190 --> 00:10:50,430 So it's kind of been like a little bit of a sprint. 106 00:10:50,930 --> 00:10:54,770 I get two years to really focus on this niche area 107 00:10:54,770 --> 00:10:59,910 and I've loved it. It's just been fantastic and I've met the greatest people over doing it. 108 00:11:01,530 --> 00:11:13,010 So, with that, oh, a tiny bit more just about why this project. I won't go into all of these 109 00:11:13,010 --> 00:11:21,050 different experiences, but these are some of the places that have really shaped this project. 110 00:11:21,050 --> 00:11:28,510 but probably the most impactful was my time at the Texas School for the Deaf. I just worked 111 00:11:28,510 --> 00:11:35,410 there for one summer. I went to the University of Texas hook-um, if anyone here, is also 112 00:11:35,410 --> 00:11:42,110 a longhorn. And the Texas School for the Deaf kind of like Utah, they do a summer program 113 00:11:42,110 --> 00:11:49,010 and it's for open to any Deaf and hard of hearing children, child across the state. They can come 114 00:11:49,010 --> 00:11:54,610 and do science camp, driver's ed camp. They have lots of different programs, regardless 115 00:11:54,610 --> 00:12:02,810 of your communication modality, regardless of pretty much anything other than being 116 00:12:02,810 --> 00:12:09,990 deaf or hard of hearing. So my job was to be a communication specialist and that just meant 117 00:12:09,990 --> 00:12:15,850 that I connected those hard of hearing students who didn't sign with those deaf students who 118 00:12:15,850 --> 00:12:21,870 only signed and all of the in-between there and just facilitated connections and friendships, 119 00:12:22,190 --> 00:12:32,290 and it was very impactful to me to see the variance in social abilities, academic levels across 120 00:12:32,290 --> 00:12:38,670 a group that was all the same grade level, and what struck me was how much that depended on the 121 00:12:38,670 --> 00:12:47,230 resources of that child's home school district. And so trying to ensure, as I'm doing this project 122 00:12:47,230 --> 00:12:56,430 now, trying to raise that equity in the services that these students can get wherever they are going 123 00:12:56,430 --> 00:13:05,270 to school, whatever district they're in. My project is not focused on any or promote any one type 124 00:13:05,270 --> 00:13:14,030 of modality or communication or language, communication method or language, but I love the 125 00:13:14,030 --> 00:13:22,390 ADA where it just requires effective communication. That's the focus. So, okay, enough about me. 126 00:13:23,370 --> 00:13:29,610 Like I mentioned, we're just going to go over some of these federal laws. The big three that 127 00:13:29,610 --> 00:13:35,150 overlap and are the foundation for deaf and hard of hearing children in schools 128 00:13:35,150 --> 00:13:41,050 and then I will get to those language and communication plans. So let's just 129 00:13:41,050 --> 00:13:48,650 start with these introducing these three laws. Section 504, the Rehabilitation 130 00:13:48,650 --> 00:13:53,290 Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is often forgotten in schools I 131 00:13:53,290 --> 00:13:59,290 found and the individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I don't know if this 132 00:13:59,290 --> 00:14:06,030 This is a very competitive bunch, but I just, I want to know just your familiarity with 133 00:14:06,030 --> 00:14:09,290 these laws, and so I have just a little pop quiz. 134 00:14:10,050 --> 00:14:17,070 If you guys would be so kind as to use the chat, let's see if I can, I don't know if 135 00:14:17,070 --> 00:14:22,970 I can see the chat right now because I have all of this other stuff up, but I just want, 136 00:14:22,970 --> 00:14:30,810 I have like five questions and want to know just your familiarity and comfort levels and they're they're not crazy 137 00:14:30,810 --> 00:14:38,310 There's no prize. So if you want to just throw and wait the answer is go for it in the chat. I don't even think I can see it 138 00:14:38,310 --> 00:14:39,710 So, okay 139 00:14:40,870 --> 00:14:48,590 Which law was specifically created to govern special education start with just nice and easy one? 140 00:14:54,250 --> 00:14:56,670 Okay, well, I really can't see the chat. So 141 00:14:57,450 --> 00:14:58,390 Um... 142 00:14:58,390 --> 00:14:58,670 I... 143 00:14:59,260 --> 00:14:59,970 I guess... 144 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:11,200 But you know, we're getting I-A-D-E-A. That is correct. So, okay, which two are primarily civil rights laws? 145 00:15:19,670 --> 00:15:37,390 Got. Responses coming in. ADA and 504. And ADA. That's correct. ADA and 504. Do we have anyone who wants to try to order these laws from 146 00:15:37,390 --> 00:15:43,590 oldest to newest for us, which was passed first, second, and then third. 147 00:16:01,410 --> 00:16:10,770 So we've got a couple coming in, ADA, 504, IDEA. Carl says 504 was the oldest, then IDEA, 148 00:16:11,030 --> 00:16:21,890 and then ADA. Carl, you got it. That's absolutely correct. 504, 1973, IDEA. Well, it was IDEA's predecessor 149 00:16:21,890 --> 00:16:28,090 or education for all handicap children act 1975 that later became IDEA and then the ADA was 150 00:16:28,090 --> 00:16:36,190 passed in 1990. That one it feels a little less intuitive to me but that is that order. Which law 151 00:16:36,190 --> 00:16:41,590 or laws require a free appropriate public education or a fake? 152 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:50,380 We're getting lots of IDEA. 153 00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:03,400 IDEA and actually Section 504 require our FAPE. That one's a little bit tricky. People often forget 154 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,920 about that. With Section 504, we'll talk about that a little bit later. And then last question, 155 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:16,240 if a child doesn't qualify for special education, which law or laws may apply still? 156 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:17,220 So 157 00:17:26,500 --> 00:17:31,860 we're getting 504 and ADA, 504, 504, ADA? 158 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,360 Great, that's absolutely correct. 159 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:37,460 Okay, good job everyone. 160 00:17:39,180 --> 00:17:45,080 Yeah, those are, we'll kind of go more in depth on all of that in a little bit here, 161 00:17:45,100 --> 00:17:48,280 but just to kind of get you warmed up. 162 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:55,080 So we'll start with the ADA Insection 504, the Civil Rights Laws, as you all correctly 163 00:17:55,080 --> 00:18:00,780 identified, helping, at least for me, understanding a little bit of the history behind these 164 00:18:00,780 --> 00:18:04,600 laws really helps solidify kind of their place in my mind. 165 00:18:04,820 --> 00:18:07,760 So we're going to briefly just touch on some history here. 166 00:18:07,900 --> 00:18:13,240 So if you think back to the Civil Rights Era, Martin Luther King, Jr., a hallmark of that 167 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:23,840 era was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And Title 7 of that act, it prohibited employment discrimination 168 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:31,840 on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. But we're missing a really 169 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:41,020 important category. Disability was not a protected class in this Civil Rights Act. So various disability 170 00:18:41,020 --> 00:18:57,360 community's rally together, and in 1973 we had the Rehabilitation Act passed, which Section 504 of that Act prohibited disability discrimination in all programs receiving federal funding. 171 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:09,300 So the focus was on equal access to government programs or programs that the government pays for, and that was pretty landmark legislation. 172 00:19:09,300 --> 00:19:16,780 but it was expanded even more so in 1990 with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 173 00:19:17,620 --> 00:19:25,580 It is interesting the ADA focuses on equal opportunity, which is different than equal access 174 00:19:25,580 --> 00:19:35,580 in some interesting ways, but the ADA applies to more institutions 175 00:19:35,580 --> 00:19:42,180 that public and private. So it broadens these protections. You have Title One for employment. 176 00:19:42,460 --> 00:19:48,400 Title Two covers public entities like schools. We'll talk about Title Three's private commercial 177 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:54,840 entities. Title Four is telecommunications. If you're thinking about video relay services or 178 00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:04,080 I'm blanking on the phone, the TCC or anyways. And then Title Five is miscellaneous. But 179 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,720 But both of these apply to schools. 180 00:20:07,340 --> 00:20:13,000 The main takeaway I want you to remember here is that these laws, ADA and 504, are fundamentally 181 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,600 the product of the civil rights movement. 182 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:21,020 They are fundamentally anti-discrimination laws, anti-segregation laws. 183 00:20:22,060 --> 00:20:27,360 This is rooted in the 14th Amendment, equal protection under the law. 184 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:33,180 So deaf and hard of hearing children have the right to participate in and receive all the 185 00:20:33,180 --> 00:20:42,700 benefits of programs, services, and activities of these public private entities, and so that 186 00:20:42,700 --> 00:20:44,300 equal opportunities really emphasized. 187 00:20:45,140 --> 00:20:47,040 And here this is just a picture of the capital crawl. 188 00:20:47,300 --> 00:20:56,200 If you are not familiar with this amazing civil protest, you should definitely look that up. 189 00:20:57,140 --> 00:21:06,400 The IDEA passed in 1975 is our special education law, so I think that the roots of this are 190 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:07,760 very interesting as well. 191 00:21:09,260 --> 00:21:16,620 This, as I'm sure you all are very well aware, the IDEA focuses on each individual child 192 00:21:16,620 --> 00:21:20,180 and making sure they can make appropriate progress in their circumstances. 