Dr. Johnnie Sexton, Au.D.: Changing the Culture of Communication

Join me for an engaging interview with Dr. Johnnie Sexton, audiologist,  as we discuss The CARE Project and Educational Audiology services with a theme of changing the culture of communication.  Dr. Johnnie Sexton, Au.D., has worked with children who are deaf and hard of hearing for over four decades. He has devoted his energy to redefining counseling for families with children who have hearing challenges and the professionals who provide services through The CARE Project, serving as Executive Director, for the advancement of family, professional, and pre-professional training opportunities in emotional/adjustment counseling.  The CARE Project has become a national standard for family engagement for the unique family retreat experiences which provide emotional support and education for family empowerment.  Dr. Sexton also owns a private practice specializing in educational audiology services and educational sign language interpreter services (John E. Sexton & Associates, Inc./JESA). Take a listen and be inspired to create spaces for emotional journeys, family support, and engagement in your areas.  

For transcripts of this episode, please go to www.3cdigitalmedianetwork.com/empowear-audiology-podcast

For more information on the CARE Project:  https://www.thecareproject.com/

Subscribe to the YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVqaQTAOH-Tq8hE1IWScVQ/featured

JESA/Educational Audiology:  https://www.jesanc.com/

For more information about Dr. Carrie Spangler- check out her LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-spangler/

For transcripts of this episode- visit the podcast website at: https://empowearaudiology.buzzsprout.com

Transcript

[00:00:00] Announcer: Welcome to episode 43 of empowEAR Audiology with Dr. Carrie Spangler.
[00:00:16] Carrie: Welcome to the empowEAR Audiology podcast, which is part of the 3C Digital Media Network. My name is Dr. Carrie Spangler, and I am your host. I am a passionate audiologist with a lifelong journey of living with hearing challenges in this vibrant hearing world. This podcast is for professionals, parents, individuals with hearing challenges and those who want to be inspired.
[00:00:45] Thank you for listening and I hope you will subscribe, invite others to listen and leave me a positive review. I also wanted to invite all of you to visit and engage in the conversation on the empowEAR Audiology Facebook group. Transcripts for each episode can be found at www dot three, the number three, C digital media network dot com under the empowEAR podcast tab.
[00:01:18] Now let's get started with today's episode. Hello listeners. I am really looking forward to today's interview. And I will be speaking with Dr. Johnnie Sexton, who is an audiologist, and has worked with children who are deaf and hard of hearing for over four decades. He received his bachelor of science and master of science degrees from East Carolina university and his a AuD degree.
[00:01:50] From AT Still University, Arizona Health Sciences. Dr. Sexton has focused throughout his career on pediatric educational audiology service development, implementation, and management, and served on a team to design the early intervention system for audiology in North Carolina, including the newborn hearing screening program from 1999 to 2001.
[00:02:18] He has devoted his energy in recent years to redefining counseling for families with children who have hearing challenges and the professionals who provide services for them. He created the nonprofit agency, the CARE project, serving as executive director for the advancement of family, professional and pre-professional training opportunities and emotional adjustment counseling.
[00:02:47] The CARE project has become a national standard for family engagement, for the unique family retreat experiences, which provide emotional support and education for family empowerment. Dr. Sexton works with the state newborn hearing screening programs across the country to provide family retreats in all states in the United States.
[00:03:11] Throughout his career. Dr. Sexton has been very involved in state licensure under five governors in North Carolina with a clear focus on making sure that the consumer of speech and hearing services are protected from unethical and illegal practice. The North Carolina Speech, Hearing and language association has twice awarded Dr.
[00:03:34] Sexton, the state clinical achievement award in 1996 for his pioneering work in educational audiology and in 2017 for his pioneering work in emotional support for families through the nonprofit foundation who started the CARE project. Dr. Sexton also owns a private practice specializing in educational audiology services and educational sign language interpreting services, title John E.
[00:04:05] Sexton and associate incorporated. This JESA a is 35 years old and employees, 15 audiologists who live in regions across the state of North Carolina. And they served two thirds of North Carolina school systems and many charter schools. From January 1st, 2018 through January of 2021. Dr. Sexton has served as the co-chair of the North Carolina, early hearing detection and intervention advisory board, which oversees the newborn hearing screening program in all birthing hospitals in North Carolina and early intervention services for children, birth to three and continues to serve as a board member.
[00:04:48] In 2018, he was named the number one Audiology practitioner of the year in the United States by the Focus on People awards, he has been nominated twice for the National Antonio Maxon award of excellence. Which honors an individual who has made outstanding contribution to achieving excellence and early hearing detection and intervention program naturally, or in a particular state or region.
[00:05:16] I am excited, but all of you listeners to meet Dr. Johnnie Sexton today and hear about the CARE project and educational Audiology services. All right. Welcome Dr. Johnnie Sexton to the empowEAR Audiology podcast. I'm glad to have you.
