The Importance of Early Intervention & Free iPads for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Early Intervention is the idea that typically the sooner in someone’s life that you act to respond or accommodate their special needs, the better the outcome and the quality of life for that person. Early Intervention “can have a significant impact on a child’s ability to learn new skills and overcome challenges and can increase success in school and life.”
This is true across many disciplines, especially those that are important to us at 5 Points Music Sanctuary. That is to say that Early Intervention is beneficial in Music Therapy, Hearing Loss Advocacy, and Accessibility initiatives.
For Music Therapy,
like many other forms of therapy, the earlier you can respond to and address a child’s special needs, the better the results for that child. “Introducing music and music therapy into a child’s life very early is a great way to improve their memory. […] Music therapy also works well to develop a child’s reasoning and language skills.”
For Accessibility initiatives,
it is always beneficial to act early in the planning or construction process to incorporate accessible features and the principles of universal design. It is always better, and usually cheaper, to plan for accessibility from the start, rather than trying to retrofit accessible features into an existing design. This is why it’s important to us to plan for and anticipate accessibility needs at the beginning of the planning for our live events.
For Hearing Loss Advocacy, the CDC says,
“Hearing loss can affect a child’s ability to develop speech, language, and social skills. The earlier a child who is deaf or hard-of-hearing starts getting services, the more likely the child’s speech, language, and social skills will reach their full potential.
Early intervention program services help young children with hearing loss learn language skills and other important skills. Research shows that early intervention services can greatly improve a child’s development.”
That’s why the Virginia Department of Health Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Program is giving away FREE iPads to families who have children under 5-years-old who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Additional resources for Virginia families of children with hearing loss can be found here.
The Virginia Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program has the opportunity to provide free iPads to families who have deaf and hard of hearing children to support communication options, literacy and language development, and a virtual connection between parents and providers.
Your child may qualify if they have:
- Diagnosed hearing loss
- Are under the age of 5 years old
- Do not have an iPad in the home.
For more detailed information on the expected use of the iPads, please see the attached flyer.
If your family, or a family you know, could benefit from an iPad, please contact the VA EHDI team at va_ehdi@vdh.virginia.gov.
iPads will be available while supplies last!