193 00:21:21,100 --> 00:21:27,420 So it is grounded in that same idea of equal protection under the law, but it also has 194 00:21:27,420 --> 00:21:35,420 really strong roots in the promise of due process that's found in the 14th and 5th amendments. 195 00:21:35,900 --> 00:21:42,900 So due process is this idea that you should have a fair opportunity to defend your interests 196 00:21:42,900 --> 00:21:45,460 when the government tries to take an action against you. 197 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:54,620 So, think about, like, I think the easiest example is a criminal trial, right? 198 00:21:55,620 --> 00:22:02,740 You know, the government, we really value life, liberty, property, these fundamental freedoms. 199 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:09,880 And so if the government is going to take away your freedom, perhaps put you in prison or jail, 200 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:16,800 then there is lots of procedures and rules that the court must work through before they can 201 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:28,320 take that freedom away from you. So with special education, as you know, it's very procedural. 202 00:22:28,980 --> 00:22:33,380 There's lots of procedural safeguards and things that schools have to make sure they're doing 203 00:22:33,380 --> 00:22:41,200 properly to ensure that a child can't just be excluded or denied of an education because 204 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:49,440 that's exactly what was happening in this case was the case that essentially propelled 205 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:56,620 Congress to ultimately pass the IDEA so children were being denied or kicked out of schools 206 00:22:56,620 --> 00:23:04,820 because their disabilities were considered too severe, things like that, and so essentially 207 00:23:04,820 --> 00:23:11,180 that's the background for IDEA focuses more so on each individual child. 208 00:23:12,060 --> 00:23:20,660 So going to FAPE, a lot of you know FAPE, a free appropriate public education, is the promise 209 00:23:20,660 --> 00:23:30,440 of the IDEA, every child, every eligible child is entitled to that fake. But it's also something 210 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:38,080 that is part of Section 504. The confusing thing is that in it says it's called FAPE, under Section 504 as well, 211 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:45,220 however there are different standards of FAPE depending on what you're talking about, so I'll put both 212 00:23:45,220 --> 00:23:51,240 of them up here. One, under, I guess, and the reason I set it up with the history 213 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:57,600 first is to kind of shed some light on this. The way I like to think about it is with 214 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:03,200 the IDEA, we're looking inward, we're looking at that child, are they making appropriate 215 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:09,600 progress based on their unique needs and circumstances, whereas with 504, we're looking side to side. 216 00:24:10,700 --> 00:24:20,500 is my child's with the disability, is the school addressing his or her needs as well as they're addressing the non-disabled peers' needs. 217 00:24:21,420 --> 00:24:26,760 So it's that civil rights and equality that comparison. 218 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:33,600 And the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn't specifically address schools. 219 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,160 It doesn't like have specific provisions for public schools. 220 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:43,980 it applies to all of them, but it doesn't discuss fate, but it does use that same comparative 221 00:24:43,980 --> 00:24:48,420 analysis like Section 504 due to that Civil Rights Foundation. 222 00:24:48,820 --> 00:24:54,380 So I will touch briefly on the specific provisions in these laws for deaf and hard of hearing 223 00:24:54,380 --> 00:24:54,720 children. 224 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:59,880 I'm sure you're also all very aware, so we do have, under the special factors section of 225 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:04,340 the IEP, those factors for a deaf and hard of hearing children. 226 00:25:04,340 --> 00:25:14,340 these four listed here and then under and I'm not going to go too much into those 227 00:25:14,340 --> 00:25:19,820 because we will talk about them in a minute more with the language and 228 00:25:19,820 --> 00:25:23,720 communication plans but those are specifically for the deaf and hard of hearing 229 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:30,760 children at schools that are eligible for an IEP and then here we have three very 230 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:37,460 very important principles found in the ADA that apply to deaf and hard of hearing children, 231 00:25:37,740 --> 00:25:39,960 whether they're on an IEP or not. 232 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:50,460 So, under the ADA, effective communication requires that the childs can understand others 233 00:25:50,460 --> 00:25:56,400 and can be understood well enough that they have the same opportunities as their classmates 234 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:56,920 at school. 235 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,820 So there's the receptive communication piece 236 00:26:00,820 --> 00:26:03,380 and the expressive communication piece of that. 237 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,300 So when you have effective receptive communication, 238 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,680 that student can understand multi-step directions. 239 00:26:11,300 --> 00:26:14,900 They can follow classroom discussions, process the lectures, 240 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,620 understand facial expressions, tone, body language, 241 00:26:18,660 --> 00:26:22,520 and participate in conversations with their peers and the teacher. 242 00:26:23,220 --> 00:26:25,940 And then when that expressive communication is effective, 243 00:26:25,940 --> 00:26:29,920 the students can ask questions when they're confused they can contribute to 244 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:34,840 class discussions, interact with friends and peers, advocate for themselves and 245 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:40,840 show what they know. And these, of course, are not just for classroom settings 246 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:47,700 but extend to the full school day field trips, sports clubs, assemblies, lunchtime, 247 00:26:48,220 --> 00:26:52,940 all school activities. And then primary consideration is also a really 248 00:26:52,940 --> 00:26:58,780 important piece. So when deciding which communication support to provide the child, 249 00:26:59,460 --> 00:27:04,180 schools have to give primary consideration or a very strong weight to 250 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:15,520 parent and child's preference. So most of the time, if you have expressed a specific preference, 251 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:20,580 the school should, and we're talking about public schools, they should honor that preference. 252 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:27,100 they can refuse to in certain situations if it's extremely expensive and the district 253 00:27:27,100 --> 00:27:32,600 looks at all their money, if having that specific support would fundamentally change the 254 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:38,480 whole program or more common if another option would work just as effectively for that child 255 00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:45,640 and they have to look at, you know, complexity of the conversation up play, you know, the 256 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:50,160 length of the conversation taking place, there's a lot of different things they need to think 257 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:54,160 about when determining if this other support would work just as well. 258 00:27:54,900 --> 00:27:59,400 And then auxiliary aids and services, ADA just goes into quite a bit of what may be 259 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:05,220 considered auxiliary aid or service interpreters have to be qualified, and there's some specific 260 00:28:05,220 --> 00:28:08,200 requirements if you're using video relay interpreters, things like that. 261 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:13,440 So here it is on one slide, kind of the specific deaf and hard of hearing provisions. 262 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:20,140 So moving now to the language and communication plans, I think I'm going to set the state 263 00:28:20,140 --> 00:28:24,140 by just talking about the current process of how things are working in Utah 264 00:28:24,140 --> 00:28:26,960 and what's changed recently as well. So, 265 00:28:29,300 --> 00:28:33,960 those I-I-D-E-A special factors we just talked about, 266 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,460 those are required for the team to 267 00:28:38,060 --> 00:28:43,180 in theory discuss. So, on IEP forms in Utah, 268 00:28:43,940 --> 00:28:47,140 it's formatted like this. Typically, it will say, 269 00:28:47,140 --> 00:28:54,540 will state those for those for required pieces and then there'll be a check box either 270 00:28:54,540 --> 00:28:58,860 the child doesn't have communication needs or the child does and they were addressed 271 00:28:58,860 --> 00:29:06,020 in the AEP. Where or how or by who or when it doesn't really say and we just check 272 00:29:06,020 --> 00:29:14,540 that box and then we're in compliance. And then those ADA factors are special considerations. 273 00:29:15,260 --> 00:29:19,240 they are not operationalized anywhere. 