1. http://firstyears.org Sponsors: Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2. http://firstyears.org Presenters Laurie Cochenour, M.Ed. Project Director UNC-CH Todd Houston, Ph.D. Executive Director Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

3. http://firstyears.org Alexander Graham Bell Association Historical Mission Bold new outreach programs to serve parents, professionals, and adults who are deaf & hard of hearing Professionals: Offering a continuum of training and professional development activities Center for Professional Excellence

4. http://firstyears.org Growing need for well-trained professionals to provide early intervention services 2000: Volunteer leadership at AG Bell develops a proposal for a training program 2002: AG Bell & UNC-Chapel Hill form collaboration 2003 & 2004: Certificate approved and first cohort of students selected Project History

5. http://firstyears.org Accessible University sponsored, academically rigorous Auditory-oral intervention focused content Developed by expert content providers Experiential Project Goal To provide professional development that is:

6. http://firstyears.org Target Participants Deaf educators Early interventionists Speech language pathologists Special educators Audiologists

7. http://firstyears.org 1.Establish Advisory Committee 2.Conduct needs survey 3.Develop FIRST YEARS web site 4.Create certificate courses 5.Establish university approval 6.Identify contributors 7.Define mentorship experience Steps in Project Development http://firstyears.org

8. Advisory Committee Members Sandra Petitt Aldrich, M.S. Carolyn Brown, M.S. Laurie Cochenour, M.Ed., CED (ex officio) Carol C Dudding, Ph.D., CCC-SLP Melody Harrison, Ph.D.,CCC-SLP, CED K. Todd Houston, Ph.D. Gayla Hutsell, M.A., CCC-A/SLP, Cert. AVT Jackson Roush, Ph.D. Beth Whitfield, M.Ed., Cert. AVT Kathryn Wilson, M.A., CCC-SLP, Cert. AVT

9. http://firstyears.org Why it was done How it was developed Please rank how important this skill is to service providers. Please rank the need for continuing education in the following content areas. Who received the survey How it was delivered Who returned it Return rate Survey results Needs Survey

10. http://firstyears.org Certificate Courses Survey of Topics in Speech and Hearing (3 credits) Basic Speech Acoustics (3 credits) Audiology Interpretation and Hearing Technologies (4 credits) Normal Aspects of Speech, Language and Auditory Development (3 credits) Emerging Literacy (2 credits) A Mentorship Experience Total credit hours = 15

11. http://firstyears.org Contributors Sandy Aldrich, M.S Karen Erickson, Ph.D., Associate Professor UNC-CH Department of Allied Health Sciences Judith Gravel, Ph.D., Professor Department of Communication Sciences, Hunter College, CUNY Gayla Hutsell, M.A., CCC-A/SLP, Cert. AVT Alexander Graham Bell Assn. Patricia A. Roush, M.A. UNC-CH, UNC Hospitals, Neuroscience Holly Fryauf-Bertschy Teagle, M.A. Carolina Childrens Communicative Disorders Program. UNC-CH Anne Marie Tharpe, Ph.D., Associate Professor Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center for Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences Pratibha Srinivasan, M.A. Executive Director, Chattering Children

12. http://firstyears.org University Approval submitted to the provosts office at UNC-CH in November of 2003 approved on November 17, 2003 The first course is scheduled to be offered in summer 2004.

13. http://firstyears.org Mentorship Experience Occurs in 2 nd summer Minimum 10-day requirement Minimum 5 days onsite Remainder completed in a variety of ways videotape

14. http://firstyears.org FIRST YEARS Web Site http://firstyears.org

15. 1.Go to 2.Click on the evaluation link. Evaluation of this presentation http://firstyears.org EHDI Presentation evaluation