An Educational Audiology Discussion with Drs. Ashley Dainton & Rebecca Huzzy

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Join me in a conversation about one of my favorite topics, Educational Audiology!  On this podcast I had the opportunity to interview 2 educational audiologists who work for the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech.  Clarke has five sites that offer interdisciplinary professional services in center-based, home-based, school-based and virtual services for infants, families, school-age children and adults.  At Clarke, audiologists are a critical part of our interdisciplinary team of professionals that support students of all ages and their families.  

Ashley Dainton, AuD, CCC-A, F-AAA, Audiologist at the Clarke Hearing Center 

From an early age, Ashley knew she wanted to work in a multidisciplinary field as a healthcare professional. She graduated summa cum laude from Kent State University with a B.S. in Speech Pathology and Audiology. She completed her Doctorate of Audiology at the Northeast Ohio AuD Consortium (NOAC) and received the 2017 Lagler Award for outstanding graduate student. Ashley had clinical placements at the Independence Cleveland Clinic Family Health Center, Mercy Health, Stark County Educational Service Center, the Kent State University and University of Akron clinics and she was part of NOAC's first audiology mission to Guatemala. Ashley went to California to complete her fourth-year audiology externship at the Providence Speech and Hearing Center. During her externship, Ashley had three clinical rotations that included adult and pediatric hearing aid fitting and services, diagnostic testing and specialty testing, auditory brainstem response testing and cochlear implants. 

Rebecca Huzzy, AuD, CCC-A, Educational Audiologist at Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech

Rebecca Huzzy, AuD, CCC-A, Educational Audiologist at Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, graduated cum laude from Bloomsburg University in 2003 with a BS in audiology and speech pathology and then again in 2007 with a doctorate in audiology. Dr. Huzzy has worked as a clinical audiologist at Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware since graduating, and began working as an educational audiologist at Clarke Philadelphia in July 2013. Her clinical interests include cochlear implants, amplification and education.  

For more information about Clarke visit the following website and follow them on social media. 

Clarke: https://www.clarkeschools.org

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 32 of empowEAR Audiology with Dr. Carrie Spangler.

[00:00:16] 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 your own 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 3, the number three, C digital media network dot com under the empowEAR podcast tab.

[00:01:19] Now let's get started with today's episode. Hi everyone. Thanks for joining the empowEAR Audiology Podcast. You are in for a real treat today. And I am going to be talking to two extraordinary educational audiologists, and we are going to be talking about why providing educational audiology services for children who are deaf and hard of hearing to promote listening, learning, and spoken language.

[00:01:51] in their mainstream environment is critical for them to succeed. And that audiologists are a part of this interdisciplinary team of professionals that support students of all ages and their families. So I am going to give a little introduction to the two educational audiologists that we have with us today.

[00:02:16] Um, from Clarke hearing and speech one is Dr. Ashley Dainton, and she has an audiologist at the Clarke hearing center. Ashley. She knew from an early age that she wanted to work in a multi-disciplinary field of healthcare. She graduated from Kent state with a bachelor's in science, in speech pathology and audiology.

[00:02:41] And she completed her doctorate of audiology at the Northeast Ohio AUD consortium. And she also received the 2017 labor award for outstanding graduate students. Ashley had a clinical placement at the Independence, Cleveland clinic, family health center, Stark county educational service center, the Kent state university, and University of Akron clinics.

[00:03:08] And she was part of NOACs First audiology, mission trip to Guatemala. Ashley went to California to complete her fourth year audiology extern at the Providence speech and hearing center. And during her externship, Ashley had three clinical rotations that included adult and pediatric unit fittings and services, diagnostic testing, and specialty testing, auditory brainstem, response, testing, and cochlear implant.

[00:03:38] I also have Dr. Rebecca Huzzy with me today. And she is an educational audiologist at Clarke schools for hearing and speech. And she graduated from Bloomsburg university in 2003 with a bachelor's in science in audiology and speech pathology. And then again, in 20 2007, with a doctorate in audiology. she has worked as a clinical audiologist that.

[00:04:06] Nemours Children's hospital in Delaware. And then since graduating and began working as an educational audiologist that Clarke Philadelphia in July of 2013, her clinical interests include clinic cochlear implants, amplification, and education. I know all of you listeners that input treat today and let's learn a little.