274 00:29:20,540 --> 00:29:24,540 It's up to parents or the school to know 275 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:27,760 if you're a parent and you know about that, that's great. 276 00:29:27,940 --> 00:29:32,340 And you can bring that up at your meeting if you feel like that's relevant. 277 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,160 And if not, then hopefully the school will bring it up. 278 00:29:35,220 --> 00:29:39,120 But there's no formal formality for that. 279 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:44,060 Typically because Section 504 and ADA are quite similar in most regards, 280 00:29:44,060 --> 00:29:49,200 except for Section 504, it doesn't have this effective communication piece. 281 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:54,860 Typically accommodations will be written into like a 504 plan if the cell is not an IEP 282 00:29:54,860 --> 00:29:59,640 and then they might include some of those accommodations that the ADA would require. 283 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:00,160 There. 284 00:30:02,740 --> 00:30:09,940 So, that's the current process. What I see often in IEP meetings is, you know, when 285 00:30:09,940 --> 00:30:16,980 we have a deaf or hard of hearing child, the IEP team can get quite large for these students. 286 00:30:17,700 --> 00:30:24,880 This is an example of who may be present. The agenda teacher, special education teacher, 287 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:31,640 you have your principal. There may be an audiologist, a teacher of the deaf, SLP, your interpreters. 288 00:30:31,980 --> 00:30:38,940 So it can get quite large. What I often see is because you have various service providers, 289 00:30:38,940 --> 00:30:47,040 they'll each kind of say their piece, share their data, and then they may be excused. They may say, 290 00:30:47,380 --> 00:30:53,240 but they kind of say their piece and then they're done. So there's a lot of work happening in silos, 291 00:30:53,240 --> 00:31:00,400 and we don't often get the full picture of that child's communication and 292 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:06,460 language where they're at. Often times I see that with, you know, the audiologist 293 00:31:06,460 --> 00:31:13,660 and the speech language pathologist. One focuses a lot more, not exclusively, but a 294 00:31:13,660 --> 00:31:19,680 lot more on that expressive piece, the speech, right, and the audiologist focuses a 295 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:25,840 bit more on that receptive and so but and they work there so but there's sometimes just 296 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:33,020 siloed and so they don't often work together as well as you might hope. And so the other 297 00:31:33,020 --> 00:31:40,960 piece that I think is really important to note is some recent changes in policy and legislation. 298 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:47,720 So up to last year, are Utah schools for the deaf and blind? 299 00:31:48,180 --> 00:31:53,480 They were providing services across the state for deaf and hard of hearing students. 300 00:31:54,020 --> 00:31:58,040 And for most districts, that was completely free of charge. 301 00:31:59,060 --> 00:32:05,920 If there was a few districts like the biggest districts in Utah would contract and pay for services, 302 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:11,640 but the majority of districts would just welcome in USDB, they would provide services, and the 303 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:18,620 district really didn't have to think too much about it. So starting as of last school year 2025 to 304 00:32:18,620 --> 00:32:29,560 2026, that changed. So now all districts in Utah must pay for every minute of services they receive 305 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:31,740 from the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind. 306 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:38,200 So, and that is a lot of, there's a lot of expertise there 307 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:40,560 that many districts they cannot find. 308 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:43,400 They could not provide that in-house. 309 00:32:44,060 --> 00:32:46,620 There are some close to Salt Lake granite. 310 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:48,840 For example, they have their own teachers at the Deaf. 311 00:32:49,820 --> 00:32:53,720 There's a few that have, they do have their own in-house providers, 312 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:55,960 but the majority cannot find that. 313 00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:01,600 this is kind of happening at the same time that we've seen in the past several years different 314 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:08,180 university programs be cut for whether that's interpretation or interpretation or teachers of 315 00:33:08,180 --> 00:33:14,720 the deaf that deaf ed piece those there's been a shortage there so a few different things are kind 316 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:25,800 of compounding to where I think there could be there's some good and some bad I think one positive 317 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:32,960 of this is that district accountability increases, right? Sometimes they just saw those children 318 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:40,920 as, oh, that's USDB's kid, that's their, that they deal with that. And now as they are paying 319 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:45,420 for all of those minutes, they're, they're thinking a little bit more about that and they're responsibility 320 00:33:45,420 --> 00:33:46,340 to provide faith. 321 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:55,760 On the downside, of course, those are cost concerns and when cost drives all the 322 00:33:55,760 --> 00:34:01,200 decisions that can be very harmful to the student. So there's some increased scrutiny there. 323 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:13,460 So and I am given the ability of my fellowship and just kind of ability to focus on this right now 324 00:34:13,460 --> 00:34:24,220 and something I am doing just out of curiosity really is monitoring those contracts from before this 325 00:34:24,220 --> 00:34:30,920 change last school year and this upcoming school year I'm interested to monitor and see how districts 326 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:37,760 change in the services that they're requesting and paying for for these students as that's now a 327 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:48,800 cost concern so okay um so now for language and communication plans what are these how do they work 328 00:34:48,800 --> 00:35:00,240 So, a language and communication plan is a document that is part of the IEP when there's 329 00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:05,520 a deaf or hard-of-hearing child, the language and communication plan would be an extension 330 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:06,420 of their IEP. 331 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:12,800 Also, language and communication plans in a few states, and what I would want for Utah 332 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:17,320 certainly is for this to also be part of 504 plans for deaf and hard-of-hearing children, 333 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:21,900 because all of that ADA foundation absolutely applies. 334 00:35:23,460 --> 00:35:26,000 So it has several different things. 335 00:35:26,820 --> 00:35:32,580 And it really, really, it is a benefit for all parties involved. 336 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:36,100 The parents and the teachers have an advocacy tool to point to. 337 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,140 It's designed to be accessible, easy to understand. 338 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:44,740 Sites the law at the bottom, so you can see why, you know, 339 00:35:44,740 --> 00:35:52,360 So this is not adding lots and lots of extra protections, but it is ensuring that the 340 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,900 floor is there and shows you where that's coming from. 341 00:35:56,500 --> 00:35:58,260 It operationalizes those laws. 342 00:35:59,060 --> 00:36:06,920 So for teachers working with children with a slow incidence disability and these districts, 343 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:12,460 maybe the teachers meeting the first deaf person they've ever met and it's the students 344 00:36:12,460 --> 00:36:13,480 sitting in front of them. 345 00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:19,080 So it's an easy-to-reference tool for teachers so that they have something to, for a daily 346 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:24,820 implementation, they can easily look out and say, okay, my closed captions are on, you 347 00:36:24,820 --> 00:36:29,340 know, when we do small groups, the child's going to be here and et cetera. 348 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:34,420 And for service providers, you'll see, I'm going to show you the language and communication 349 00:36:34,420 --> 00:36:39,940 plan how that helps service providers kind of bring their data together to develop a shared 350 00:36:39,940 --> 00:36:46,160 understanding and then for districts helping them say student focus and really have data 351 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:51,460 to back their decisions as they determine services for deaf and hard of hearing children 352 00:36:51,460 --> 00:36:57,920 that are in compliance with federal law. So this is a little bit redundant here but just to show 353 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:03,480 a little bit of the flow, the team fills out the language and communication plan. It would be 354 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:10,460 The biggest burden would be the first time you fill it out and then it is referenced 355 00:37:10,460 --> 00:37:18,680 and updated as a team after that on an annual basis or if the team has a second IEP meeting 356 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:20,960 requested by the parent, you could revisit it of course. 