>> BRENDA HOMMERDING: Hello, everyone.
I'm Brenda Hommerding.
Thank you for joining us today for our presentation.
I want to click to my next screen.
Oops, I went too far.
I want to share the objectives of today's presentation.
First of all, you will be learning about the Deaf Mentor Family
Services program, and you will also be learning about the Minnesota
Hands & Voices deaf and hard of hearing program, and you will learn
about what they both have to offer.
You will also collect some ideas on how the programs work together
to serve families, and most importantly, I hope you will leave
with the understanding about, you know, the importance of
collaboration between the programs to support the families.
So, at this point, I'm going to turn it over to Emily
Smith-Lundberg who is Deaf Mentor Family Services' director.
Emily.
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Hello, everybody.
My name is Emily Smith-Lundberg.
And I want to tell you a little bit about who I am and where I come
from to give you an idea of who I am.
I was born deaf.
I was born two months early premature.
I was the first deaf person to my parents when I was young and I had
a screening back in the 80's.
It was lucky I had a screening, because it wasn't commonly done and
my parents didn't know what to do with a deaf infant, so they went to
deaf and hard of hearing services and theyed to my parents to learn
sign.
And they started doing that from a book, they started meeting deaf
adults and I started school when I was 6 months old.
I was mainstream preschool through high school.
My parents were huge advocates about education and they wanted me
to have equal access to education and equal access to opportunities.
It was a wonderful opportunity to socialize with my peers and
other deaf and hard of hearing adults and I had a good foundation
growing up.
When I graduated high school, I went to Gallaudet and I have a BA
in deaf studies and master's in Sign Language Education.
And now I'm the director here for Deaf Mentor Family Services in
Minnesota.
I'm excited to share with you what our services are.
Next slide, please.
So, we serve, who we serve is all families in the state of
Minnesota who have a deaf or hard of hearing child.
Age 0 to 21, we focus 0 to 5 in the language acquisition period.
We prioritize families in a way from age to 5 is if the families
are from -- if they are from a rural area, if they are from a
rural area, and the others, we connect them with deaf mentors if
they are not in a rural area.
That is why we got a grant from deaf and hard of hearing services
to serve families and there is no cost to the families for any of the
services that we provide.
Next slide, please.
So, we have two areas of service.
We have a deaf mentor program.
This is where we focus on language, education, language acquisition,
we focus on the whole family, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles,
whoever the family wants to include in this, we include them.
Also, our deaf and hard of hearing mentors come from all walks of life,
some grew up oral, some grew up in deaf families, some from
residential programs, they come from all walks of life, and we use
ASL as our priority language.
Our families can ask if they grew up in a rural environment and our
services, we advocate services for our children.
The other program we have is called Empower, where it is an
eight-session program.
And it tends to be 7 to 21, age 7 to 21 and we focus a lot on
conversation.
The sessions are very conversational, supportive skills,
how to befriend, all of the support services that the child needs in
these individual sessions.
For a child to learn from another adult who has experienced what they
have experienced is really important.
Often a family will sign up for the Empowerment program and they
decide they want a full-time deaf mentor or they are in the deaf
family service and they within more services and they join the Empower
program.
Families can go from one program to the other or add the other
program to the existing one they are in.
Our deaf mentors are in consistent training.
We have two trainings twice a year where the mentors come together,
share ideas, share tip, share -- they advocate for one another and
we train our deaf mentors and the families in the curriculum, in a
particular curriculum.
That is an evidence-based curriculum and our mentors are
trained in education for deaf and hard of hearing children, early
language acquisition, and best practices in mentorship.
They also train in ASL milestones in language acquisition and family
services, cultural and community as well as assistive technology that
helps deaf and hard of hearing children.
Next slide.
So, the sessions look like this.
We focus on -- we're very child centered, whole child centered and
we welcome family feedback, we welcome families to be involved and
we work with a whole holistic system.
We encourage that.
The more people who have ASL, more people for the child to interact
with, the quicker they are going to pick it up.
