Hear and Say WorldWide Progress

Hear and Say WorldWide Progress

Hear and Say has trained hundreds of parents, students and professionals in the Auditory-Verbal approach through the Hear and Say WorldWide Professional Training program. In 2010 the Hear and Say WorldWide e-Learning Program was launched using state-of-the-art technology and a world-class e-learning mode of delivery. Intermediate (Level 1) and Advanced (Level 2) Courses have been developed and are currently being delivered in Queensland, throughout Australia and around the world. The Hear and Say WorldWide Courses have accreditation from the University of Southern Queensland.

Milestones

2011:

Hear and Say WorldWide e-Learning Courses Intermediate (Level 1) and Advanced (Level 2): eighteen participants from Australia, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom and Serbia via 3C platform.

2010:

Hear and Say WorldWide e-Learning Courses Intermediate (Level 1) and Advanced (Level 2): five participants from Australia and Mexico via 3C platform.
Conversion of highly acclaimed Hear and Say's On Campus Intermediate and Advanced Courses into e-Learning format.
Collaborative agreement formed with University of Southern Queensland and Australian National University Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
University of Southern Queensland approached Hear and Say regarding inclusion of a full range of Hear and Say WorldWide courses to graduate certificate level in the Science Faculty and Education Faculty at USQ.
Ling Consortium formed (international consortium of 10 universities involved in postgraduate listening and spoken language courses for children with hearing loss). Cyber meeting held on 3C platform, followed by face to face meeting in Orlando, Florida on 27 June.

2009:

Hear and Say WorldWide a finalist in Premier’s Export Awards, Queensland.
University Accreditation for Courses by University of Southern Queensland.
Memorandum of Understanding signed with TELDAP (Taiwan E-Learning and Digital Archives Program) and Taiwan Government for partnership in use of 3C platform.
Ian Potter Foundation funding approved for development of on-line version of Hear and Say WorldWide courses for the Preliminary and Intermediate courses. Appropriate staff appointed, and formal working relationship formed with Education Queensland and the Brisbane School of Distance Education, Education Queensland.

2008:

Hear and Say WorldWide initiates ‘Children of Tomorrow’ group of projects to increase impact potential by joining with other projects, at suggestion of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
International Supporters group formed at United States Scholar-Athlete Games, International Institute of Sport, Rhode Island University, U.S.A.
Formal relationship formed with Edmund Rice International (Christian Brothers).

2007:

Official Hear and Say WorldWide program launch by Patron, His Excellency the Governor-General Major General Michael Jeffery, AC, CVO, MC, Sydney, Australia.

2006:

Brisbane, Australia: Approval of Hear and Say Board to extend mandate to support children with hearing loss globally by training professionals in hearing health.

Collaborations and Partnerships

· 2010: Collaborative agreement formed with University of Southern Queensland and Australian National University Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

· 2010: University of Southern Queensland grants full accreditation of Hear and Say WorldWide courses to graduate certificate level in the Science Faculty at USQ and Education Faculty.

· 2009: Memorandum of Understanding with TELDAP (Taiwan E-Learning and Digital Archives Program) and Taiwan Government and The National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan working with Distinguished Professor Nian-Shing Chen. Free access granted to the Collaborative Cyber Community (3C) platform.

· 2009: Ling Consortium established. An international consortium of 10 universities involved in postgraduate listening and spoken language courses for children with hearing loss.

· 2008: The Pacific Area Collaboration in Education (PACE) established. A partnership between Hear and Say WorldWide, Brisbane School of Distance Education and the Solomon Islands Distance Learning Centres.

Australian and International training

2011:

· Hear and Say WorldWide e-Learning Courses Intermediate (Level 1) and Advanced (Level 2): eighteen participants from Australia, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom and Serbia.

· Hear and Say WorldWide On Campus Intermediate (Level 1) Course: nine participants from Australia.·

· Hear and Say WorldWide Teacher Professional Development Program for the Australian International School, Sharjah, UAE, for ten junior school teachers working with early childhood students with language delay.

· Hear and Say WorldWide Teacher Professional Development Program for Education Queensland for four schools in the South-East Region (Redlands area) working with early childhood students with language delay.