[00:04:31] More about the key roles that educational audiologist play in this schools. I welcome to the empowerEar Audiologyo podcast. I am so excited to have Dr. Rebecca Huzzy and Dr. Ashley Dainton with me today. So welcome. Both of you.

[00:04:51] Rebecca: Thank you so much, Carrie, I look forward to working with you. Thanks.

[00:04:56] Carrie: Yeah, I would start out and I just ask you some of your professional background.

[00:05:02] Um, and how did you get into the field of audiology? So, Rebecca, do you want to start.

[00:05:09] Rebecca: Sure. Thanks again. Thank you so much for having us. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us today. Um, so I graduated from Bloomsburg university with my AUD in 2007. Um, and. Continued or started my career at Nemours children's hospital in Delaware, uh, which is a pediatric, a small pediatric hospital in north Wilmington.

[00:05:32] Um, and then a couple years later, my schedule allowed me to, uh, split my time to work both at the hospital, as well as working for Clarke schools for hearing and speech in Philadelphia, where I've been there since 2013. Um, that's a little bit about my background in history.

[00:05:56] Is

[00:05:56] Carrie:Is there anything that drove you into the field of audiology?

[00:06:01] Rebecca: I think my. My background really is similar to a lot of a lot of other people's, um, going into first, I was going to go into deaf education then, um, speech pathology, and then ultimately audiology won my heart. So with that first audiology class, I was like, oh, this. So,

[00:06:23] Carrie: well, that's awesome. So, Ashley, do you want to share a little bit about how you get steered into the field of audiology and some of your background?

[00:06:34] Ashley: Absolutely. It's good to be back and seeing you again. Um, so in terms of me, I did my undergraduate at Kent state university. And then I did my graduate program through the Northeast Ohio AuD consortium, where I happened to meet you as a mentor. And I had observations with you and I did some volunteer things and, you know, opportunities with you.

[00:06:58] So originally, interestingly enough, I wanted to be a nurse before I got into audiology. Um, but through clinical observations at hospitals, I kind of found my way through observations to the field of audiology and similar to Rebecca, those audiology courses, the research, you know, having those observations really solidified it for me as well.

[00:07:19] Um, I ended up doing my externship in California. So went all the way from Ohio to California. And then after that, I came back this way a little closer in Massachusetts, where I started in 2017 at Clarke. And I've been there ever since.

[00:07:35] Carrie: Well, I just have to say, Ashley, I remember you as a student and you had your little book.

[00:07:43] Dr. Spangler, I meet with you about educational audiology and it had looped little tabs, and I think it was like all color coded with your notes and everything.

[00:07:52] Ashley: And I'm pretty sure I had purple hair as well at that time. So I

[00:07:59] Carrie: had this whole notebook of questions that you were So intrigued with educational audiology.

[00:08:05] So it just makes me happy that you are so settled in on this. I think that the secret hidden gem of educational audiology as I like to call it, uh,

[00:08:16] Ashley: absolutely.

[00:08:17] Carrie: So I thought it would be great to have a conversation about, um, educational audiology and how it is. Again, different from a lot of other sectors of audiology and as an educational audiologist myself.

[00:08:34] Um, I think we get this question quite a bit when you're in the school setting. So what, how is educational audiology different than what maybe a clinical audiologist might do? So I don't know who wants to start with that one?

[00:08:52] Rebecca: I think I'll go first. Um, so honestly, When I started, like I said, I was, I was a clinical audiologist first.

[00:09:00] And then when I first started as an educational audiologist, it was, it was even though I've been doing it for seven, eight years, um, it was. An eye opener, right? Because you know, you can diagnose hearing loss. You can, you can fit the hearing aids. You can fit the remote microphones and then you get into the real world at school where all the things are different.

[00:09:29] So everything in the, everything in the. In the clinical world is finite. And there you go. It's all quiet for me. And then you get into the classroom and you realize that equipment doesn’t Connect when it should be connecting and people are hearing here, our kids are hearing other teachers. Um, when I first started as an educational audiologist, it was literally the month that Roger or a couple months after Roger came out and it, I was on the, on the phone with Phonak for, at.

[00:10:05] I don't know, 30% of my day, every single time I was in the classroom. Um, so it's a lot of different things to different skillset. We have that we do have the skills, but it's a different way. You have to think more on your toes about, about troubleshooting and making sure that things are working, um, in the moment.

