By Teresa Caraway and Jace Wolfe
This article is a part of the September/October 2024, Volume 36, Number 5, Audiology Today issue.
The phrase “collaborative care” is increasingly used across medical disciplines to advocate for a multidisciplinary approach to care. Pediatric hearing-health care should not be exempt from this trend, as children who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing stand to benefit from professional collaboration in treatment and care.
By embracing the power of collaboration and collective thinking, we can more easily identify and overcome barriers to increase access to the quality care necessary to optimize listening and spoken language (LSL) outcomes for children with hearing loss.
The Oberkotter Foundation believes LSL outcomes can be maximized through coordinated care to ensure families receive complete support and comprehensive services. This encourages professionals to consider a family’s strengths, emotional needs, informed choices, language traditions, cultural beliefs, andpersonal circumstances regarding transportation, finances, food security, home stability, and other needs.
For professionals interested in learning about coordinated care in practice, Hearing First, an initiative of the Oberkotter Foundation, offers Collaboration and Counseling in AuD and LSL Service Delivery, a free learning series that explores applying a counseling approach to AuD and LSL interventions.
Together, through collaboration and a collective mindset, we can break down barriers for children with hearing loss to pave the way for their brighter futures.
