UNC Children’s Cochlear Implant Center Hear N’ Now Conference

Join us at The Friday Center on October 13th at 8:00am for the Hear ‘N’ Now Conference 2023, hosted by The Children’s Cochlear Implant Center of UNC Otolaryngology. This event will feature two keynote speakers, Lisa Davidson, AuD, and Elizabeth Crais, PhD.

REGISTRATION INCLUDES LUNCH AND PARKING.

Lisa Davidson, AuD is an associate professor in the CID Research Department at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., in addition to being the Director of Audiology Outcomes at the CID Oral School for the Deaf. Her research focus involves evaluating spoken language and cognitive skills of children using different sensory aids as well evaluating strategies to optimize cochlear implants and hearing aids for children.

Elizabeth Crais, PhD is a Professor in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her research includes identification and intervention of young children with ASD. She has had multiple ASD-focused research grants, and with colleagues has developed ASD screening tools, and both home-based parent-mediated and preschool-based interventions for children with ASD. She has published extensively and is a frequent speaker at professional meetings. Dr. Crais is also the parent of an adult son with intellectual disabilities, so has sat “on both sides of the table” in professional-parent interactions. She is currently part of a project that has developed an online website and resource guide for families of children with disabilities (including autism) ncfamilynavigation.org.

This conference will have four sessions, after which you will be able to:

• Characterize differences in segmental and suprasegmental speech perception.
• Describe the roles segmental and suprasegmental speech perception in spoken language and reading.
• Describe benefits of segmental and suprasegmental speech perception for children with Cis.
• List 3 characteristics of ASD in infants and toddlers and why characteristics are important to later development
• Discuss how these behaviors can help identify children at risk with ASD diagnosis.
• Discuss the role of family members in addressing some of these areas.

The primary objective of this conference is to provide information to professionals regarding current research on suprasegmental speech perception and language/literacy development and characteristics of interdisciplinary collaboration for children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families.