The first eight sessions are online or remote where the family
will watch six or seven courses or six or seven classes, two videos,
short videos.
It is called the Bravo course, DCMP.
They will watch two videos, practice, they can watch it over
again if they want and a deaf mentor will come up and review the
signs, concepts and answer any questions.
That is a full eight-session course, and when they are done with
that, we start in-person sessions in their home or in a place that
the family prefers to come to together.
We do use the deaf mentor curriculum and it is two years
ongoing.
And we meet every other week, so every two weeks, if the family
previous weekly, we can do that, it just means it will be shorter
program than two years.
They might come to the home and start with activities such as
reading or a short ASL lesson, they will discuss the concepts, what the
lesson might look like, the objectives of that lesson, and
signs and new language associated to those signs.
It becomes more of a dialogue of learning using sentences, using ASL,
and through activities, so what they learn sticks.
Also, it will be applied to early visual communication, deaf culture,
deaf history, we'll answer any questions a family has, plans for
the next step or what the next session will look like will be
included in that session.
CRM, we have CRM, which is a database and the deaf mentor will
go in and see the families and input a report.
We can track each session and see how it is going to show progress.
Okay, so that is what our sessions look like.
And here are a few of our deaf mentors.
They are the heart of our service, and they really invest their time
and their energy, their hearts in family services and they are a
wonderful group and I appreciate and I'm so grateful for my team.
You can contact us here for an application.
It is really simple electronic application.
It gets sent directly to us and we look at the application and then we
contact the family and go from there.
We do offer the application in those four different languages
presented on the slide.
So, now, what I would like to do is give my -- introduce Heidy and
she's the Director of Deaf Mentor Family Services, Heidy Nazario and
she is the Director of Deaf Mentor Family Services and I would like to
turn it over to her.
>> HEIDY
NAZARIO: Hi, everyone.
Thank you, Emily for that presentation and introduction.
My name is Heidy Nazario and I am the coordinator for the DHH Guide
Program for Minnesota Hands & Voices.
A little bit about myself, I come from a family of deaf and hard of
hearing.
It is a progressive and genetic family and I recently learned about
a gene that causes my hearing difference called HGCG1 and you
find out later in life that you have a hearing difference.
I am deaf.
I am Hispanic.
I come from Puerto Rico.
My parents are Puerto Rican.
I found out I was deaf or hard of hearing in high school, and it was
because my friends telling me I was speaking too loud.
I decided to go to the audiologist and have my hearing checked and
they said I had a hearing difference.
I did not know a lot about being hard of hearing was, because I had
family members who were deaf or hard of hearing, they did not speak
at all about what it was to be deaf or hard of hearing.
It was either, use use a hearing aid or I struggle with the
conversation or I don't say anything.
I was one of the first in my family to look for resources.
I wanted to figure out my identity, how I fit into the hearing world,
how my life was going to change at that moment.
Eventually, I ended up over here in Minnesota, which although more
months of the year, I'm shivering because it is cold, but the
wonderful concept that came out of being over here was being able to
lead a group of other deaf and hard of hearing adults to provide role
models for DHH kids just like I needed that when I found out I was
deaf or hard of hearing.
Next slide, please.
And then, I will talk a little bit about the three programs that
are under Minnesota handles&voices, also I will continue with the DHH
guide.
We have three guides and they share a common bond by sharing the
wisdom and insight and they are the first contact for Minnesota Hands &
Voices to families and they talk about the two other resources,
which are us, the DHH guides and the ASTra advocates.
Three advocates are two of DHH parents and one is a HDD adult and
they provide advocacy, support, and resources to families who need
guidance through specially education law and creating
educational plans for their DHH children.
It is us, DHH guide, we're for deaf or hard of hearing adults --
Brenda, can you go back?
Sorry about that.
One DeafBlind adult and we're uniquely qualified to provide
families with a positive and hopeful perspective from their
day-to-day real life experience.
As a DHH person living in a predominantly hearing world.