[00:05:37] Johnnie: Thank you so much. It's a pleasure and an honor to be here with you, Dr.
[00:05:41] Spangler. I appreciate it.
[00:05:43] Carrie: Well, good. I am really excited for this conversation today, but I always like to start out a conversation if we've known each other for a little bit kind of reflecting back on when we first met. And I don't know if you remember this, but I think the first time I've might have met you.
[00:06:02] You were presenting at what is called OSPEAC, which is our Ohio school, speech pathology and educational audiology coalition conference in Columbus and the CARE project, which we're gonna be talking about today. So I don't know if you remember me there, but that's the first time I remember meeting you
[00:06:23] Johnnie: personally.
[00:06:25] Yes. You know, Ohio has been so gracious and kind to me, period. But, but especially when I started the care project and, and I've single out one person in particular, Dr. Gail Whitelaw was very gracious to, to have me come. I was invited to speak at that conference. And I do remember meeting you and many people that day.
[00:06:47] It was, it was the packed house as I recall. So
[00:06:51] Carrie: yes, it was. And then we also had a great dinner one night. After that with Gail Whitelaw, I think it was her husband and one of our grad students. And you were there for the CARE project. We were having our campUS event. Yes. And I think it worked out that we got to connect.
[00:07:10] But yeah, so we've actually known each other for quite some time when we think back on it. I also like to ask my guest, how did you get into the field of audiology? Because I feel like this, one of those things, people either have a backstory about, or they just happen to fall into it. Do you have a backstory?
[00:07:31] Johnnie: Well, I, I have yes. I have two versions of the backstory. I'll be brief, but you know, I was born in rural Eastern North Carolina in the 1950s and there, as, as anyone knows the history of education, there were no services available for any child with a challenge in any local community. And the family that lived across from us had a little boy born, literally about the same time who was profoundly deaf.
[00:08:02] And, you know, coincidentally, we both were named Johnnie. But our families knew each other. Well, our mothers worked together at the local sewing factory. So there was an awareness created in our little tiny town of the impact of deafness on a child and a family. And so when little Johnny Ray turned six, I guess it was at the time, the only education that was available for him was to go to the state school for the deaf which was probably 300 miles away.
[00:08:41] So the good news is that, that, that there was an option. And of course I'll say the not so good news is that the option required the child to live away from home, starting at age six mm-hmm that stayed with me and in some place in my head, it lingered. So as I grew up and went off to college I never heard of audiology.
[00:09:03] It was a pretty young profession back then. And so was going to be a business major. After one semester of classes, I, I wanted to work with people. I wanted to be people oriented. So I kind of dove into psychology, which led me to eventually it led me to the introductory course. In, in communication sciences and disorders.
[00:09:29] And I just had this aha moment that I might have found my home . And there was a preschool class on campus in the same building where I was taking classes in college, a preschool class for children who were deaf and hard of hearing birth to five. So I started volunteering there. So that's a long way to say.
[00:09:50] You know, I, I found my way with a little bit of a, a, a memory from the past and it, it, it became the platform for my career. And, and, and by that, I mean I was driven to try to create access to service. Mm-hmm for all families. Because where I grew up, there was nothing at the time. I proudly say that my hometown and county like all school systems hopefully across the country they have services.
[00:10:20] So children, you know, are able to go to the local schools and stay at home with their families. And I, I enough about that. So that's how I kind of stumbled my way into audiology.
[00:10:33] Carrie: Well, that is a great story. And I love the, how you said, you know, little Johnny six, you know, when you met him at six before that and how that kind of stuck with you, which kind of makes a great segue into, like you said, your lifetime career of helping families and children, especially on that emotional journey.
[00:10:55] for families who have children with hearing loss. So I wanted to dive deeper into the CARE project and how that has made an impact on not only in your own community, but throughout the United States. So for our listeners, would you be able to share kind of a 360 degree view of what the CARE project is?
[00:11:19] Johnnie: Sure. I'll try. So after 30 years of, of practice and 30 years of working with families, you know, I audiologists traditionally think of working with patients or clients. My path put me in touch with families. Well, before I even finished my master's degree in audiology. So I, I had lots of moms and dads talking to me about their journeys and what it was like.
[00:11:42] And there was a common thread that resonated with me throughout, and it was lack of emotional support for families. They, they felt that they were not getting emotional support. They were getting information and they were getting a bit of a unilateral communication from most professionals. Not all, you know, I'm not at all disparaging colleagues but, but they just felt like they weren't getting that.
[00:12:12] So I was Driven to see what I could do about that. And I spent a year, I call it a year of wandering in the desert. Trying to figure that out. And I remember networking and talking with people and trying to involve even some of my staff. And a dear friend and colleague who is a licensed counselor, sat with me one day talking about it.
