Highlights from the 2018-2019 Program Year

Children who are identified with hearing loss and who do not receive early intervention services fall behind their hearing peers in speech, language, listening and literacy skills. Successful outcomes for children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) are possible through hearing assistive technology like hearing aids and cochlear implants, but they must be accompanied by intense specialized training in listening and spoken language.

CCHAT is an innovative and effective educational program focused on teaching children with hearing loss to listen and talk. CCHAT continues to grow and refine our specialized services and delivery model to best meet the needs of this unique population.

We are grateful for your ongoing support of our mission and the students that we serve. As a member of our generous community of donors, you are part of every success story that comes out of our program. You’re helping children with hearing loss access the full range of educational, social and vocational choices in life!

Highlights from the 2018-2019 Program Year:

• July 2018, Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Meredith Wright became CCHAT’s 6th staff member to achieve Listening and Spoken Language Specialist certification. These professionals are considered experts in the field of listening and spoken language acquisition. We are so fortunate to have each of them supporting children with hearing loss at CCHAT.
• CCHAT provided 66 newborn hearing rescreening and diagnostic evaluations to families in the greater Sacramento area. Early diagnosis of hearing loss is the first step to ensuring that parents of infants who are deaf and hard of hearing are given the information necessary to maintain hearing health and make an informed decision regarding their preferred communication option. Delayed detection and intervention can critically compromise the development of an infant’s speech, language, cognitive and social skills. 
• CCHAT experienced its highest enrollment in its 22 year history. CCHAT’s center-based services supported children from 20 different school districts and parent/infant county programs : 1) 67 students who are deaf and hard of hearing, birth-3rd grade 2) 9 reverse mainstream students who are typically developing language models for their classroom peers

• Enrollment in CCHAT’s Baby & Me Classes more than doubled! Participation begins immediately after diagnosis for parents and their babies and focuses on creating a language-rich environment while educating families about the importance of proper amplification, hearing health, and the need to provide a highly verbal home environment. Babies participate in play therapy and receive weekly speech therapy sessions.
• CCHAT’s annual professional conference, held in February 2019, addressed two current topics:  Managing children who are DHH who use spoken language in the mainstream and addressing the needs of children who are DHH speaking more than one language
• 50% of CCHAT students speak a language other than English in the home
• CCHAT provides its specialized services at no cost to families. The Center has four major fundraisers each year to help close the funding gap – Bike 4 Fun, Holly Jolly Holiday Celebration, CCHAT Uncorked and Big Day of Giving. With the help of CCHAT’s generous community of supporters, these events raised over $165,000 for oral deaf education!
• CCHAT provided mainstream support services to 275 children with hearing loss from 13 school districts.
• 10 students will be mainstreaming back into their neighborhood school settings for fall 2019.