We're meeting with families and sharing our experiences and
connecting with DHH children and telling them that we are similar
and that we have had similar experiences, and just providing
that hope to families.
Next slide, please.
These are our DHH guides and I include myself, because I also
visit with families, because I speak Spanish and English, I also
meet with families who are Spanish speaking families.
The first that you will see is Hannah Harriman who identifies as
DeafBlind.
She uses a hearing aid.
She provides great perspective, especially for those who have not
worked with a DeafBlind individual before.
Following we have Shelby Geldon.
She also identifies has hard of hearing, uses hearing aid and is
currently in college to be a teacher of deaf and hard of
hearing.
I'm in the middle and following me is Kelsey Woodward, culturally
deaf, uses ASL to communicate and does not use technology.
And last but not least, we have Sofia Barr.
Sophia uses both spoken English and Sign Language and is our admin
assistant.
She has a dual role, as well as Kelsey.
Next slide, please.
So, the benefits of meeting with a DHH guide and here are some.
We are sharing our lived experiences with families, allow
for a safe space for a conversation, we start to talk about how it has
been for us growing up, what are the challenges and what are the
good things and technology, we may have used or are using,
relationships and things like that.
It opens up a conversation where families are able to ask some
questions, things they are curious about.
It also provides an opportunity to learn about the resources available
for DHH families, because we are sharing those resources and we talk
about the resources that we're currently using.
Of course, role models are important.
I know it because back when I found out I was hard of hearing, I
needed a role model.
I wanted someone to sit down with me and say, hey, it is okay.
I understand what you're going through.
And most of the people that back then who would say they understood
what I was going through really didn't have a hearing difference.
It was really hard to relate to someone who didn't have that
experience.
So, a child who is DHH having that person in front of them and seeing
that they have been able to get to where they are, to be successful,
and they can also look at the variety of role models to shape how
they behave in school, relationships, make difficult
decisions.
We also help build a support network.
We, in a way connect families, we hold events that are virtual or
live or in person, and they allow for families to connect with one
another and build a support network and we're there to support them.
We navigate the common challenges of being DHH.
Of course, we won't say everything is great, because we're human
beings and all human beings have their challenges, so we talk about
everything that involved DHH as our own experience, and allowing the
children to share their own experience, right.
And then our services are free to all Minnesota families who have
a child who is deaf or hard of hearing.
It is a great resource along with Emily's program, the Deaf Mentor
Family Services and we are just excited for families to be able to
benefit of all of the resources that are available to them.
Next slide, please.
Okay, and here you will see there is a photo of one of the
families that our DHH guides are visiting with.
In our visits, in our first visit, we give the child or the family the
option of receiving a fostering joy journal that is available in
English or Spanish or a book with a deaf or hard of hearing character.
In this case, we're showing El Deafo who is a deaf or hard of
hearing character.
For those who are not familiar with the fostering joy adjourn, it
was created by the team of Hands & Voices, celebrating the joy of
having a deaf or hard of hearing child, and what the DHH guide
program from Minnesota Hands&Voices did was create a sister product and
now we have a fostering joy journal for kids, because we want DHH
children to be able to remember all of the joys they have and to share
those joys with their family, so they can have that bond, they can
talk about all the daily joys that they are living, not only every day
talking about what it is to be deaf or hard of hearing, but to talk
about the everyday joy.
I think it is a great product.
I would have loved to have that with my parents.
I think what got me through to this point in my life was I always
had the support of my parents, but this is such a great product to be
able to, like a keepsake to look back on that and be able to share
that.
Below, you will see the superhero powers that we share in our visits
and our events.
These come in little cards like collectibles and we talk about each
of the superpowers, reminding children they have, in fact, the
superpowers.
They have creativity, they have courage, they have advocacy and
relating and attaching to each one of the superpowers.
Brenda, next slide, please.
And so, what Emily and I get a lot is our programs are similar or
families sometimes confuse one or the other, so we work together to
create this Venn diagram and Emily will share in a minute and then I
will share my program and together, we're doing to share the overlap,
so hopefully, it will be easier for families to understand the benefits
of each program and you can benefit from both at the same time.