[00:12:36] And he said, no one knows what you want to do, but you it's in your head. You need to get past your desire to manage by inclusion in terms of other people and get, get going on your own. So I did, I had dinner with A colleague who was the chair of the program over at East Carolina university, where I had graduated from and telling him about it.
[00:13:05] And he said, well, you know, we have seed grants. Why don't we help you get started? Wow. I mean, I've never written a grant at that point and I didn't know what I was doing, but I just did it. And that gave us a little bit of a kickstart. It helped me begin to get the word out. My husband and I were living on Baldhead Island at the time, which is a, a, a wonderful little paradise with no bridge and no cars.
[00:13:30] And it's a small community. So the mayor's wife we were friends heard that we were trying to get something started for families and she offered an idea. And I always give her credit for this. Why don't you bring families together here? Like we do already for wounded warriors programming and let them have a retreat, let them come together.
[00:13:55] Let them network bond, and gosh, that, that was. Immediately the answer I was seeking that I didn't know I was looking for, and that is what can we do? We can bring them together. And that literally, that, that laid the foundation for what we've done all these years since. So we started having family retreats pretty quickly our North Carolina EDHI program reached out and said, we've, we've heard what you're doing.
[00:14:22] We wanna partner with you. We want to help you do this. So that gave us a statewide platform and we started doing. We literally traveled from town to town, like the old pony express and, and met with families in local communities. I heard about this group called EHDI on a national level. So I started getting involved with EHDI on a national level and started talking to people across the country, in different states about what we were doing.
[00:14:50] And everybody was just so excited and, and reinforcing. So that led me to then try to write grants because every state EHDI coordinator that was interested in what we did said the same thing to me. Well, you know, Johnnie, we don't have any money, but we love what you're talking about. So I decided that I would find money.
[00:15:12] So I got a, I was shocked and thrilled to get a grant from a private foundation. The Oticon Foundation in Denmark I'd done some consulting for them. They were excited about what I was doing with the CARE project. And that gave me the opportunity then to call the state EHDI coordinators across the country and say, Hey.
[00:15:32] I want to come talk to your people and they're we have no money, Johnnie. Well, guess what I do. So I started traveling across the country, you know, sharing the information and the plan and, and that built some, some wonderful support for, for what we, you know, do and, and have done. I then got a grant to.
[00:15:54] Do family retreats across the country, the Oberkotter Foundation. So graciously, they believed in us, they graciously funded us for a three year period. So we partnered potentially we are partners with every state in the United States and US territories to provide not just. The family retreat experience, because I have been so fortunate to evolve what we do to provide multiple opportunities multiple agendas so that families can cycle back through and continue to learn and grow and experience things.
[00:16:26] It also evolved into professional sensitivity training. So I've done a ton of workshops for groups of professionals across the country, not just audiologists, but all professionals who work with families and it focuses on the family's emotional journey. And I evolve that into focusing on my, my new tagline is changing the culture of communication.
[00:16:51] We have to learn to talk differently to each other, to be more sensitive and, and to give each other, an opportunity to be partners in the plans for the child that we're working with. So that is a, I guess, a, a thumbnail sketch of the CARE project, where we were and where we are today. A a, a, an added note when the pandemic hit.
[00:17:13] I sat, I sat at my desk for a month. Very sad because I though, What are we gonna do now? But we, my, my trustee working partner Laura Pike, who is the mother of a deaf child she and her husband are amazing. They've been involved with the CARE project for years. We just sat, sat on the phone and, and I said, I have things in my head.
[00:17:37] I need to say out loud, And Laura said, well, I'll write them down. And at the end of that meeting, I said, these are our new projects. We're going virtual. So we, we converted everything to a virtual platform. I rebranded it and called them learning virtual learning experiences for both families and professionals.
[00:17:57] So that, that has served us well for the past two and a half years.
[00:18:01] Carrie: Good. Wow. You have a lot to, to unpack, I think for the, the CARE project, which, which was exciting. So I guess kind of going back when you said you got the Oticon Grant and you were able to go to different states and say, Hey, you know, we can offer this CARE project.
[00:18:22] What would you say? What would you say to states, like if they have never heard of the CARE project, how would you have just described that to, to a state?
[00:18:32] Johnnie: Well, because I had been involved with NCHAM and the EHDI organization on a national level. I became very familiar with how their funding works.
[00:18:46] I wasn't seeking their funding, but I've been told that I was in the right place at the right time, because all of a sudden there was a requirement that a part of the funding be spent on family support and family engagement and states, even if they had not heard of us with a, even a conversation, they.
[00:19:09] were quick to realize that that's what we do. So I describe what we do and, and everybody agreed that it was definitely family support and that I had approached it in a unique manner and they wanted to work together. It, it was, it was very organic. It was very organic. It just evolved. You know, on parallel tracks and then fast forward in the, in the last, I don't know, two to three years that mandate to use funds through EHDI programs for family support, you know, has grown.