357 00:37:21,900 --> 00:37:29,440 So they're developing that shared understanding, increase on a daily basis, sorry, access increases 358 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:35,400 is on a daily basis with the implementation, the student and the parent engagement in 359 00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:41,660 the meetings and in the classroom at school, the parent engagement of the meeting, I see 360 00:37:41,660 --> 00:37:46,380 increasing in positive ways as they're able to articulate better their child's needs 361 00:37:46,380 --> 00:37:53,980 and where they're at and the student, you know, these ADA and 504 protections, they are the 362 00:37:53,980 --> 00:37:59,080 The child has those their whole life, not just after, not just until they graduate. 363 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:04,260 And so if they are able to really articulate and understand why they need what they need 364 00:38:04,260 --> 00:38:10,200 and express that, I think this builds great self-advocacy skills. 365 00:38:10,940 --> 00:38:16,340 The, of course, we would, with that, improve mental health safety and belonging. 366 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:21,680 There is a safety portion of the language and communication plan you'll see to ensure 367 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:27,200 that they have access to those emergency communications and then finally literacy and language outcomes 368 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:34,040 improved. Now with that the language and communication plan is not like a reading intervention. 369 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:39,880 So this is a secondary outcome but still one we would expect to be directly correlated with 370 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:49,920 obviously an increase in access to your education. So there are 15 other states that currently require 371 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:59,880 language and communication plan. And I have talked to most of them and really gotten a sense of 372 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:07,820 what's worked well, what has been a challenge and implementation, and how they've brought this 373 00:39:07,820 --> 00:39:14,800 change about in their states. It's interesting. Some of it kind of seems like regional, it kind of 374 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:27,080 there's like a east coast and then kind of a southern and anyways but yeah so 375 00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:32,780 this is who currently requires it there's another about six six-ish states 376 00:39:32,780 --> 00:39:39,560 that have it as guidance or optional and I didn't talk to a few of those and they 377 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:44,620 said well no one ever uses it because it's not required and the parents 378 00:39:44,620 --> 00:39:51,280 don't know about it. So it's just a nice idea, but it's in these states where this is actively 379 00:39:51,820 --> 00:40:00,160 shaping conversations and changing lives for these kids. So here is a bunch of different 380 00:40:00,740 --> 00:40:04,600 states language and communication plans. I've studied and looked at them all. If any of you are 381 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:11,400 really wanting to nerd out about this, I have a 50 state survey I can share with you that has links 382 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:16,820 to all of these plans that has the states that some of them have it. The majority have it in 383 00:40:16,820 --> 00:40:23,360 statute. Some have it as regulation. You can see the language that they use to pass it. I mean, 384 00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:29,720 we can talk. We can talk a lot more if you're interested in some of that. And so I call, I've called 385 00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:37,140 this the Frankenstein plan where I've taken based on feedback from these states and from research 386 00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:39,820 the best pieces and made a model plan for Utah. 387 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:41,580 So I'm going to share that with you now. 388 00:40:42,460 --> 00:40:48,100 I am happy to send you all a copy of this after I can send that to Ashley 389 00:40:48,100 --> 00:40:50,140 and make sure she gets it out. 390 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:58,880 So it is a five page document and I'll just highlight a few pieces of each page. 391 00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:03,300 So of course there's just the background student information. 392 00:41:05,540 --> 00:41:14,940 The language communication needs portion here, it is so important, especially from what 393 00:41:14,940 --> 00:41:21,920 I've heard, so this is a great moment where the full team comes together and talks about 394 00:41:22,260 --> 00:41:27,760 how that child is actually communicating throughout their day at home during instruction and 395 00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:34,880 instructional settings. I really like it because no one person can pre-fill out this plan because 396 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:40,380 no one person is with that child the entire day. It really requires the team to come together, 397 00:41:40,500 --> 00:41:50,580 including the parents that at home piece is so important. And sometimes I think that parents 398 00:41:50,580 --> 00:41:56,520 are often overwhelmed with with different diagnoses, the medical side, the social side, you know, 399 00:41:56,520 --> 00:42:05,280 the education side and I think I've seen sometimes the temptation to hand over that authority to 400 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:13,320 experts and experts are so important but also I want to parents to feel like they're 401 00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:20,140 are a crucial piece of this because they are so that at home portion is so crucial. Then on the 402 00:42:20,140 --> 00:42:23,820 The second page it continues, this is the communication modes. 403 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:31,840 So there's a few more obviously communication modes that they would highlight to get 404 00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:33,400 a full picture of this child. 405 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:42,100 I want to talk about this question here, the first one underneath the table, what data shows 406 00:42:42,100 --> 00:42:45,420 that the students' language and communication modes are an effective way for the student 407 00:42:45,420 --> 00:42:48,580 to access information, communicate with people and participate in different settings. 408 00:42:48,580 --> 00:42:56,620 So this is kind of a larger systemic issue I'm seeing that the language and 409 00:42:56,620 --> 00:43:02,280 communication plan doesn't totally tackle, but assessments that are used to 410 00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:11,220 measure a child's language and communication. There is, I'm seeing just not 411 00:43:11,220 --> 00:43:14,900 just in Utah, but across the country as I've been searching for some 412 00:43:14,900 --> 00:43:23,800 some standardization, some what who can administer different tests, who's qualified, where 413 00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:25,040 those people are in Utah. 414 00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:32,560 This is a challenge to get good data on a student's language and communication modes. 415 00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:37,180 I'm sure many of you are actively studying and thinking about this all the time. 416 00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:40,120 I would love to talk if you have more ideas on this. 417 00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:48,600 But at the very least, this question provides a space for documentation of any test that were used or 418 00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:54,200 observations or input from team members if there weren't tests used, but at least it's 419 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:58,940 we know what we're making our decisions based off of. 420 00:44:00,380 --> 00:44:07,240 So kind of like the smallest step to a bigger systemic issue there, but 421 00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:11,860 And then this second piece, what support do family members need to communicate effectively with the student? 422 00:44:13,260 --> 00:44:17,300 I think this is important to have a little accountability moment here, too. 423 00:44:17,660 --> 00:44:22,660 If last IEP meeting, if the child primarily uses American Sign Language, 424 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:32,360 and last meeting, the family said we're going to start taking an ASL class with the Center and Center. 425 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:39,860 Then great, then this is just a follow up, okay, how is that going, what are some barriers 426 00:44:39,860 --> 00:44:40,540 to attending? 427 00:44:40,820 --> 00:44:41,240 Can we help? 428 00:44:41,420 --> 00:44:46,020 How can we support that at-home piece of the language and communication development, right? 429 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:54,080 So, okay, and then this second section where we're going through the services, hearing technology 430 00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:55,660 and visual auditory accommodations. 