So, I will turn it over to Emily, so she can read her side of the
Venn.
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Okay, mine is over on the left.
We are a language-based program.
The goal is to teach families the language that they can communicate,
which is American Sign Language.
So, we're heavily based in helping the families communicate at a very
young age with their families.
We are a two-year program, and it's up to them, like we showed
before which program they wanted to be involved in, but we use the SKI
program, which is the curriculum that we use.
And it could be one or two years.
>> HEIDY
NAZARIO: And I will start reading about my program.
It's Minnesota Hands&Voices DHH program is a support-based program,
so we're modeling from communication and technology if it
is being used, but we are not teaching.
Our goals is to visit with families who desire connection with
DHH individual and we share experiences.
We offer free visits to make sure the child gets a full experience,
gets to see the superpowers and if the family just wants the one visit,
we're okay.
We are President -- supporting them on their journey.
We offer the channeling your super powers at that are visits and it is
begin at events and the joy journaling is begin at first-time
visit.
We will go to the overlap.
Emily, do you want to do one and I do one?
Okay.
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: That's fine.
I can start.
We support deaf and hard of hearing families and that is one
overlap that we both do.
>> HEIDY
NAZARIO: We share experiences related to being a DHH individual
with families.
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: We also, both programs offer direct
referrals that are made via e-mail or the CRM and we collect all of
the information that way.
>> HEIDY
NAZARIO: And families have access to both programs at any point in
their journey, not having to choose one or the other.
So, if you enrolled with the Deaf Mentor Family Services, you can
equally have a DHH guide and vice versa.
Emily and I work closely, we collaborate and we're happy to meet
with the families, so just reach out if you would like to have these
services.
I will turn it over to Brenda.
>> BRENDA
HOMMERDING: Okay, thank you.
Just a little background about myself.
Where do I start?
I grew up with deaf grandparents, so I was exposed to American Sign
Language.
I am the youngest of four siblings and I am the only one of my
siblings that has a hearing difference or a hearing loss.
I was identified as the age of 16 and so that changed my life, became
more confident and able to accomplish all of my goals.
Moving forward, let's see, I am now married almost 30 years to my
husband and we have twin girls.
Both of the girls were born with a hearing loss, and so different
technology.
They chose to use speech and use CART or captioning, even though I
was teaching them Sign and I still use it with them, but they prefer
to speak.
And my one daughter, she is not married -- now married and has two
sons and they are deaf.
Again, different technology, different modes of communication,
but we're doing well.
I started out as a parent guide for Minnesota Hands & Voices and
became a lead and now I'm in the guide by your side manager
position.
Oops.
Okay, so I want to talk a little bit about our databases, like Emily
said, she has a CRM database and so does Minnesota Hands&Voices.
They are different databases, so we're not allowed to see each
other's information.
Because both programs are under Lutheran services, which is another
nonprofit organization, we're part of their organization, we're able
to share necessary contact information between our programs.
So, what happens is, when any of our staff at Minnesota Hands&Voices
connect with a family and we learn the family wants to be referred to
the Deaf Mentor Family Services, we click a box in our database and it
creates an e-mail and that is an example of an e-mail that would go
to Emily and her staff just giving the family's name, necessary
contact information.
The other thing is, Emily and I -- Emily and her staff and I work very
closely on a monthly basis to track the names of families being
referred to her program, the dates they were referred.
We also have to track the dates of enrollment that is part of our
grant requirement.
So, then what happens is, I take that information after I work with
Emily and her staff, the three of us work on getting the necessary
information and I report that back to MEDSS, which is the grant OAE's
database of the families that we see from both, the deaf and hard of
hearing program and the Deaf Mentor Family Services and meetings that
both programs attended and we give those to our grant holders as well.
So, any time Minnesota Hands&Voices has an event, we
always invite a deaf and hard of hearing guide to attend and a deaf
mentor to attend, so they are available to meet with the families
as well.
I'm a data person, so I like my data.