[00:19:43] So we are we're in a, I call it a budget cycle along with EHDI program. So we know that and anyone involved with EHDI knows that the grant year, I think runs from Let's see July one through. No, no, no. It ends March 31st, every year. So they, they get their approvals and their fundings let's say in the summer, and then they can start planning for things through next spring so that that's served.
[00:20:11] We, and we're we're on, on par in many states for a multiyear project. Like the state of Oklahoma, we're the, we're working with them now for the next, I think four years.
[00:20:22] Carrie: Okay. That's great. So if a state decides, Hey, we wanna partner with you for the family engagement and family support, especially through EHDI What does that look like for families?
[00:20:38] If you would have a family retreat, I guess like pre pandemic kind of family retreat, what does that look like for the CARE project?
[00:20:47] Johnnie: Well it, and we even wrote a manual, so we have a manual it's pretty detailed and scares people sometimes. But we form a planning team with the state Eddie program and, you know, it can be EHDI or other agencies, but we form a planning team and we are.
[00:21:03] The managers of the team, we are we can provide resources, but we look to the in-state partners to make sure that we're meeting the needs of the families in their state. Now, there is certainly a list of generic needs across all families. But when we, we like to make sure that a, a retreat, we have an agenda Then first we have families arrive on Fridays.
[00:21:26] Get settled in on Friday evenings. We may even have a, a social activity on a Friday evening, but we are up early on Saturday morning. We recruit volunteers. We have a childcare team. I know we did one in Ohio right before the pandemic hit and we had some amazing volunteers from the, not only the professional community, but the student community in, in Ohio.
[00:21:50] So we have childcare ready to role First thing that morning and parents are then, and I say, this positively, they're separated from their children because the first half of that day is devoted to the parents. and their emotional journeys. And I lead that, you know, it, it's very much asking every person in the room to tell us about their own journey, their family, their challenges and their successes.
[00:22:19] You know, I, I've learned along the way to focus on not just what's going on, that you're potentially grieving over, but what, what can you celebrate each day with your child and your family? And, and so we spend a lot of time that first day on that in the afternoon we have so, and we have our meals together.
[00:22:38] So in the afternoon we break, we have breakout groups. So, you know, parents will separate from their parent partners and go into separate groups so that they can talk individually about their emotional journey. And it, you know, it's pretty amazing and very cathartic I'm told by parents to be able to go into a separate room away from their parent partner and say anything they wanna say out loud with no judgment.
[00:23:05] And they've got people in the room with them who. Able to do the same thing and, and they network, they bond, you know, friendships have been made, gosh, that are still in place all the way back to our first retreat in 2011, I think it is. We also set up an opportunity on that Saturday afternoon to film parent stories and journeys.
[00:23:26] We have my, my dear husband, Xris Kessler is a filmmaker and an artist. And so he comes with. We set up in a private area. Parents are given an appointment time so that they have privacy. And, and it's a safe space and I'm there with them to not interview them, but to. Give them I guess a launchpad and be there for them if they need me.
[00:23:49] And they we've had some beautiful and very emotional stories shared we have a YouTube channel and you can go watch many of them there. So at the end of the day on Saturday, we come together for a wonderful meal together. Maybe some activity sometimes if the weathers permits we'll have s'mores.
[00:24:08] You know, out by little campfire we've, we've had retreats in hotels. And so with parent supervision, if there's a swimming pool there, you know, gosh, we've had some of the most fun times with the families all together, their kids playing in the pool and they're, they're comparing their devices. They're looking at what they each use to be more waterproof.
[00:24:31] It's just another bonding experience. Again, very organic. Sunday, we offer more informational sessions for parents. So we've often had audiology 101, you know, this is the audiogram. These are, are our terms that you may have heard, but didn't understand because parents will tell us all, you just use all these words and these acronyms and, and, and I don't know what they mean.
[00:24:57] So we tried to give them. We try to empower them and give them information so that they can go back home and advocate even better for their child and their family. We've had communication options as, as a session we've had one, a favorite is having a panel with young people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
[00:25:16] And they share their journeys. We've had parents. Of those same kids present, and then they share their journeys and the parents that we have in the audience you know, they're, they're fresher on their journeys and, and there's some, there's some beautiful synergy that, that you can witness with all that going on in the same room.
[00:25:34] Carrie: Wow. Yeah, I'm sure it's a very emotional couple of days that yes, families are involved in and, and all of the volunteers as well. Do you have a particular like story or anything that you can share? I know you've met so many families along the way, but anything that stands out from one of your retreats, that would be significant.
[00:25:59] Johnnie: I have to say that early on and, and they're all. Beautiful stories to me, you know, and I'm how fortunate I am that they're comfortable sharing that in front of me. I mean, I, I am so blessed that they, that we bonded. But I I'll say. There's one family. And it was the first family that we ever interviewed.