· Hear and Say Indigenous Health Project. Funding received in association with Deadly Ears, Queensland Health for a research project studying the incidence of Otitis Media in young Indigenous children in a remote Gulf Country community.

2010:

· Hear and Say WorldWide e-Learning Courses Intermediate (Level 1) and Advanced (Level 2): five participants from Australia and Mexico

· Hear and Say WorldWide On Campus Intermediate (Level 1) Course: ten participants from Australia and PNG·

· Papua New Guinea: Further meetings with Brother Kevin Ryan of Callan Services to discuss professional training and collaboration with Callan Services and Divine Word University, in Wewak and Port Moresby.

· Philippines:Christian Brothers developing first Newborn Hearing Screening and Auditory-Verbal Therapy unit in Negros, Philippines (the first outside of Manila).

2009:

· India: Four week intensive course conducted in Chennai, in Auditory-Verbal approach and the development of listining and spoken language for 7 professionals on behalf of the Post Graduate Diploma in Auditory Habilitation at the MERF Institute of Speech & Hearing (a unit of the Madras ENT Research Foundation)

· Philippines: In conjunction with Ken Fletcher Foundation and Christian Brothers, two maternity nurses and two teachers trained in newborn hearing screening and Auditory-Verbal Therapy. New clinics for newborn hearing screening and new early intervention centre at Anawim (school for children who are deaf) in Negros Occidental, Philippines, established by Christian Brothers.

· Solomon Islands: Collaboration through P.A.C.E (Pacific Area Collaboration in Education) with Solomon Islands Distance Learning Centres in support of a project in Isabel Province using existing telecommunications and satellite network.

2008:

· Australia: Hear and Say WorldWide Level I training of fifteen international professionals.

· Sri Lanka: First two stages of Sri-Lankan project completed by training for founding Director of Centre for Education of Hearing Impaired Children (CEHIC) accomplished and knowledge successfully passed on to 25 teachers in training at CEHIC. Stage II involved provision of 12 hearing aids to children.

· East Timor: Reconnaissance trip to establish pilot project for ‘Children of Tomorrow’ group of projects. Relationship formed with ‘Communidade’, Edmund Rice, East Timor.

· Florida: Hear and Say WorldWide training of sixty professionals at Bolesta Center, Tampa, Florida, U.S.A.

· Samoa: Whole country project for Samoa completed. Two professionals trained, cochlear implants and newborn hearing screening introduced to country and project continued by AUSAID.

2007:

· Australia: Successful deployment of audiology team to Utopia, Indigenous settlement in Northern Territory, Australia, to screen fifty ears.

· Papua New Guinea: A successful reconnaissance visit completed. Preliminary development of local networks and clinical and educational resources for commencement of a pilot project in Port Moresby. The project is expected to include a Cochlear Implant surgery education program and Auditory-Verbal Therapy training for local teachers and parents. Diagnostic equipment has been donated by Scanmedics and is intended to be provided with training to Port Moresby General Hospital. Level 2 (Advanced) training course completed by PNG university special teacher.

· Russia: Auditory-Verbal training for 64 Russian professionals at the request of Cochlear Europe.

· Thailand: Preliminary international network development.

· Malaysia: Three Malaysian professionals trained. Proposal submitted at the request of the Malaysian Ministry of Health to assist in improving local success rates for the nation’s paediatric Cochlear Implant recipients. Training in The Hear and Say Way end-to-end service delivery model is anticipated to be undertaken across nine hospitals in Malaysia.

· China: At the request of Cochlear Asia Pacific, development of a teaching resource by Hear and Say Clinical Staff to assist professionals in China and parents of children, aged 2-3 years, identified with hearing loss. The program, ‘Ting, Dong, Jiang’ (Listen, Understand, Speak), will be translated into Mandarin.

· Germany: Auditory-Verbal training proposal developed.

· India: Two professionals trained.

· Samoa: Scholarship to ‘Hearing is Believing’. Levels I and II courses given to one professional. Two employees of the Samoan Education Department trained.

· Mexico: First stage of Mexican project completed with two professionals trained. Preliminary international network and Auditory-Verbal training proposal development including training scholarship.

2006:

· Russia: Training of 35 professionals in the Auditory-Verbal approach.