431 00:44:55,660 --> 00:44:59,180 So, here, um, 432 00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:15,140 You know, I have gotten feedback and I think it's valid feedback that is this duplicative? If the child has an IEP, is this duplicative of the IEP in that you, of course, are going to be writing down the services and accommodations? And the answer is yes. 433 00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:31,940 The Language and Communication Plan is designed to be the first part of the IEP meeting as it takes you through their needs where they're at the services and accommodations that they're needed because of that and then these other considerations that will have. 434 00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:41,740 It allows for focused, concentrated conversation on this language and communication piece that then when you go through the IEP later, 435 00:45:41,740 --> 00:45:51,820 It will be very, very easy and to write the rest of the IEP, but also the language and 436 00:45:51,820 --> 00:45:56,160 communication plan, as I mentioned earlier, is designed to be a very accessible, easy 437 00:45:56,160 --> 00:46:02,380 to reference tool for the teacher where they can glance at this in a moment and see what 438 00:46:02,380 --> 00:46:03,920 is needed on a day-to-day basis. 439 00:46:04,460 --> 00:46:07,600 So a little duplication, yes, but I think it's worth it. 440 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:31,300 And there's this hearing technology piece that that's applicable to the student and self advocacy here measuring how independent is that student or yeah student independence really more so then the advocacy how independent are they how can we help them with that with their technology I won't go too much into this accommodations piece you will see here. 441 00:46:31,300 --> 00:46:37,500 This is where I thought primary consideration is coming in the ADA piece there of where 442 00:46:37,500 --> 00:46:42,380 there's primarily provided based on the preference of the student with these disabilities. 443 00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:49,800 And if not, then that's going to become a conversation about an alternative that is just 444 00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:50,480 as effective. 445 00:46:51,300 --> 00:46:57,940 And then here is those considerations about direct communication and instruction with staff 446 00:46:57,940 --> 00:46:58,580 and peers. 447 00:46:59,520 --> 00:47:06,760 This is the last page here, so I think this is one of the most important, continuous communication access, 448 00:47:07,420 --> 00:47:12,520 going through the child's entire school day, so not just that instructional period, 449 00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:21,560 but the incredibly valuable peer interaction and social learning that can happen 450 00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:25,840 in lunch time, passing periods, extracurriculars. 451 00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:31,040 And then this is that safety piece. 452 00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:34,540 So some schools have 453 00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:36,840 in their language and communication plan, 454 00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:40,700 like a list that the team has to go through 455 00:47:40,700 --> 00:47:44,620 that says like, okay, so what if the teacher is absent? 456 00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:45,840 What if there's a substitute? 457 00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:49,920 What if there's what's your plan for a fire drill? 458 00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:56,340 what's your plan for an earthquake and and I thought wow that's really thorough but as I was 459 00:47:57,200 --> 00:48:03,420 I understand concerns and hesitations of school district to they see it as liability liability 460 00:48:03,420 --> 00:48:10,960 liability so what I'd seen a few other schools do that I thought was was quite good still was 461 00:48:11,480 --> 00:48:16,480 just a plan to ensure that the student can access those emergency alerts from the school 462 00:48:17,460 --> 00:48:22,640 whether that's, do we make sure that the alarm has a visual aspect to it, that the lights 463 00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:30,360 are flashing or that the student has, I know one student who has a watch that will buzz 464 00:48:30,360 --> 00:48:34,320 or vibrate or let him know if there's something happening, so are there just been considerations 465 00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:36,480 of those emergency communications. 466 00:48:37,260 --> 00:48:44,720 And then finally, this LRE piece, just ensuring that the team has discussed the full spectrum 467 00:48:44,720 --> 00:48:52,420 of placements there and if there were any issues. So it's not like you are writing the placement 468 00:48:52,420 --> 00:48:57,740 here, but you're ensuring that those thoughtful conversations happened. And then the last two 469 00:48:57,740 --> 00:49:04,800 pieces are just a glossary of terms. Again, the point is to support districts in providing 470 00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:13,320 faith that they feel like they have tools, not at all to the exclusion of USDB expertise but to support 471 00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:20,740 districts. And to support USDB really, who I'm seeing, especially in these rural districts, 472 00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:27,000 are stretched so thin. There's one teacher of the deaf I saw that covers five districts. 473 00:49:27,480 --> 00:49:35,000 And maybe she has a small caseload, but she's driving day after day, and oftentimes what I'm 474 00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:44,560 seen is when children then are put on 504 plans, the teachers of the deaf, they are they prioritize 475 00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:51,480 other students more so and the districts don't have the tools to potentially support those 476 00:49:51,480 --> 00:49:58,220 on 504 plans or know how to do that. So the glossaries, just those terms that were highlighted in blue, 477 00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:03,900 you can click on those links and they'll take you to the glossary term. So there's that understanding. 478 00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:10,840 So right now, I'll just close by saying a very recent update on this. As of Friday, 479 00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:22,100 there was a Utah State Board of Education meeting and the board voted on a opt-in pilot program 480 00:50:22,100 --> 00:50:28,660 for these language and communication plans, and they unanimously passed that proposal. So this 481 00:50:28,660 --> 00:50:35,120 This is after nine months of working through advisory councils and talking to different 482 00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:35,660 stakeholders. 483 00:50:36,340 --> 00:50:40,220 We have a really great coalition of parents that has helped. 484 00:50:40,380 --> 00:50:48,180 If you want to go, I would encourage you to go listen to on August 7th, Friday 1-130. 485 00:50:48,420 --> 00:50:50,380 This is on their USBE YouTube. 486 00:50:50,420 --> 00:50:55,240 You can go and listen to the public comments that were given in support of this on Friday 487 00:50:55,240 --> 00:50:55,660 and there. 488 00:50:55,660 --> 00:51:04,580 I think it will really get a good sense of why families are fighting for this and really 489 00:51:04,580 --> 00:51:07,600 supporting this across Utah. 490 00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:09,660 So I'm quite excited about that. 491 00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:18,740 I think my focus now is again on that parent education piece and showing them how these can 492 00:51:18,740 --> 00:51:19,440 be a tool. 493 00:51:20,300 --> 00:51:25,260 There are some districts that have already committed to piloting. 494 00:51:25,580 --> 00:51:30,040 There are many more districts that have expressed an interest in doing this, and I believe 495 00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:36,520 Dr. Leah Voorhees will be presenting to them probably around September to give more information 496 00:51:36,520 --> 00:51:41,380 and to kind of explain more of how the pilot will work, and so we expect more will opt in 497 00:51:41,380 --> 00:51:41,920 after that. 498 00:51:41,920 --> 00:52:03,220 And then even for districts who don't opt in, if parents want to bring this to a meeting and ask their team to use that, we've, there's was a mother who did that in Southern Utah and had great results with her team voluntarily considering using this. 499 00:52:03,220 --> 00:52:08,920 And so, um, and there are a few questions in the chat. 500 00:52:09,560 --> 00:52:09,800 Okay. 501 00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:16,640 Sally Ormsby is asking, do charter schools have to follow 504 ADA and IDEA guidelines? 502 00:52:17,620 --> 00:52:18,000 Okay. 503 00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:21,360 So, I'm not an expert on charter schools. 504 00:52:21,720 --> 00:52:28,960 I do know that ADA definitely applies to public charter schools, private schools. 505 00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:32,500 It depends on if they're religiously affiliated. 506 00:52:33,460 --> 00:52:38,540 Five or four, it's always going to be if they are receiving federal funding or not. 507 00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:44,480 Most charters do, as my understanding, so that would apply to charters. 508 00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:52,460 The IDEA and charter schools, I can't confidently answer that question. 509 00:52:52,660 --> 00:52:57,480 I can definitely look into that and get back to you, but my gut is that, yes, this would 510 00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:03,720 apply to charters, but there may be some nuance to that that I'm not fully equipped to talk about. 511 00:53:04,460 --> 00:53:08,600 Thank you. Yeah. And we have a couple other questions here. 512 00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:13,660 Kanye is putting in our charter school had to follow the guidelines. 