[00:26:20] And maybe it was because it was the first, but you know, a mom and dad sat down in front of the camera. Their child was seven years old by then. And the mom had never allow herself to grieve. She is the their amazing parents, they just jumped into action, advocate mode. They talked about that, you know, there was no question.
[00:26:52] We just, we gotta go, we gotta deal with this, but never allow themselves that moment or moments to open up with their emotions and so on that day, and you can see it on the YouTube channel on that day. Dear sweet Robin Hosley let it, it just all came out and she just was able to process and even begin maybe an, a new phase of healing that she didn't even realize she needed to do.
[00:27:26] and we've seen that time and time again, that all, all I ever say that we do is as a part of the CARE project is we give an opportunity for people to come together. And we set the table for parents to join us. And we, we, we are there to facilitate and help and they do all the work. You know, they, the, the sharing, those stories, their own journeys and Robin Hasley was the first and her husband Mark Hasley did the same thing.
[00:27:56] He was there with her and they both were able to just let it go. Now the beautiful thing I've seen and I'm so happy to share is that that set of parents and every set of parents, since then they evolve into parent leaders for the care project. They don't want to go home and sit there and go, okay. I feel better.
[00:28:18] They wanna do more for their own community and they want to do more for organizing retreats. I've had one parent. Laura Hughes over in the Western part of North Carolina gets so involved. And so she in turn wanted to be involved in, in a, a CARE, a retreat. So she actually went out and did site visits and prepared the most brilliant comprehensive report I've ever read on, you know, choices.
[00:28:47] And, and, and she was a leader in that. So. There's a, there's a side benefit to bringing people together, parents together, families together in that they evolve. Same thing happens for the kids. You know, they never forget their experiences. When they come to a retreat, we had a family fun day, which is one of our newer events in June here on the coast at Wrightsville beach park, we put little signs out on the road.
[00:29:14] We have over a hundred people come. It was beautiful and magical, but. All of a sudden, I see a young woman standing in the, the periphery of the tent. looking at me and smiling, and she had a friend with her. And I looked and I looked and I looked and I went, oh my God, it was one of our little CARE project kids from years ago.
[00:29:36] ah, and she, it just graduated from college and she was at the beach with her friends and she saw the CARE project sign and she said, I had to drive till I found you. And there were a lot of tears that day, but. It was a beautiful experience to see that it impacts children as well as the parents. Yeah.
[00:29:58] Carrie: What a ripple effect that it really does create. It seems, it seems. Yes. Yeah. So I, I wish my parents would've had that opportunity to network with other parents and, and they were so alone in the whole process and kinda like you. As you explained the one family that just kind of got it all out because she had an opportunity and you had set the table for that family to be able to express their emotions and be with others in the same way.
[00:30:30] And they just didn't have that opportunity early on to, to meet anyone. So I'm sure it would've been very beneficial for them
[00:30:38] Johnnie: too. well, we'll, we'll, we'll go forward and do all we can while we can. So. Exactly.
[00:30:45] Carrie: And I know you also go to different states and conferences and you educate professionals too.
[00:30:53] What does that kind of look like for your presentations and getting professionals on board with this?
[00:31:00] Johnnie: Thank you for that question. I will say first it keeps evolving because I am on a journey of lifelong learning too. So when I started doing that, I have to give credit a speech pathologist at Cook children's hospital over in Fort Worth, Texas, I think called me and she said we want you to do a, a workshop on empathy.
[00:31:23] And I, you know, I, I never say no, I've just said. Sure.
[00:31:31] And I had started doing workshops that really focused on the emotional journey of families. A part of that of course, is talking about the journey and the grieving. Then I would move on to, I used to use and still do some, some clips from our filmed parent journeys. Mm. To give insight to professionals, because I've said from day one, With the CARE project.
[00:31:55] We hear things from parents that none of us here in a clinical setting or in a school setting or in a professional setting, they don't tend to just open up. So when you're hearing about their day, their week, their month, their life, and it's a very emotional, you know, conversation. It's extremely educational for professionals.
[00:32:18] I've never had one professional colleagues say, well that I didn't want that, that didn't do anything for me. It opens up our minds. So I evolved that to, I, I mentioned earlier, you know, changing the culture of communication and how can we do that? So when I'm talking with professionals more and more, I've included now a whole segment on empathy.
[00:32:42] And it really is basic. It's like, do you have it? Do you know, you have it? How do you know you have it? And let's talk about it. Which has led me to, to, you know, there there's a whole new focus. It shouldn't be new, but it is. In our professions for diversity equity and inclusion . So I talk about things like unconscious bias.
[00:33:03] I even developed an unconscious biased exercise tool in 2020. That's being used now in places around the country. It's not that it's the big deal. It is something that causes people to reflect. So at the bottom of everything with professionals is having them look inward. Giving them an opportunity to find some emotions in themselves that will help them identify with those parents.