[00:10:24] You know, we have to make sure the equipment is working in connecting with the school's equipment. We have to make sure that, you know, we have, are collaborating more with the teachers and the educational discipline, uh, multidisciplinary team, um, and making sure that they know that what, how hearing loss affects the child globally.

[00:10:45] And some, some characteristics of hearing loss might not be as intuitive as. As one might understand it could be, you know, how many times did we hear? Oh, well they can hear me. Let's just like, Hmm. Not quite. So we do have to be a voice for our students, um, and really be able to troubleshoot in the moment.

[00:11:12] Carrie: Yeah. So Rebecca, just to ask, I know you're at Clarke Schools for hearing and speech right now. And you guys have five different, um, locations. Did that help you to have like, almost like, did you have a mentor then going into the educational setting from that clinical setting?

[00:11:32] Rebecca: At the time. Yes. Um, I worked with the educational audiologist, um, who, who was up in North Hampton.

[00:11:41] Um, although we run because, because it's a different state, the, uh, the agencies are a little bit different. Um, so she gave me a lot of the, the, um, information that she worked off on, off of and from. we work together to make sure that I kind of knew what was going on. As far as the whole five campuses goes. I'm a little bit about the history, but because of the role of being a little bit different, um, I, I really, I did rely on, on the manufacturers to help me, um, with the troubleshooting and, you know, and everything.

[00:12:20] I, I used my resources.

[00:12:23] Carrie: Yeah, I know. I think really all I have to use my resources. And like you said, every state's a little bit different and how. You know, the federal laws are the same, but how it's implemented looks a little bit different depending on where your location is. So actually have anything you want to add.

[00:12:39] I know you had an opportunity to actually do a clinical rotation in the schools before actually going, um, and into your, you know, graduation. So do you have anything to add between that clinical and educational role?

[00:12:54] Ashley: Yeah. To add on to Rebecca, you know, fortunately I did have. That educational placement.

[00:13:01] Um, and it's amazing from even my first observation to like my clinical placement to now how much has changed between manufacturers and just updates in technology. Um, so I was fortunate, you know, whether it was my placement or texting you really quickly, or, um, I think definitely what's really exciting about Clarke now is.

[00:13:23] Once a month meet with audiology teams. So I noticed a lot of brain picking and like what we noticed in our clinical settings. So, you know, coming in, I did have a mentor and mentors, so some of it was, Hey, we're adjusting this and we're gonna maybe, you know, we do testing with the equipment every year or so maybe adjusting our report and how that looks.

[00:13:45] I'm still following the same AAA guidelines and everything. So I think. Adjusting and updating information, but still collaborating with the team members. I think what's a little neat in terms of the North Hampton campus is for some districts, I'm the managing and the educational. Um, and we've tried to divide districts that way.

[00:14:04] So. I've made it really important if I'm the managing audiologists to really try and touch base with the educational audiologist or for, if there's not one, try to see if there's a way to get an educational audiologists or those important team members. And then as the educational audiologists, whether it's in our kindergarten to eighth grade program or for mainstream students, I'm really trying to touch base with the managing audiologists.

[00:14:28] So I agree with Rebecca it's a lot of. Either role, making sure to touch base with the professionals, touch base with the students. Um, regardless of hearing loss, or we have some students who have auditory processing disorder as well. So I feel like there's some things that. Are definitely, we're becoming creative about how we provide services, especially with a virtual world that we're kind of transitioning into.

[00:14:54] Um, but I've noticed actually the virtual in-services and those meetings and emails has actually provided more access for students, which is great. So that's what I've kind of noticed this transition as we continue.

[00:15:06] Carrie: Yeah, there's definitely some, I think, benefit of the virtual world that we've lived in, that I would like to see move forward.

[00:15:14] And do you guys feel that you make a pretty good effort, then they know who they're managing our clinical audiologist are for the students that you have. And do you think that's helpful, um, to make sure you're almost like that bridge in between the more clinical, um, and then those who are, um, the educational team.

[00:15:37] Rebecca: I do, you know, we, we want to make sure of that. Not only are we providing the best audiological management in the classroom, but also we want to make sure that the teachers are aware of the current audiograms. And if there's any concerns on the educational side, you know, it's really important to collaborate with their clinical audiologist and their managing audiologists, um, to just to make sure that everyone is on the same page with everything.

