What is the 1, 3, 6 Criteria & Why it’s Important for Your Child

Originally posted on May 6, 2021

CCHAT aims to follow the 1, 3, 6 criteria as the ideal testing and intervention pathway for children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH). Success in reaching these age-related benchmarks translates to children with hearing loss being better positioned to reach their full potential with listening and spoken language.

What is the 1, 3, 6 Criteria for Hearing Loss?

The 1-3-6 guidelines are:

• A hearing screening by 1 month of age
• A diagnosis of hearing loss by 3 months of age
• Entry into early intervention services by 6 months of age
  

Because of the time sensitive nature of this diagnosis, adhering to these guidelines helps ensure that newborn children who are DHH get the help they need to live life to the fullest going forward. 

It also ensures that newborn hearing screening results are communicated to parents, allowing the family to quickly seek out early intervention services.

The CCHAT Approach to the 1, 3, 6 Criteria 

CCHAT is approved as a Medi-Cal/CCS Type C Communication Disorder Center. This permits us to provide newborns who fail their initial hearing screenings with rescreenings and diagnostic evaluations. Thanks to community and grant support, this program continues to grow and reach more families throughout Northern California. 

Our goal is to ensure that each child and family has access to a comprehensive program of: 

• Audiology services
• Intervention services
• Parent education and support

How CCHAT’s Partners Help Provide Families With Healthcare for Their Children

We partner with hospitals in the area to provide timely follow-up hearing health services. They can then provide information to their patients that includes early intervention resources. 

Ultimately, this helps the CCHAT Center reduce the negative impacts of hearing loss on:

• Speech and language 
• Academic achievement
• Social development
• Emotional development 

To provide the DHH support services that families need, CCHAT continues to collaborate with all regional pediatric cochlear implant centers, including Kaiser, UC Davis, Children's Hospital Oakland and Stanford. Additionally, CCHAT has formed multiple partnerships with local birthing centers and midwife centers, allowing for the delivery of hearing screening and diagnostic services to children born at birthing clinics or outside of the hospital system.

While CCHAT is fortunate to have its pediatric audiologist on-site, it is essential to maintain strong communication and collaboration with the other centers in order to provide our children with the best care throughout their hearing loss journey. 

CCHAT’s Hearing Aid Loaner Bank  

We've partnered with Oticon and Phonak, two notable pediatric hearing aid companies, to help us maintain a loaner bank of hearing aids for newborns with hearing loss. 

This will allow us to meet the immediate amplification needs of young children diagnosed with hearing loss or bridge the gap until they are able to secure hearing-assistive technology of their own.

Spreading the Importance of the 1, 3, 6 Criteria

The CCHAT Center has worked alongside the University of Miami and the Teachers College at Columbia University to publish outcome data for children with hearing loss who meet the 1, 3, and 6 criteria. 

The CCHAT Center has a large set of assessment protocols to help measure progress rates in children between 0-36 months. From all this data, we can accurately gauge where each student stands in relation to their hearing peers. This will help our team determine follow-up steps on how to help them progress toward their listening, speech and language goals. 

This data also demonstrates to local school district and county personnel the potential cost savings when children with hearing loss begin receiving treatment before 6 months of age. 

We will be able to see the benefits of the 1, 3, 6 criteria immediately. By the time these children are in kindergarten, many will have developed listening, language and literacy skills on par with their hearing peers.

At CCHAT, we strive to make sure children who are DHH get the help they need. Establishing the 1, 3, 6 criteria as the standard throughout the country will ensure more children can begin timely development of spoken language skills needed for lifelong success.

If you have any questions about the 1, 3, 6 criteria or want to get in touch with one of our specialists, contact CCHAT by calling (916) 361-7290 or send us a message on our contact page.