[00:33:28] I ask every professional in every workshop to pause with me and take five minutes and think of an event in their own lives. That was an emotional experience. I I've called it grief, but I I've. I've evolved that term to emotional surprises. You know, grief is pretty heavy and dark seeming and is associated with many things and it is an accurate term, but emotional surprises seems to help people wrap their minds around it a little quicker.
[00:34:00] So I asked them to think about that and we, it, it is mind boggling to hear the stories that professionals have graciously shared with me and the audience. Deep within their own emotional journeys themselves. And so at the end of that, I just say, I hope that you are now able to put your shoes, your feet in the shoes of the parents that you work with.
[00:34:26] So when you look at the parent or the child or the patient, they're a human being sitting in front of you with an emotional journey going on and let's be more sensitive to that and figure out how we can communicate differently. One thing I did, I think this is the fifth year now. I created a new experience called the parent professional collaborative.
[00:34:46] I wanted to bring parents together with, with professionals. And we, we did it in person for several years. To give them an opportunity in a child free environment to communi learn how to communicate better with each other and have a greater understanding.
[00:35:02] Carrie: yeah, those are all great ideas.
[00:35:04] I think I remember when you came for the professional CARE project workshop that you did. I. I remember having a very emotional experience there. And I think just, you know, some of the ideas you brought up and, and thinking about it from my own perspective too, was another way to bring that emotional surprises to the table.
[00:35:29] Johnnie: Absolutely. And you bring, you, you bring a very unique perspective because you grew up with hearing loss and, and you and your family face the very issues that we're trying to focus on. And then you became this amazing audiologist. So you've got a, a wonderfully unique perspective. .
[00:35:49] Carrie: Yes. So a lot of times some of the things that you go through end up being, you know, things that propel you into the, into the future and I let you apply what you learned or didn't have access to, like you said you know, learning from that little boy and what he went through to be able to.
[00:36:08] support emotional journeys with families in the future, even though you didn't know that when you were six years old, that that was gonna be happen.
[00:36:16] Johnnie: Absolutely.
[00:36:17] Carrie: Absolutely. . Oh, but is there anything about the CARE project that I didn't ask you that you wanted to share before I asked you a little bit about educational audiology?
[00:36:30] Johnnie: I think we covered it pretty well. You know, I, I hope that we are, are fortunate to keep growing and, and serving. We've had support from surprising places and some very appreciated organizations companies. I, I think one thing that was so unique, we had the funding and, and we were asked to go to Guam.
[00:36:52] So I sent a team of six people from the United States. And, and, and they went and spent time there and, and brought the CARE project all the way to the other side of the world. So we're, we're hopefully at we're, we're, we're here. If anyone needs us and wants us, we'll keep our partnerships going and growing.
[00:37:09] And and through the virtual platform, even if we return to in person, we're able to reach people everywhere. So that that's, I guess that's the, the final note is that we hope we keep growing and, and helping people well, good.
[00:37:24] Carrie: Yes. Cause it, it needs to be happening all over the world so that the silver lining in the virtual platform.
[00:37:33] Changing gears a little bit. I wanted to ask you a little bit about educational audiology, because I know that is near and dear to me in my own professional live, but you have a private practice that specializes in educational Audiology. You've been doing it for multiple years. Can you share a little bit about your practice and how that works in North Carolina?
[00:37:57] Johnnie: Absolutely. It was another one of those accidental things that happened early in my life. I mentioned the preschool class that I volunteered in as an undergraduate. I was able to cover a, a part-time position as a public school speech therapist before I went to grad school in audiology, which gave me a real sense of the public schools.
[00:38:20] I fell in love with the school environment. I graduated. I finished my master's degree in audiology at the point in time where a, a federal grant had been funded. Actually the, the, the chairperson of our department at East Carolina university had written a grant to establish something called Project Ears.
[00:38:41] And it was a mobile hearing test center assigned to 17 school districts in southeastern North Carolina. One of my dearest friends and colleagues had been hired to direct it. She is an audiologist Dr. Pat Chase. And she reached out to me and she hired me and one other, one of my classmates.
[00:39:05] To join her. So there we were with this responsibility to create the model for educational audiology in the public schools in North Carolina in the late seventies, it was pretty remarkable at the time. It was like, oh great. I have a job. Yay. But we traveled, we went to schools I think it was 7,700 square miles.
[00:39:27] And the thing that was so personal for me is that it was the region in the state where I grew up. So re remember my comment about access to service. there, I am along with my team creating access to service in my hometown, in my home county and in that region. So it, it meant the world to me. Two years into the grant
[00:39:51] we the funding ended, so we had, we lost our jobs, you know, never imagined losing my job, but I did. And there were no obvious choices at the time for me without maybe relocating or whatever. So I was approached by a company that sold equipment to schools for kids and people doing testing, FM equipment, tympanometers.