I have to share some things that happened in 2022.
I know, it is crazy.
We're going through the year of 2023 pretty fast.
Anyway, we had 16 events where a deaf mentor and deaf of hard of
hearing guide were both in attendance throughout the year of
2022.
This is just a list of some of the topics that those events were, so I
think it is cool that we have a variety.
Some of our events are just mainly socialization, some are educational,
but you can just see that just from the titles that we have a vast
variety of topics for the families.
Again, because of our referral system, the majority of the
referrals to the Deaf Mentor Family Services program are from Minnesota
Hands&Voices.
We had 48 families referred to the deaf meant family program, but like
both of our programs, families can be referred to us on our website,
self-referred, from anyone in the community, but it is just nice to
know at Minnesota Hands & Voices, if any of the staff are talking
with families and they ran to learn more like ASL or about the deaf
community, that is when we can refer them to the Deaf Mentor
Family Services program.
Also, our parent guides with Minnesota Hands&Voices can also
talk to the families about the deaf and hard of hearing guide program
within Minnesota Hands&Voices so, we have 42 families referred to
that deaf and hard of hearing program for the year of 2022.
The other thing is, we, once a year, we have a joint advisory
board meeting, so the Minnesota Hands&Voices and Deaf Mentor Family
Services program and all of the stakeholders, we meet together at
one time, and there is a lot of stakeholders at both meetings
anyways, so it makes since to have a joint one at least once a year.
As I mentioned, there are more ways to refer to Minnesota Hands &
Voices.
Here is a QR Code if you want to scan in to go -- it goes through a
secure online link from our website.
So, anyone can refer families to the deaf and hard of hearing guide
program or the parent guide program or the ASTra program with the
Minnesota Hands&Voices.
I'm going to leave this up here for a little bit, but then I'm
going to stop sharing.
I see we do have questions in the Q&A, so we will be starting to -- I
will let William take over, as he is going to be reading off the
questions.
So, thank you again for joining us today.
I hope you find this very informative and you will work with
your states to have a deaf mentor program and have a deaf and hard of
hearing guide program and you can work together to support the
families.
So, thank you.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: Well, thank you.
You know, my first thought after hearing you is, what an incredible
example of leaders that parents who have the opportunity to meet
individuals like you would take heart from in knowing, you know,
all of these possibilities from such diverse experiences in life,
and how your lives have been touched by hearing difference.
So, that was very impressive in and of itself.
So, we have a number of questions coming in, so I would
like to read a few of these questions and then you can decide
amongst yourself who is going to answer those questions.
The first is, a question where they are saying, can we get the
curriculum?
I'm not sure if they are referring to the Sky High
curriculum or what curriculum, so whoever wrote that, if you want to
clarify that might be good.
The next question is, I'm wondering what ASL milestones you
are using.
Do you have a link that you would be willing to share for the
milestones you use?
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Sure, I can share that link.
Absolutely.
And I will contact Will and we can share it with the whole group.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: Okay, we can send that out when we send out the link to
the recording of the webinar.
Great.
The next question is, if a child is hard of hearing, can the family
request a hard of hearing mentor?
How do the sessions differ from what you have described?
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Are you talking the Deaf Mentor Family
Services or the deaf guide, which program are you referring to?
>> WILLIAM EISERMAN: They didn't say.
>> HEIDY
NAZARIO: This is Heidy.
I believe these questions came up while Emily was presenting.
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Okay.
>> HEIDY NAZARIO: I'm sure up to question
five are yours, Emily.
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Okay, all right, perfect.
So, we have several hard of hearing children in our services,
and the parents want their children to learn ASL, and our first session
tends to be remote between myself, the mentor and the family and the
Interpreter.
We introduce ourselves.
We talk about what the services are, what the expectations are,
answer any questions while we have the Interpreter and the family and
mentor will connect, set up their own sessions, no Interpreter
involved.
We just keep it -- there is no Interpreter, because we want the
deaf mentor is trained to work with the family whether in whatever they
need to communicate, whether it is writing or texting or whether it is
gesturing, so there is no Interpreter during that meeting.