513 00:53:14,980 --> 00:53:22,100 That would be my, yeah. And then Shannon has, how will the opt-in work, can the school district ignore 514 00:53:22,100 --> 00:53:28,820 an opt-in? Certainly yeah a district can choose to opt out well the districts 515 00:53:28,820 --> 00:53:36,220 essentially are opted out until they opt-in so when they were this this went 516 00:53:36,220 --> 00:53:41,300 through the USDB Standing Committee before it got to the full board and 517 00:53:42,100 --> 00:53:48,660 Dr. Boer he's she sent out kind of an survey to gauge interest in this and she 518 00:53:48,660 --> 00:53:52,800 said the majority of districts were interested in having a tool like this. 519 00:53:54,920 --> 00:53:58,860 So, yes, the districts can say we're not interested in doing this. 520 00:53:58,960 --> 00:54:05,020 The idea is that we will collect data from this pilot that can be used to determine how 521 00:54:05,020 --> 00:54:10,820 effective was this or the things we can adjust and ultimately to make it a state requirement 522 00:54:10,820 --> 00:54:17,040 is certainly the goal, but wanting to, I think the pilot will reveal just a lot of good information 523 00:54:17,040 --> 00:54:20,000 as to how we want to do that and if anything needs to change. 524 00:54:20,740 --> 00:54:23,620 Okay. Then we have another question from Sara, 525 00:54:23,820 --> 00:54:29,420 cordonly, cordonely. Are there considerations for auditory processing 526 00:54:29,420 --> 00:54:33,240 disorder? She's noticed a significant decrease in the 527 00:54:33,240 --> 00:54:37,180 services since the change in USDB providing services 528 00:54:37,180 --> 00:54:42,980 that the district has to pay for. Interesting. I hadn't heard about 529 00:54:42,980 --> 00:54:48,880 decrease. When I started this project, I had never heard of APD, but I've learned a lot since 530 00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:53,480 starting. And that has been a big conversation with these language and communication plans. 531 00:54:55,220 --> 00:55:00,640 As far as the pilot goes, they, my understanding is that they're going to use 532 00:55:00,640 --> 00:55:06,640 more rigid definitions of deaf and hard of hearing. This was a conversation in some of the advisory 533 00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:15,960 councils. We saw it was it was a challenge to get this even to be considered for deaf and 534 00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:21,740 hard of hearing. And so we decided to do kind of a foot in the door approach. And our hope is that 535 00:55:21,740 --> 00:55:28,200 we'll get great results from this pilot to where it can be ultimately broadened. For example, 536 00:55:28,280 --> 00:55:36,460 to 504s. And I think APD could, I'm not an expert on APD and I've learned there's lots of 537 00:55:36,460 --> 00:55:43,140 differing opinions I think a lot of the accommodations and services certainly will benefit those APD 538 00:55:43,140 --> 00:55:49,600 kids. I also think that there may be more that the language and communication plan doesn't do that 539 00:55:49,600 --> 00:56:02,780 these APD kids need. So and the states I talked to only one state Louisiana had an LCP that was 540 00:56:02,780 --> 00:56:08,720 very broad to the point where it was for a deaf and hard of hearing children, children 541 00:56:08,720 --> 00:56:17,660 with APD, children with autism, and it was a 14-page plan to include all of those types 542 00:56:17,660 --> 00:56:24,740 of disabilities. And they passed it, but the language of the statute said, all districts 543 00:56:24,740 --> 00:56:31,120 must use a language and communication plan, not the one that we all created. And so, 544 00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:33,860 So, district said that is way too complicated. 545 00:56:34,360 --> 00:56:39,480 We're going to make our own two-pager, and thus a lot of the value was lost. 546 00:56:39,800 --> 00:56:44,360 They have a beautiful model plan that is inclusive and I think has the potential to help a lot 547 00:56:44,360 --> 00:56:50,000 of kids, but in practice, the districts are like, are not, are not having it. 548 00:56:50,200 --> 00:56:55,580 So, that was a long answer, but it's a complicated question, and so this is where we're starting 549 00:56:55,580 --> 00:56:57,700 is just with the deaf and hard of hearing children. 550 00:56:57,700 --> 00:57:10,620 What I've been telling parents who have children with APD is send them, send them, send them to the Disability Law Center and we will work on those individual cases and I think there are 551 00:57:11,700 --> 00:57:21,460 parent groups that are, it sounds like that are starting to form and I'm encouraging them to look at legislation that's happening in other states and what maybe able to be modeled in Utah. 552 00:57:21,460 --> 00:57:34,660 And I hope that the process and the path that I've used for getting these language and communication plans to where they are could be a model for other other groups if that makes sense. 553 00:57:41,830 --> 00:57:43,750 This is Stephanie McClicker. 554 00:57:45,010 --> 00:57:55,270 Thank you so much for coming here and sharing this amazing project that you have done. We're so grateful that you chose and Utah to do it in. 555 00:57:55,270 --> 00:58:01,630 I had a question, have any of the other states or jurisdictions that have utilized a language 556 00:58:01,630 --> 00:58:06,070 communication plan? Does anyone have any data that they've published that shows the efficacy 557 00:58:06,070 --> 00:58:11,210 of these that can help in terms of arguments for it? 558 00:58:12,130 --> 00:58:17,550 Yeah, that's a great question. I've asked that in my interviews and there's not anything 559 00:58:17,550 --> 00:58:24,410 perfectly polished like I would want. The closest that I've seen Connecticut is 560 00:58:24,410 --> 00:58:34,630 just, Connecticut is interesting. They, and let me see if I can, yeah I know 561 00:58:34,630 --> 00:58:42,270 I'm pretty sure this was Connecticut. So they passed theirs in 2012. They revised 562 00:58:42,270 --> 00:58:48,070 it two times since added an emergency communication plan brought in it to 563 00:58:48,070 --> 00:58:53,410 504s. They've really seen great benefits from this and actually they have a 564 00:58:53,410 --> 00:59:00,110 commission under the governor's office right now that is starting to measure or 565 00:59:00,110 --> 00:59:06,870 is trying to like now gather data from the past decade plus of using this. So I was 566 00:59:06,870 --> 00:59:14,690 in communication with Terry bettered a parent there and an attorney there who was involved 567 00:59:14,690 --> 00:59:20,650 with that and I'm waiting to hear back on what they are collecting so that's awesome. 568 00:59:21,930 --> 00:59:22,550 That's awesome. 569 00:59:22,730 --> 00:59:29,410 And can you say one more time how people on this committee if they have wished to support this 570 00:59:29,410 --> 00:59:35,850 suffered or attend any meetings or whatever, what would they do? 571 00:59:36,730 --> 00:59:46,090 Yeah, great question. So right now, there was so much effort and focus to get this through 572 00:59:46,090 --> 00:59:51,490 the state board and I'm like, wow, and now it's Tuesday and I'm like, okay, so now I think 573 00:59:51,490 --> 00:59:57,850 the focus would be to educate parents, have parents reach out to their special education 574 00:59:57,850 --> 00:59:59,730 director is not who is making these. 575 01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:05,820 These opt-in, opt-out decisions to express an interest in this, and I hope that their district 576 01:00:05,820 --> 01:00:14,760 will use it, or to at least encourage them to bring them to their IEP or 504 meetings. I am 577 01:00:15,440 --> 01:00:23,340 working on at the same time these self-advocacy resources, a video series, different kind of like 578 01:00:23,340 --> 01:00:28,080 IEP, meeting sheets, and resources like that. 579 01:00:28,360 --> 01:00:31,980 If you, my goal is to create these resources 580 01:00:31,980 --> 01:00:34,480 and then kind of just travel around Utah 581 01:00:34,480 --> 01:00:37,540 to ensure that they get into the hands of these parents. 582 01:00:37,900 --> 01:00:41,100 So reach out to me if you'd like me to do a presentation 583 01:00:42,140 --> 01:00:46,520 or speak with a special education director or a group. 584 01:00:47,740 --> 01:00:51,140 You can certainly, I mean, there's lots of those pieces 585 01:00:51,140 --> 01:00:55,820 of my project like I mentioned earlier the individual representation as well when that's needed. 586 01:00:57,760 --> 01:01:06,540 So I need to probably have a shorter answer to that but really bottom line is I am here and I have 587 01:01:06,540 --> 01:01:13,300 this funding for one more year as of September and so I just want to do as much as I can in that time. 588 01:01:13,900 --> 01:01:20,580 So if you can think of anything where I might be able to educate help or support parents and 589 01:01:20,580 --> 01:01:28,140 families just reach out. I'll make sure that my email and phone number are passed to Ashley. 590 01:01:29,300 --> 01:01:32,920 Awesome. Thank you so, so much. I think Carol has that. 591 01:01:32,920 --> 01:01:39,240 Stephanie, this is Carol White. Sarah, could you clarify just a little more for me? I think I understand 592 01:01:39,240 --> 01:01:46,400 but maybe not. So the opt-in opt-out happens at a district level, right? It's not at a parent level. 593 01:01:46,400 --> 01:01:54,540 So, if a district opted out and a parent wanted to have a communication plan, is there 594 01:01:54,540 --> 01:01:57,500 still an option for them to do that through the IEP meeting? 595 01:01:57,760 --> 01:02:01,800 Could they request that to happen even though the district has opted out? 596 01:02:02,440 --> 01:02:07,900 Yes, there's no law that says you can't use a language and communication plan. 597 01:02:09,140 --> 01:02:16,380 IEP teens may push back and say, we've never done this before, we don't want to use it. 598 01:02:18,740 --> 01:02:26,880 And responding to that, I would say, well, this is just organizing the things that the 599 01:02:26,880 --> 01:02:28,640 district is already required to do. 600 01:02:29,160 --> 01:02:30,880 Considerations are already required to make. 601 01:02:31,580 --> 01:02:37,140 So I would encourage parents to explain what this language and communication plan is. 602 01:02:37,260 --> 01:02:40,880 Well, and maybe I could draft a short letter of introduction to it or something. 603 01:02:40,880 --> 01:02:50,060 But yes, a district will essentially, all districts are opted out until they opt in. 604 01:02:51,020 --> 01:02:57,980 So there's not like a, I've opted out therefore no parents can use this, no IEP teams can use it. 605 01:02:58,320 --> 01:03:04,060 If a district opts in, my understanding is that the IEP teams then must use it for every deaf and hard of hearing child. 