[00:40:19] Audiometers what have you. And I was hired to become a salesperson and consultant. Now I bring that up. The five year, period of time I was with that company. It was at least five years. My whole world changed and I saw technology in development before it even came into the world, I learned so much, I was sent around the world to learn things that I never dreamed of.
[00:40:47] And so during that period of time, the schools that we served with project years, the directors kept calling me and saying we really miss the services. So one lady, who's a dear friend and she and her husband are still in my life. Linda Beman called me to come to Duplan county schools and sit with her.
[00:41:08] And she said, you know, Johnny, I can't hire you because the legislature won't allow us to create new jobs right now, but I can contract with you. And I didn't know what that was. but that sweet friend showed me what to do. So I got several school contracts enough to quit my job and start my practice.
[00:41:29] And, and here 35 years now of John Sexton and Associates and we, we grew word of mouth. You know, a, a, another huge blessing I advertising and you work in the public school arena, you know, it, it's not the same thing. It's not like you're selling mayonnaise or hot dogs , you know, it's a very personalized service.
[00:41:53] It's a very unique service and in North Carolina, while we recognized the importance of it back then, there no new jobs were being created. Now the good news is that there were several programs created in house, in several counties in our state that have grown and they've done great, but we are a pretty rural state and that's I think, common across the country.
[00:42:19] And so we are able to provide educational audiology consulting servic anywhere in North Carolina. We've I have 15 audiologists now on staff and they live in regions. I even have done some things virtually because of distance. So we try to be there for these school systems. You know, if you can't have access to the service, then you're, you're in trouble in lots of ways with parents.
[00:42:48] they deserve the service. The kids deserve the service. What are we gonna do? So we really have dedicated ourselves and our team to being educational audiologists. We don't do anything else. We work the school calendar. The school year, we operate in the name of the school system. We, not that there's anything wrong with it, but we don't sell products.
[00:43:06] We don't dispense heairng aids. We are purists. You know, we are educational audiologists and we get up every day and we get in our cars and with portable equipment, you know, we're able to, to do what needs to be done. And we're, it keeps evolving. You know, now we have access to the statewide data system online.
[00:43:24] So we're, we're truly a part of the team. We're a part of IEPs. My wonderful staff has created some advocacy training for kids. And so we've grown our role and in some counties we started with one day a week and now we're there five days a week because there's a need, you know, I always laugh.
[00:43:42] There was, I won't named the county, but when I was starting my practice, I called one county director and she said, oh, we don't have any deaf kids here. And I'm like, Really?
[00:43:55] Two years' later. I've heard that before two years later, she called me. She says, you know what? A parent has threatened to sue us and we need you. So anyway it's been an amazing organic path. I hate to keep using that word, but we just work hard at what we do every day. And we get calls every year to come help more schools.
[00:44:13] We're now working with charter schools and private schools. We are in one we're in 70 of 100 counties in North Carolina.
[00:44:20] Carrie: Wow. That's amazing.
[00:44:23] Johnnie: It's it? 35 years, but I, I, gosh, we'll just keep doing it. We'll just keep
[00:44:27] Carrie: doing it. Right. And how do your 15 educational audiologists do you guys network? Do you get together so that everybody's on the same page about services and supports.
[00:44:39] Johnnie: Yes, absolutely. We have a good cohesive group. We communicate of course, very often via email. And we can each reach out to each other with cell phones and texting and another silver lining to the pandemic. I started having virtual meetings you know, getting together when you've gotta drive four hours to get to a meeting.
[00:45:00] Yeah. You know, nobody, no, everybody did it, but now we don't have to. So we meet virtually the staff loves it because we can meet monthly if we want to. Everybody can network share. If anyone has a question, midweek, they send an email out to the whole group. They can get amazing feedback. So there's a good network and bonding you know, amongst the staff.
[00:45:23] Carrie: That's that's great. So. You know, I know a lot of states don't have support or maybe they only have support like you said, in the more urban areas where there's a big city and they are able to hire their own educational audiologist. Do you have suggestions from your wealth of experience of how other states may advocate to have services?
[00:45:53] Johnnie: I think the most important advocacy tool is what's legally required. Okay. If anybody starts debating and discussing, you know, we have, IDEA a you know, we have state licensure there's statements in federal and even some state legislation that will show clearly who does what. I've had over the years, not so much anymore because I've fought hard.
[00:46:21] I've advocated hard for educational audiologists to have a place. We used to have this, this, you know, gray line between, well, the teacher of the deaf can do that. And I'm like, no, they can't. And here's why. And here I have handouts. Now that show, you know, the, the responsibilities and roles above, because we, we value teachers of the deaf.
