Hands & Voices FL3 Project

 

About the FL3 Project

On April 1st, Hands & Voices entered into a three year cooperative agreement with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support the development of statewide newborn and infant hearing screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention (EHDI) programs and systems by promoting the inclusion of families, parents and caregivers of deaf or hard of hearing infants/children identified through the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program as leaders in their statewide EHDI system. 

This new program is called Family Leadership in Language and Learning (FL3) and its goal is to ensure that United States subsidized EHDI systems incorporate certain elements that support the families, parents and caregivers of deaf or hard of hearing infants/children identified through newborn hearing screening in optimizing language, literacy, and social-emotional development.

Several activities have been proposed and will be developed over the course of the project. A highlight of some of these include:

Activities for Families & Family-based Support Organizations

  • Building a portfolio of trainings, educational materials, and resources to support family partnership and engagement within the EHDI system.
  • Supporting the establishment of Deaf Mentor programs for families with d/hh infants and children. 
  • Develop training and resources for family support organizations to partner with organizations that serve the d/hh community.

Activities for EHDI Coordinators

  • Support state/territory EHDI systems in dissemination of resources and information for families including importance of enrollment in early intervention services supported by Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
  • Develop and provide resources to state/territory EHDI systems on assuring that families are active participants and leaders in EHDI systems. Resources will address the families’ role in all aspects of the system and with all stakeholders.
  • Design supports for meaningful inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing adults within national, state, and territory EHDI systems.

Activities for Professionals in the Field

  • Collaborate with national experts in language and literacy acquisition for d/hh infants to develop, identify and disseminate resources and training opportunities that highlight and summarize the latest evidence-based research findings.

Press Release 2/17/17

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UJ1MC30748-01-00 for Family Leadership In Language And Learning for $1,500,000.00. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.