Then the family -- it is also better for language acquisition if
the family starts communicating with the mentor directly.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: So, a follow-up question to that one was, what about
families who are using both Sign Language and spoken language?
What sort of support is provided for spoken language development?
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: This is for me, right?
Okay, so for our part, we would teach ASL and support the family
with whatever decisions they make, whether it is spoken or Sign
Language and whatever choice they make, we encourage that and support
that, and we have them develop a relationship with the teacher for
the deaf, and anything that the family would need to support that
student's choice to speak or oral education, and whatever that child
would need, we would support that.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: The next question.
Can you also give a little information on the grant that you
received funding from?
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Sure.
In 2012, legislation -- there was a grant provided -- let me back up.
We received an amount of money for DHIV and we report to them every
three months and this was a grant to support deaf and hard of hearing
children and families.
Does that answer your question?
>> WILLIAM EISERMAN: We will find out if they
ask again.
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Okay, I hope I answered it.
>> BRENDA
HOMMERDING: I would also like to add Minnesota Hands & Voices, we
get two different grants.
One for the Minnesota hands&voice parent guides and that is through
legislation and we get the deaf and hard of hearing guide grant, and
that is through the DHS, department where Emily gets her grant from,
too.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: So, here is a question for all of you to chime in on.
We know that in the large group of children who are deaf or hard of
hearing identified through the EHDI system, approximately 51% have a
mild hearing loss or unilateral hearing loss.
EHDI programs have the expectation that every family be given the
opportunity to connect with a family member of a child who is
deaf or hard of hearing or a deaf mentor.
What would that look like for that group of children who have a mild
hearing loss or a unilateral hearing loss?
>> HEIDY
NAZARIO: This is Heidy.
Minnesota Hands&Voices provides services to any degree of hearing
difference, so when we're seeing our families, we're seeing from
maybe unilateral to profound deaf or to culturally deaf to all of
that spectrum of hearing difference.
So, we are seeing all of these families and we're putting
ourselves out there as we're here for you and it really depends if
the family has availability or if they are interested in pursuing the
program or the resource, but we are seeing all the families, no matter
their hearing difference.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: So, does that mean that a family of a child with a unilateral
hearing loss may be introduced to an adult who is using Sign Language
who is perhaps profoundly deaf and how do they bridge their child's
reality with that adult that they have been introduced to?
>> HEIDY
NAZARIO: This is Heidy.
That is a great question.
We are trying to pair child with similar experiences of a DHH adult
and sometimes we can't because of that large spectrum of hearing
difference, but that is why we have many different role models with
different experiences to be able to find similar experiences to connect
with the child.
We do have in our team a unilateral, but if there is a case
where we didn't have a specific experience that the family is
looking to connect with then we look at our other resources.
For example, maybe I would reach out to Emily if she would have a
deaf mentor who connects more with this family to provide a session or
connect a family.
We're always looking to provide that experience, but we know not
having the exact same hearing level or difference, there are a lot of
experiences that we can relate just by being deaf or hard of hearing.
We don't want to discount there are specifics for example, being
unilateral, being DeafBlind.
We try to match them as best we can.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: So, this next question relates to the last one.
What are some of the strategies you're using to increase enrollment
in the deaf mentor and deaf and hard of hearing guide programs and
what are barriers to families feeling comfortable pursuing these
services?
>> BRENDA
HOMMERDING: This is Brenda.
I will answer this question starting off, but please chime in.
The parent guides with Minnesota hands&voice, we, again, with our
CRM database, we have a list of what we call intake questions to
help the parent guides navigate conversations with families, and so
both the deaf and hard of hearing program and the Deaf Mentor Family
Services program are on that list.
And so, it is our parent guide responsibilities to explain that to
the family so, that is one great way -- that is how we're getting
the direct referrals, because we mention the program and if the
family is interested, we click the box and one or both programs will
get the referral e-mails.