[00:16:08] Carrie: Yeah. So thinking a little bit back to, I think what you said Rebecca about, um, how teachers might say, well, they can hear me just fine, right? In the classroom type environment. What are some, I guess, signs that maybe teachers or, um, caregivers might have that would spur them to get their child's hearing tested?

[00:16:36] Ashley you have Rebecca, would you guys want to add. Yeah, we can kind of tag

[00:16:43] Ashley: tag team this for sure. Um, so kind of like the clinical hat on, um, what's nice is at least in Massachusetts is one that I can definitely speak on behalf of is we do the universal newborn hearing screening, um, all different states, maybe have different protocols and mandates.

[00:17:02] But we do a screening before they leave the hospital. So I think that's a great starting point with families. And based on those results, they may need an additional follow-up appointment or that's enough information for this family. Um, so typically at the Clarke North Hampton campus, what's interesting is we see children who are six months and older, um, for that initial testing.

[00:17:25] So oftentimes it's a child who has maybe a speech delay or, you know, Family has a concern about hearing loss. So I think for those really young children where maybe they're not quite developing that language yet, it's looking out for those markers. Are they interacting with you? Are they interested in who's talking and kind of knowing where sound coming from?

[00:17:47] Are they alerting to sounds in the environment, whether it's the family pet. Or dog barking or maybe a car horn. So that's definitely a big source of referrals and just being aware of family history and kind of some risk factors. We've seen little ones where they've had family members who have hearing loss.

[00:18:07] Um, as I discussed, I think a great starting point for those families is touching base with your primary doctor. First, if you have any form of a concern, whether it's speech, whether it's hearing it never hurts to bring it up to your primary first. Um, they may do an initial screening in office and then make a referral if needed.

[00:18:24] So I think that's a great starting point. And you know, we also. Families that don't pass the hearing screening. So don't be scared or alerted. At first, I've done some hearing screenings where we're in a noisy gym room and, you know, maybe the acoustics or the sound in that room might affect test results.

[00:18:40] So I always tell families, you know, even if test results show typical hearing, or there's not concerns, you have a great baseline for your little one. Um, and then if Rebecca, if you want to kind of talk about the educational audiology setting.

[00:18:55] Rebecca: Yeah. Um, I think that. Some teachers should be aware that, like I said before, that hearing loss can sometimes look at, look at, look like a, a behavior concern.

[00:19:07] Right? So if the child doesn't, doesn't hear the teacher and teacher looks back and sees little Johnny talking to his neighbor saying, Hey, what page did she say our homework was that in out of, out of context, looks like she's not, he's not paying attention. It looks like he is. Talking out of turn, it looks like that he is.

[00:19:28] Um, it's not, he's not ultimately it doesn't look like he's being an advocate for himself. Um, so another, you know, Just not paying attention. Um, getting up from their seats, it looks a lot like behavior concerns. And so, you know, especially if they have a known hearing loss and their equipment might not be working or the, the remote microphone system isn't working or connecting properly, those are the things that we need to really address in the classroom as well.

[00:19:58] Um, a lot of other things is if, um, You know, the, would their speech, if their speech starts to decline, um, those are some red flags that we need to be readdressed in the clinical setting.

[00:20:11] Carrie: Yeah, I know. I, I feel like every child that is being referred for any kind of speech and language eval should definitely be having their hearing screen prior to any type of speech, language articulation.

[00:20:27] And I don't know. I mean, I think for the most part that happens, but I don't know if that always happens and it can be a big part of, you know, those referrals too. So, um, and every state, like you said, it's probably different in how they do school hearing screenings and how they get referred to you ultimately, um, in the end.

[00:20:46] So it's, I think a national thing to, to be aware of too.

[00:20:52] Ashley: Yeah, something I even noticed too, for some of the referrals that we get, um, it'll say like did not pass screening whether at school or in the primary care physician's office. And it's one of those, you look in the ears and you see wax blocking the ear.

[00:21:07] Um, or, you know, some parents notice maybe their little ones are poking at their ears or kind of pulling on them. That can be another sign that maybe there's an ear infection. Um, I think it's a really helpful thing. There are things that maybe a kid's not going to say, Hey, my ears hurt or, Hey, I'm noticing my ears sound different than they previously did.

[00:21:26] Um, so those are oftentimes what we've found too. It's an ear infection or maybe some wax in the ear, um, that can be hopefully treated and resolved.