[00:46:44] But they're not supposed to be selecting and fitting FM equipment. Right. But they have, it's just a matter of advocating positively advocating with hardcore information. You know, don't, you can't have an emotional conversation with you need this, and I don't know why you have to say here's the federal regulation here's IDEA.
[00:47:07] And I even have it carved out. And this is what it states about. Audiology, you know, who can do what? I've had another recommendation is make sure you develop great relationships. Don't burn a bridge, you know, the relationships I've had from the beginning of my career are still in place today. And my example is at the Department of Education in North Carolina, the, the, the head person over all special education had me write a memo for her to send to all school systems that clearly states who does what.
[00:47:44] And so we value the roles of all of the team members, but educational audiology is a required service. And when I work with parents, I am not shy about telling them you deserve this for your child and you need to request it. And if you're denied it, then you need to demand it. and I give them the tools too.
[00:48:07] Carrie: right. No, that is very helpful. And. It shouldn't depend on what a child's zip code is, whether or not they get services. So, you know, like you said, IDEA clearly spells out what our role is and a child deserves to have those services in the public schools.
[00:48:29] Johnnie: And the, the, I I'll just reiterate one more time build relationships because now in North Carolina, if a school system calls the department of education they recommend that they call us.
[00:48:43] That's great. You know, it, it, it, it, it took, you know, 35 years of building it, but, you know, we we've really tried to educate school staff school, personnel, directors across the state. And, and I, I'm proud of 'em. They all clearly understand for the most part, you know, what they need and how to go about getting it.
[00:49:02] Carrie: Good. Good. Well, that's quite impressive that to be able to cover two thirds of this state of North Carolina with educational audiology, and hopefully the other third is covered because they are bigger districts and yes,
[00:49:17] Johnnie: they, they have in-house programs and a final, just a, a final recommendation to any audiologist.
[00:49:24] But I'm speaking to my colleagues in educational audiology. Get become active in not only professional associations, but one of the greatest learning experiences for me that serves me well to this day is I became involved with state licensure. I was the first educational audiologist appointed to the state licensure board in it.
[00:49:48] No, no offense to colleagues, but it was always been predominantly hospital and university audiology. And I love my colleagues, but the perspective of educational audiology and the public school setting was never represented. And I think it needs to be that diverse. You know, we need to understand from a licensure standpoint, because licensure is in place to protect consumers, right?
[00:50:10] Let us have a voice in that as well.
[00:50:13] Carrie: Yeah, that's funny you say that, cuz right now I'm on a state licensure board and congratulations. I think I, yeah, and I've been on there for quite some years now, but I don't think any other educational audiologist has been appointed before I have been on the board and it does bring a whole different perspective.
[00:50:33] Like you said, protecting consumers. And those are the children in the schools who are deaf and hard of hearing. So that it's, it's been a good perspective. Is there anything next for you you've, you've done so much. Do you have anything next that you wanna share?
[00:50:50] Johnnie: So this is I, I, I, this is a positive next.
[00:50:56] I'm at an age I'll be 67 soon. The important next steps for the care project and for my practice is to create a transition plan. I don't want anything I've ever done to stop. If I stop breathing, that sounds morbid, but if I'm gone tomorrow, I don't want this work to stop because I truly believe that because of all the wonderful people who have joined in and helped us move forward, I believe there's value in having it continue.
[00:51:31] And so I'm talking with younger generation audiologists on my staff. I'm talking with a variety of people, you know, in the CARE project world, I, I want to have a, a transition plan and I hope I plan, I don't want to ever stop working. And my parents are 92. So, you know, genetics may be on my side and I'll be around for a much longer time.
[00:51:54] But I think stepping outside of that, The most important thing I can work on now is a transition plan. So the CARE project lives on. And so does my practice.
[00:52:05] Carrie: Yeah, well, that's a great next step and probably brings up a little bit more time for you as well so you can enjoy some travel and other things.
[00:52:15] Sure. Now that things are opening up, but, well, Johnnie, I just wanna say thank you for being a part of the empowerEAR Audiology podcast today. I really do appreciate you sharing about the care project and educational audiology and you have. So much for the field of, of educational audiology and pediatric audiology
[00:52:36] And I just wanna say thank you for all of your insight and program development that you have been involved with over the years. Well,
[00:52:45] Johnnie: thank you for inviting me is again, a pleasure and an honor. You're one of my heroes, so it's a, a, a, a special honor to be with you and be invited by you to join you on your podcast.
[00:52:56] So thank. Well, thank you.
[00:52:58] Carrie: And thank you listeners for tuning in today. If you wanna get a hold of Dr. Johnnie Sexton, I will put some contact information in the show notes that you can reach out to him. I will also link to the YouTube channel and the CARE project that he referenced today in the podcast.
[00:53:17] And thank you for listening and have a great day.
[00:53:21] Announcer: This has been a production of the 3C Digital Media Network.