606 01:03:04,480 --> 01:03:09,680 But if parents know about it and they want to approach their district or their team and say, could we just try this? 607 01:03:09,680 --> 01:03:13,260 then, of course, there's nothing that says that they can't do that. 608 01:03:14,500 --> 01:03:16,380 Okay, one more question. 609 01:03:16,820 --> 01:03:21,230 So, hearing loss, 610 01:03:21,690 --> 01:03:25,510 deaf or hard of hearing children is, as you indicated, a low incidence condition. 611 01:03:27,970 --> 01:03:33,670 And there are a fair number of children who are deaf or hard of hearing, 612 01:03:34,050 --> 01:03:39,970 mostly hard of hearing, of course, who have difficulty qualifying for an IEP 613 01:03:39,970 --> 01:03:41,470 because they're doing so well. 614 01:03:42,170 --> 01:03:45,130 They often qualify for a 504 plan, 615 01:03:45,230 --> 01:03:47,670 but even there, there are many children 616 01:03:47,670 --> 01:03:49,630 who don't have 504 plans 617 01:03:49,630 --> 01:03:52,730 who would benefit from a communications plan. 618 01:03:53,250 --> 01:03:57,690 Is there an option for parents for those children 619 01:03:57,690 --> 01:04:01,370 who are not on an IEP, not on a 504 plan 620 01:04:01,690 --> 01:04:04,550 to have this communication plan 621 01:04:04,550 --> 01:04:07,230 a part of the consideration for their child's education? 622 01:04:08,410 --> 01:04:14,490 If the child is deaf or hard of hearing, I will say that the definition of disability 623 01:04:14,490 --> 01:04:18,350 for ADA in 504 is very broad, very inclusive. 624 01:04:19,030 --> 01:04:26,910 I would challenge a district's decision to not provide, at the very least, a 504 plan 625 01:04:27,430 --> 01:04:28,970 to a deaf or hard of hearing child. 626 01:04:30,830 --> 01:04:35,970 If they're needing any kind of accommodation, even sitting in the front, that's something 627 01:04:35,970 --> 01:04:40,690 that's provided to them because of Section 504 and because of the ADA. 628 01:04:41,610 --> 01:04:48,130 So I think with the pilot, the reason they didn't include 504s specifically with the pilot 629 01:04:48,130 --> 01:04:53,650 is because ADA and 504 are administered at a district level. 630 01:04:53,830 --> 01:04:59,890 There's not like statewide monitoring of that in the same way that IEPs are tied to federal 631 01:04:59,890 --> 01:05:02,530 grants and so the state has to monitor that. 632 01:05:02,530 --> 01:05:08,970 So, as far as the state administering a pilot, it's easiest to do via IEPs, but I agree 633 01:05:08,970 --> 01:05:17,470 with you, Carl, especially because I'm seeing overburdened teams just pushing these kids 634 01:05:17,470 --> 01:05:24,930 onto 504s before they're ready, and so I want them to be using the language and communication 635 01:05:24,930 --> 01:05:26,930 plans for 504 kids more than anything. 636 01:05:26,930 --> 01:05:36,710 And so, again, I would say if parents can and may require some parent education or may 637 01:05:36,710 --> 01:05:46,130 require some attorney education to just explain that these 5 or 4 and ADA rights still apply. 638 01:05:46,530 --> 01:05:52,710 And an ADA, which is, again, so overlooked in public schools, but has these effective communication 639 01:05:52,710 --> 01:05:56,690 provision and primary consideration provision. 640 01:05:58,770 --> 01:06:01,330 That's tricky in how it interacts with an 641 01:06:01,330 --> 01:06:07,470 IEP team's decision and your primary consideration, but it still exists. You still have to do it. 642 01:06:07,730 --> 01:06:17,370 So all that to say, I would challenge the idea that the child doesn't need a 504 and if they're using 643 01:06:17,370 --> 01:06:25,650 this communication plan, they are operating on ADA and 504 standards, which should apply to 644 01:06:26,290 --> 01:06:33,670 all deaf and other hearing kids. Great. I keep having one more question, so one final one. 645 01:06:35,410 --> 01:06:41,110 Everything you've talked about applies to all of Part B, right, so it's ages 3 through 21. 646 01:06:42,970 --> 01:06:48,170 As long as there's an IEP in place, then this all becomes applicable. 647 01:06:48,810 --> 01:06:52,150 What about Part C and IFSPs? 648 01:06:52,830 --> 01:06:58,150 Is there a way to do the language and communication plan with those IFSPs? 649 01:06:59,190 --> 01:07:00,350 That's a good question. 650 01:07:00,570 --> 01:07:02,270 I haven't fully thought through. 651 01:07:02,650 --> 01:07:07,990 The one thing I have thought is how valuable this would be at that first transition meeting 652 01:07:07,990 --> 01:07:17,230 involving that part C person and passing them on to the IEP team, how valuable would that be to have that 653 01:07:17,230 --> 01:07:31,190 PIP person helping fill out all of those considerations for the team to build on. I think that's where this should start at the very least with that transition meeting. 654 01:07:31,190 --> 01:07:36,790 So, as far as the zero to three in those very early years, I am not sure. 655 01:07:38,190 --> 01:07:44,150 And I would like to speak with, especially with those of you who work in that space, 656 01:07:44,290 --> 01:07:48,530 as I'm developing my educational resources for parents. 657 01:07:48,970 --> 01:07:55,390 I want to better understand all the decisions parents are navigating in those first three 658 01:07:55,390 --> 01:08:03,770 years and how to win an appropriate time to be talking about ADA, IDEA 504 and how maybe 659 01:08:03,770 --> 01:08:08,730 you all can help me in connecting parents with these resources at that early stage. 660 01:08:10,050 --> 01:08:13,470 So Coral, maybe maybe I should set something up with you, it sounds like. 661 01:08:14,950 --> 01:08:15,870 This is Stephanie. 662 01:08:16,930 --> 01:08:20,770 I met Sarah a few times and I'm really excited about all of this. 663 01:08:20,770 --> 01:08:26,510 And then recently I received an article from God, I think I can't remember. 664 01:08:26,950 --> 01:08:33,790 I was just talking about how part C could have a language plan, some sort. 665 01:08:34,710 --> 01:08:36,850 And it's a little bit more informal. 666 01:08:37,450 --> 01:08:42,210 And so I was talking to our superintendent, Michelle Tanner, about how this could help families. 667 01:08:42,950 --> 01:08:47,310 And I don't have all the puzzles in the pieces in place yet. 668 01:08:47,310 --> 01:08:50,630 but I think this could be something really beneficial 669 01:08:50,630 --> 01:08:52,670 for families when they're ready, 670 01:08:53,170 --> 01:08:57,610 and they can talk about how they include language 671 01:08:57,610 --> 01:08:59,870 and their kids like, and what does that look like? 672 01:09:00,490 --> 01:09:02,990 So I would be happy before that article on 673 01:09:02,990 --> 01:09:06,290 to this committee, we want to look at that. 674 01:09:06,950 --> 01:09:11,270 And I think there's a lot of room for discussion with this 675 01:09:11,270 --> 01:09:15,410 and how we can help these kids that are not as cool yet. 676 01:09:17,260 --> 01:09:19,700 Great. Thank you, Stephanie. That would be great. 677 01:09:23,100 --> 01:09:24,840 Carol, any more questions? 678 01:09:26,180 --> 01:09:29,040 No, but I want to say thank you for a great presentation. 679 01:09:29,900 --> 01:09:38,100 I mean, I've been dealing with 504 and IDEA and ADA for almost 50 years now, and I learned a lot. 680 01:09:38,460 --> 01:09:43,260 So thank you so much for taking time to do it and organizing it so well. 681 01:09:43,540 --> 01:09:47,100 And I think it can have huge impact for our children. Thanks. 682 01:09:49,740 --> 01:09:57,360 So I thank you too as a parent and of a child who wasn't on an IEP and now is on a 504. 683 01:09:57,600 --> 01:09:59,380 As you know, Sarah and I have had some conversations. 684 01:09:59,460 --> 01:10:02,980 This is a topic of great interest for us parents. 685 01:10:03,380 --> 01:10:06,920 So thanks again for being here and I know in the comments there's been several people 686 01:10:06,920 --> 01:10:10,740 too in the chat saying how great your presentation has been today. 687 01:10:10,940 --> 01:10:12,340 So thanks for being with us. 688 01:10:13,020 --> 01:10:17,800 Okay, because we are trying to stick to time here, we are going to keep moving on. 689 01:10:18,080 --> 01:10:23,140 We're actually going to do a quick update from Aubrey Ogden and I, the Eddie Parent Consultants. 690 01:10:23,900 --> 01:10:28,320 So I'm going to let Aubree's try to screen share here. 691 01:10:30,380 --> 01:10:30,820 Perfect. 692 01:10:35,190 --> 01:10:35,850 Let's see. 693 01:10:36,130 --> 01:10:36,930 Okay, there we go. 694 01:10:37,290 --> 01:10:42,350 All right, so we are going to, so again, Aubrey Ogden and I are the Utah Eddie Parent Consultants. 695 01:10:49,930 --> 01:10:55,370 So we just want to give you guys our brief updates since our last meeting until it's 696 01:10:55,370 --> 01:10:57,490 you know kind of how things are going on our end. 697 01:10:57,950 --> 01:11:03,470 In the month of June and July and August, you can see the number of both initial contacts 698 01:11:03,470 --> 01:11:08,450 and birthday checking calls that Aubrey and I have made to families in the state of Utah. 699 01:11:08,450 --> 01:11:17,490 So that's kind of interesting June. We had 39 calls July 34 calls. We have noticed a slight dip in August to 21 calls. 700 01:11:17,630 --> 01:11:25,870 We've been doing a little bit of kind of background search on that to try to figure out why that number if it's just summertime or what's happening with different 701 01:11:27,290 --> 01:11:37,210 providers here in the state. That's something like I said, we're looking into right now for August, but that's a great number of families that we are being able to provide outreach to right now in Utah. 702 01:11:39,660 --> 01:11:47,000 This summer, we have been really busy with activities, and we have co-hosted with PIP and 703 01:11:47,000 --> 01:11:51,680 our current volunteer network to host 17 activities throughout the state. 704 01:11:52,380 --> 01:11:58,580 These activities were field trips, ASL in the park, art in the park, carnivals at USDP 705 01:11:58,580 --> 01:12:02,700 campuses, and then play dates at families homes. 