[00:21:37] Rebecca: Oh,

[00:21:37] Carrie: sorry. Not testers as a good and result. Right. There's always going to be a way that we can find. Ultimately what's going on with the child's hearing. And we think that's important to have you over the last decade.

[00:21:53] There's been increases in the number of children who are deaf and hard of hearing who are mainstreamed who I, you know, in the neighborhood schools, um, and maybe not in as much of a, um, a specialized area. So how do you feel audiologists can support. Students who are deaf and hard of hearing in a more mainstream type setting.

[00:22:19] And why does I role important?

[00:22:22] Rebecca: No, I think the role as the educational audiologist is, is super important because we, um, are their first line of defense as far as auditory access. Right? So I think first and foremost, we really need to establish that the child has functioning equipment and that, that functioning equipment.

[00:22:40] Is brought to school every day and that it has good and stable connections with the remote microphones. Um, so because of, because of the, the need for, you know, the, or the foundation of hearing as access to speech and language and ultimately learning that needs to be addressed and it's in and of itself.

[00:22:59] Um, I think also that. Knowledge and education sharing between the teachers and the caregivers and the nurses and the educational team is really important. Um, kind of going off of what Ashley was saying before, you know, when they come in after a failed screening, you know, and you look in the ear and there's huge, you know, wax occlusion, you know, I, I, there was one time.

[00:23:20] I, I had a, um, I had a student come in, um, in my clinical world and then ma and he known. wears hearing aids, um, comes in with a , a referral from a screening and. Did we know, like, does the nurse know that there's, there's hearing loss and she's like, oh yeah, but she said that the hearing aids aren't working because he, you know, when we put the headphones over the ears, um, with the hearing aids on, oh, this is no joke.

[00:23:47] This literally happened. Um, That the hearing aids weren't working because he wasn't responding when, when the headphones were on over the hearing aids, I said, oh, I said, can we just write a note that he's excused from these hearing screenings at school? Um, because that's, you know, so that really, it drives home.

[00:24:03] The fact that nurses don't know a lot about how technology works either. So it's our role as educational audiologists to inform everyone who's caring for this child. Um, and you know, also. Our biggest thing that we can also do is to be an advocate. So if we can be an advocate for our students, they can be an advocate for themselves.

[00:24:25] There was one time. Um, you know, I, when I started at Clarke, you know, this little girl, she was four years old. You know, I was going around, I was checking everyone's equipment and I was looking at everything, making sure everything was working. Um, I said, okay, you know, I'm going to be I'm I'm finished now.

[00:24:42] And she said, okay, thank you. I said, oh yeah, here. No problem. Anytime. And so in on her face, she, she looks at me with confusion. I didn't know what to do at that point. So I was like, okay, have a good day. Bye friends. And then she got very angry. She stood up from her chair and said, you are supposed to say, you're welcome when someone says, thank you.

[00:25:03] And I said, oh yes, yes, you are right. You are definitely right. Well, you're welcome. And thank you for pointing that out for me. Um, yeah. If that doesn't strive home, the need for advocacy. I don't know what else does is, I mean, what else does in, in the moment, because that little four year old knew what she wanted to hear.

[00:25:23] And clearly I did not meet that expectation

[00:25:27] Carrie: and I'm sure she's doing quite well for herself.

[00:25:32] Rebecca: Absolutely. Oh,

[00:25:35] Carrie: that's awesome. So Ashley, do you have anything to add about like that mainstream setting and, and the importance of education, educational audiology?

[00:25:46] Ashley: Yeah, I think, you know, definitely whether it's managing role or educational audiology, what's been really great at Clarke is oftentimes if the teachers of the deaf are providing services for a student with hearing loss, and even if they're managed by an outside clinic.

[00:26:01] They try really hard to touch base with the school and say, Hey, you know what? There is great benefit to having a teacher of the deaf and the educational audiologist on the flip side, too. I know without, you know, getting out of my scope, I also say, Hey, the student seems to really be focusing on. I don't want to wear my amplification or my hearing aids.

[00:26:24] I think having that support in the classroom with the teacher of the deaf, um, would be really beneficial. So I think it's that comfort level of also touching base with the schools and checking in, Hey, are there any new students? I think just letting them know that you're there and what you can provide.

[00:26:40] I mean, I know so many students who, whether it's unilateral hearing loss or they have a slight to mild hearing loss and we do testing with noise and it's amazing the score differences with just amplification, just implants Versus with all the equipment for school. So whether it's discussing that with the school, you know, with the student, with the team, I think all of that is so helpful.

[00:27:03] So I think it's just being comfortable to just touching base, checking in, um, whether you're managing audiologists educational, or you have some team members that are touching base with you too. Um, we've even have instances where I think of those students who are mentioned be cochlear implant candidates, um, where I have so appreciated the teacher's updates.

[00:27:24] And there may be that borderline candidate where the speech, the teachers, that team update has really helped these students. If the family's interested to get cochlear implants to pursue that, to help them, you know, make sure they're getting the right treatment that they need. So again, I think like Rebecca was saying, you know, having that team approach.

[00:27:42] Including the educational audiologist is really, really helpful because oftentimes the managing audiologist is touching base once or twice a year. Um, and that comes from my perspective too, where maybe it is that once or twice a year appointment and the educational audiologist, as well as those other team members are seeing the student every day in their real world situation.

[00:28:02] Um, so all of that can be really helpful.

[00:28:05] Carrie: Yeah. Another the good point, what you brought up is having all that information. Like you example of that borderline cochlear implant, you know, you candidate, and by you gathering that school information might just be the information that cochlear implant center needs in order to go to that next steps

[00:28:24] or the parents might need to go to that next step. So again, that bridge between that clinic and educational audiology is so critical along the way. And then I think you brought up another good point about the functional assessment. Then that's another role. Have you guys found that really plays into the educational team?

[00:28:47] Being able to functionally assess them in their school environment?

[00:28:54] Yeah.

[00:28:55] Rebecca: Yeah, absolutely. I think that that functional that, like I said before, the, the world in the clinic is so small. You know, and you can, you can adjust the hearing aids and you can have them walk around the cafeteria or walk around outside. And it doesn't really mimic real world. Um, so the people who are, who are working with the students and the, and the, and the children, um, uh, on a daily basis, really have such a massive amount of information that they can share to make sure that we, uh, you know, as the clinicians know what's happening in the real world,

[00:29:34] Carrie: So I have both of you guys too.

[00:29:38] What if you have a student or just say the, you know, somebody who's listening right now and they have a student who is deaf or hard of hearing, whether it's their own child or, you know, their teacher that's listening and they don't have an educational audiologist. Do you have any tips for advocating to get either one of you?

[00:30:04] Rebecca: You know, I, I'm a big fan of making my wants and needs known to anyone in any kind of world, you know, kind of anything you can't assume that someone knows what you want and what you need until you talk to them. So as the parent of a child with hearing loss as a, as a clinician who, who knows that there is no educational audiologist on the team, and it's really important for us to make sure.

[00:30:32] the Educational team is aware of what the child needs and, and can make a really big difference in their potential. To succeed. Um, so, you know, recommendations, reaching out to change the IEP, to making sure that, you know, I don't want the nurse doing the hearing screenings. I want to be referred to the clinical world.

[00:30:56] Um, I think that's really important. That the parent knows that they have that power to request things. Now it might take a lot of negotiations and, and meetings, but they do have the power to request what they need

[00:31:14] actually.

[00:31:16] Ashley: Yeah. So I definitely think, you know, a big part of it too. I think that's, what's awesome about managing audiologists. I know some of our reports that I've typed up have gotten a little lengthy with recommendations, um, but included in the recommendations I've had parents feel motivated and

[00:31:35] Empowered with this lengthy report that has these recommendations, um, to advocate for themselves. And I know there's resources out there for parents in terms of even quick searching educational audiologist, and there's, you know, the educational audiology group of America, that huge group that kind of connects all the educational audiologists in the world.

[00:31:58] So I think a good starting point if you're feeling a little overwhelmed and maybe you have a teacher of the deaf. You know, with asking them, or if you feel more comfortable, maybe touching base with your managing audiologists and go from there. Um, I definitely think there's a lot of resources out there for families and for audiologist.

[00:32:15] Right.

[00:32:15] Carrie: Definitely. So just to kind of wrap up a little bit, I know, um, you guys both work for Clarke schools for hearing and speech, but you're both at different campuses. And I understand there's five different sites that offered I have a center-based services, but can you just share a little bit more about your services and supports that you have.