706 01:12:04,300 --> 01:12:10,900 and then we have one more activity coming up just to wrap up the summer down in Utah County 707 01:12:11,860 --> 01:12:18,760 at a splash pad on the 29th and so as you can see these are some fun pictures from the summer. 708 01:12:21,160 --> 01:12:25,620 It's been a super fun summer. I've been able to attend a few in person myself 709 01:12:27,720 --> 01:12:35,460 and then we're busy now with connecting with PIP to host a fall activity. We have a few ideas 710 01:12:35,460 --> 01:12:41,180 floating around, nothing concrete yet, but it will most likely be in Salt Lake or Utah County, 711 01:12:42,320 --> 01:12:49,700 but we'll have a flyer out as soon as we know, so watch for our official flyer when it comes out, 712 01:12:49,700 --> 01:12:56,920 and that will go out on our professional email list so if you get our emails you'll be able to 713 01:12:56,920 --> 01:12:57,620 get that flyer. 714 01:13:00,920 --> 01:13:06,560 We also just sent out our latest issue of the Eddie Parent Newsletter. We sent out 715 01:13:06,560 --> 01:13:15,440 in English to 965 email addresses and in Spanish to 169 email addresses and again just as a reminder 716 01:13:16,190 --> 01:13:22,320 we sent out this email newsletter to families of deaf and hard of hearing children every other month 717 01:13:22,580 --> 01:13:28,280 So the next issue will go out in October, and as always, if you are not receiving that, 718 01:13:28,500 --> 01:13:32,260 please let us know, and we will make sure to get you added to that list. 719 01:13:35,910 --> 01:13:40,270 As always, we are always looking for more parents to join our Parent-Rolling Tour Network 720 01:13:41,810 --> 01:13:48,970 meeting, our network. The parents get a help plan and attend events, connect with other families, 721 01:13:48,970 --> 01:13:52,910 help monitor our group me and then be a spotlight for our newsletter. 722 01:13:55,170 --> 01:13:56,310 And so we 723 01:13:56,310 --> 01:14:02,030 actually had a few new parents join this last time and it's been amazing. And it's 724 01:14:02,030 --> 01:14:05,430 just again a great opportunity to help parents with deaf and hard of hearing 725 01:14:05,430 --> 01:14:12,390 children kind of volunteer and get back to the community. And so we have a new 726 01:14:12,390 --> 01:14:17,870 parent volunteer network flyer. So if you would like to we are asking people to 727 01:14:17,870 --> 01:14:22,650 this up in the office or to share it with a parent that they know would be great for the network. 728 01:14:23,810 --> 01:14:28,950 And if you'd like a copy of that, you can reach out to us or Krista can send it out. 729 01:14:29,610 --> 01:14:35,970 And then also we have a group meet that we just started up over the summer. We're still trying 730 01:14:35,970 --> 01:14:42,210 to get that up and going, like getting parents involvement on that. Now that summer is done, we're kind 731 01:14:42,210 --> 01:14:47,850 of going to pause with hosting play dates. Families can still do that, but we're going to use it as a 732 01:14:47,850 --> 01:14:53,730 more of a support place, so each month we'll do a prompt for families to respond back like 733 01:14:54,210 --> 01:14:58,070 just like tips and tricks and having families connect that way. 734 01:15:01,330 --> 01:15:30,230 When we still are doing our youth or young ambassador program as well, so this is for deaf and hard of hearing teens and young adults. We're kind of targeting ages 14 through 25. We invite these youth to come and attend these events. This has been a great fun thing. I've talked to you guys about this before, but we found that the families of these young kids who have been recently diagnosed have a great time getting to talk to these older kids. 735 01:15:30,230 --> 01:15:34,310 the parents want a glimpse of what the future might look like for their child. 736 01:15:34,610 --> 01:15:40,130 And so to be able to have this contact with these youth and young adult ambassadors 737 01:15:40,130 --> 01:15:44,890 has just been really a really fun thing to watch. The parents asking questions, 738 01:15:44,890 --> 01:15:51,950 what's your life than life? Were you bullied? Were you able to do sports? You know, all the questions. 739 01:15:52,250 --> 01:15:58,090 And so we're trying to provide some fun ways. We've done some fun things. Sometimes we have 740 01:15:58,090 --> 01:16:00,910 raffles at our events. 741 01:16:01,270 --> 01:16:04,050 And so if the parents go and ask questions, 742 01:16:04,050 --> 01:16:07,190 one of these people, they can get extra tickets 743 01:16:07,190 --> 01:16:07,990 for the raffle. 744 01:16:08,650 --> 01:16:09,870 And so we're just kind of helping 745 01:16:09,870 --> 01:16:13,350 to create those conversations and connection between them. 746 01:16:13,930 --> 01:16:15,430 And we would love for you again. 747 01:16:15,630 --> 01:16:16,170 This is a great one. 748 01:16:16,350 --> 01:16:19,130 If you have a setting where you might have 749 01:16:19,130 --> 01:16:21,570 some teens or young adults coming into your office, 750 01:16:21,570 --> 01:16:25,130 we'd love for you to encourage them to be an ambassador for us. 751 01:16:25,250 --> 01:16:27,330 And we're looking for all language modality kids 752 01:16:27,330 --> 01:16:32,370 who represent all different types of deaf and hard of hearing experiences. 753 01:16:36,350 --> 01:16:42,630 And then this is just our new flyer that we've have for us, if you'll see, 754 01:16:42,870 --> 01:16:47,650 it has a new Department of Health and Human Services logo on it as well, but 755 01:16:47,650 --> 01:16:52,830 this is just our contact information, and so if you have any questions or want us 756 01:16:52,830 --> 01:16:58,230 to reach out to any parents, please reach out to us. We're also very active on 757 01:16:58,230 --> 01:17:05,010 social media. We share a post every day. I have a listening spoken language, ASL, a spotlight, 758 01:17:05,550 --> 01:17:11,350 of a deaf and hard of hearing individual, or just tips and tricks on there. We also share 759 01:17:11,350 --> 01:17:16,550 event flyers on there. So if you have like an event that's family-friendly that you'd like us to 760 01:17:16,550 --> 01:17:19,670 share, send them our way and we'll post them on our social media as well. 761 01:17:22,480 --> 01:17:25,260 Okay, and that is our 762 01:17:25,260 --> 01:17:30,540 little plug for what we're doing right now. I now want to turn the time over to Carl White who 763 01:17:30,540 --> 01:17:39,120 can give us an in-champ update. Thank you. I'll be very brief. So we're deeply involved now in 764 01:17:39,120 --> 01:17:45,880 planning for the 2027 eddy conference that will be held in Bellevue, Washington. I want to make a special 765 01:17:45,880 --> 01:17:54,100 note that usually that conference starts Sunday evening and this year in 2027 it will start Monday evening. 766 01:17:54,100 --> 01:18:01,400 So there's a slight shift in schedule just so that, as you plan, Utah is always a great participant in that conference. 767 01:18:02,200 --> 01:18:07,660 So be sure to make a note that it starts on Monday evening instead of Sunday evening this time. 768 01:18:08,220 --> 01:18:10,980 But then it will be the same type of schedule as we've always had. 769 01:18:11,700 --> 01:18:15,640 The call for abstracts for presentations and posters is now open. 770 01:18:16,280 --> 01:18:22,520 Again, Utah has been one of the most active participants in those papers and posters and things. 771 01:18:22,520 --> 01:18:24,980 and we hope you will do that again. 772 01:18:25,700 --> 01:18:28,420 The information for how to apply for those 773 01:18:28,420 --> 01:18:31,280 is at eddyconference.org 774 01:18:31,280 --> 01:18:38,180 and look forward to more of those papers this coming year. 775 01:18:39,520 --> 01:18:42,960 Also want to let you know that there will be a new issue 776 01:18:42,960 --> 01:18:45,900 of the journal of early hearing detection and intervention 777 01:18:46,320 --> 01:18:49,140 will be released at the beginning of next week. 778 01:18:49,140 --> 01:19:00,540 And so that is a free journal that has a lot of great information in it that you can download by going to jedi at usu.edu. 779 01:19:01,160 --> 01:19:03,360 And that's all I have for today. 780 01:19:03,360 --> 01:19:03,460 Okay. 781 01:19:04,900 --> 01:19:06,400 Hey, you're Carl. 782 01:19:07,140 --> 01:19:08,120 This is Stephanie. 783 01:19:08,360 --> 01:19:09,560 Sorry to interrupt here. 784 01:19:11,440 --> 01:19:18,840 Do you want to talk about that you are currently searching for host sites, so the CNB conference 785 01:19:18,840 --> 01:19:22,000 that looks like the next one shouldn't be moving forward, right? 786 01:19:22,560 --> 01:19:22,860 Yes. 787 01:19:23,500 --> 01:19:27,460 We are planning on another CNB conference in 2027. 788 01:19:27,460 --> 01:19:32,800 That was a little bit up in the air for a while, but we can confirm now that it will be held 789 01:19:32,800 --> 01:19:38,980 in September 20 to 7. And we are looking for host sites. So there is an application again 790 01:19:38,980 --> 01:19:46,280 on our website that people can go to if they are interested in being a host site. Thanks, Stephanie. 791 01:19:48,320 --> 01:19:55,660 Thank you, Carl. Okay, so for some future updates, we're going to have Shelley Lawrence in November. 792 01:19:56,940 --> 01:20:01,500 Shannon's going to be working with Craig Buckman and Renee and Katie are going to 793 01:20:01,500 --> 01:20:09,060 We're working on hearing aid fitting barriers and Shannon's going to be working kind of in to reach out to them on that. 794 01:20:09,660 --> 01:20:12,360 Does anyone have any additional future updates? 795 01:20:16,720 --> 01:20:16,980 Okay. 796 01:20:17,740 --> 01:20:20,900 Then can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? 797 01:20:28,650 --> 01:20:31,130 This is Sally Ormfield. Move to adjourn the meeting. 798 01:20:31,550 --> 01:20:33,050 Thank you, Sally. And a second. 799 01:20:33,650 --> 01:20:35,450 This is on the second. 800 01:20:36,370 --> 01:20:37,330 Thank you. 801 01:20:37,990 --> 01:20:43,910 So, it is now 10.23 a.m. and this meeting is adjourned. 802 01:20:44,330 --> 01:20:47,090 Thank you everyone. We thank you for being here and participating. 803 01:20:47,790 --> 01:20:49,170 The end of November. 804 01:20:49,590 --> 01:20:50,610 The end of November. 805 01:20:50,770 --> 01:20:50,950 Yeah.