[00:32:43] Rebecca: Sure. Um, so like you said, Clarke schools for hearing and speech, um, has five locations. I, um, work in Philadelphia. And my primary focus is working with the students, um, weekly to again, make sure and, and, um, and manage the integrity of the systems of their personal systems up their, of their, of the classroom.

[00:33:10] Systems. I also, um, we're sandwiched between in Philadelphia. We have a couple of children's hospitals, um, who all diagnosed the, our students, um, and manage them on the clinical side. So I am corresponding with their managing and clinical audiologists on a regular basis. I, um, provide them. Uh, in services to the classroom teachers, not only at Clark, but also in the mainstream, um, a typical day for me really is going to make sure each classroom, all equipment is working, coming back in, touching base with our team to make sure there's any, anything that if they're noticing any decreases in the listening checks or concerns that they might have with their, with their students, that, um, I'm, I'm unaware and ultimately, um, bring to the clinical side, um, And that's, that's pretty much what my role is.

[00:34:06] Isn't most of the time in the preschool at the Philadelphia location. Okay.

[00:34:11] Carrie: Ashley does your role look different.

[00:34:15] Ashley: Yeah. So I could literally show you my week's week schedule. And even though I have certain spots for certain appointments, it literally looks different every day. So like I discussed, I kind of wear both hats of managing audiologists as well as educational audiologists.

[00:34:31] So my day could be providing hearing tests for whether it's six months and over or adults. Um, we also do, you know, hearing aid fittings for. local patients in the community. Um, it also typically three times a week, I'm checking in with our kindergarten to eighth grade program for children with hearing loss.

[00:34:52] Um, so oftentimes similar to what Rebecca was saying, I'll check in with the students, I'll, you know, complete testing to make sure their equipment's functioning well. And then there's also. Educational piece for mainstream. So whether I'm managing or just the educational audiologist, um, we provide services testing.

[00:35:11] I know lately I've feel like I've had a million virtual in-services so lots of that too. Um, It's different day to day. And I love the opportunity to be able to support our kindergarten to eighth grade program. We also have a preschool program, um, that another audiologist supports. And then I get the opportunity to work with mainstream, which is totally different.

[00:35:33] And I know it can be chaos sometimes of the start of the school year, making sure all the equipment service and out there. Um, and then getting the opportunity to work with. Adults and kids in the area is great too. So as I said, you could ask me this today and the next week, and my schedule could look completely different, but I love that.

[00:35:54] I love that. I get to have that variety throughout my day.

[00:35:58] Carrie: Great. That's such an amazing, um, services that Clarke is able to offer to, uh, find different sites and communities. So thank you guys, but all of that. So I guess just to wrap up, I thought I would just ask, is there anything that I didn't ask you that is that you were like dying and thinking, oh my gosh, I hope that she asked me this question.

[00:36:22] Anything else you want to share?

[00:36:29] Rebecca: Um, honestly, I think that we've really covered all of everything that Ashley and I prepared for and more, um, I just think audiology on a whole is such a wonderful world that really makes a difference in our patients, students, Children's lives that, you know, educational clinical, anything in any kind of, um, individual in this world really is, is, um, really important, um, to any student out there that you make a difference.

[00:37:03] And it's really important to know that you, you have a really important role in your, in your students and your patient's lives.

[00:37:11] Carrie: Yeah. That's great. Ashley,any final a words.

[00:37:15] Ashley: Yeah. I think for me, you know, we're definitely getting into the time where we're getting towards the holidays. So don't hesitate to reach out to your managing audiologist or your educational audiologist.

[00:37:26] If you feel there's been any changes or if it's been a while, since you've seen one of them before, you know, since the last time you've seen them. So. I think overall we've kind of summed up the importance of not only educational managing, but all the team members that help support pediatric patients, as well as discussing further about the support for adult patients too, because we do have some adult patients that are in.

[00:37:51] College or university setting as well as you know.

[00:37:55] Carrie: Yeah. That transition piece, no matter if you're transitioning from what early intervention to preschools at school, age to college, um, touching base along the way is going to be really important because your needs change. And all of those different steps along the way, but I just want to say thank you to both of you for joining me on the empowEAR Audiology Podcast.

[00:38:17] I know our listener to as I really going to benefit from this conversation. Um, and so again, thank you.

[00:38:27] Announcer: This has been a production of the 3C Digital Media Network.