The other place, again, the events that we have and having both
the deaf mentors and the deaf and hard of hearing guides at those
events to introduce themselves to the families, to explain to the
families what the program has to offer that has been a huge impact
on getting families to join the programs.
So, Heidy or Emily, do you want to add anything?
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Yes, we start off our meetings with a nice
intro to getting to know each other.
So, are supposed to the Hands & Voices program and they decide, yes
or no whether they are going to go, but we make it very interactive, so
we can all meet each other.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: So, the next question comes from California.
In California, we're only able to provide deaf mentors for children
under age 3 because they're serving the whole family in the context of
IFSP then it gets cut off when the child turns 3 when they transition
to an IEP.
Did you encounter any of those barriers when getting deaf mentor
services funded for children over
3?
Any suggestions for other states that encounter those age-specific
barriers?
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Yeah, in Minnesota, we are very, very
fortunate to have up to 21 to take care of these students that is why
the program is so valuable in having the database and that helps
us get through.
Feel free to contact me whoever that question was from with contact
info and I can help out a little bit more.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: How should our presenters go about contacting any of you if
they are interested in continuing this dialogue?
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Yes, on the last slide of the PowerPoint,
maybe we can throw it up, whatever is easier, there are all different
modes to contact us, any way or any means.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: Okay, we will put that up again in a moment.
The next question, are the deaf mentors paid and if so, what are
the funding sources?
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Yes, our deaf mentors are paid.
That part of the grant money received that is how we pay our
mentors.
It also pays for their training.
It pays for their time with the families, transportation time,
mileage, so they are getting reimbursed for different things to
help these families out.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: Okay, several of you are asking about the PowerPoint and
other things.
Know this entire presentation is being recorded and will be posted
on infanthearing.org in the next couple of days, so you will be able
to stream through it, start and stop and look at all of these
slides again that way.
Also, keep in mind, that's a great way to share this experience with
folks who weren't able to attend live with us today.
Let's see if there are any others.
We had one question that came in for Heidy.
Do you send different deaf or hard of hearing guides to the same
family or do they have three visits from the same guide?
>> HEIDY
NAZARIO: That is a great question.
In that first contact with the family, we ask them if they have a
specific DHH guide they want to meet with and sometimes they will
say yes, sometimes they will say no, whichever will be good.
In that first one, we try to match them with DHH guide who has a
similar experience to them, and it could be in that first visit, the
child really connected with DHH guide and say, I would like to see
you again, but then it could be that the child realized they want
to learn a little more about another personal's experience and
the second visit could be another DHH guide or could be two.
We had two DHH guides attend and it provides more experience, more
opportunity for the child to have more perspective of what the future
holds for them.
So, we do change them, but with families' consent.
So, family is agreeing they would like to hear more experiences or
difference experiences, so we could have the DHH guide attend another
visit.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: So, one more combined question here.
Can you say anything more about how you go about recruiting your
DHH mentors, and specifically about recruiting male DHH mentors?
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: For the deaf mentors we work with, recruit
by being involved with the community, we set up tables.
We're out in the community meeting other deaf and hard of hearing.
The mentors themselves are living among us in the community in the
Minnesota area.
I agree it is very difficult sometimes to find, to get the word
out, to get the help, to get somebody interested, somebody
experienced, somebody who would be a good fit, so that can be
difficult at times, but it is a holistic effort in meeting deaf and
hard of hearing in all different venues.
>> BRENDA
HOMMERDING: This is Brenda.
I would like to add going back to how we are spreading out the word
about our programs.
In Minnesota Hands&Voices, the parent guides are doing more
outreach when they visit with the family.
They are inviting the deaf and hard of hearing guide to come along,
so the deaf and hard of hearing guide can introduce the program and
they see them live during the visit, this way, the family can decide if
they want more visits with a specific deaf and hard of hearing
guide, so that's been successful so far as well.
And as always, we always mention the Deaf Mentor Family Services
program, too.
>> WILLIAM
EISERMAN: I would like to thank all of you again for an excellent
presentation.
Also, a thank you to our Captioner and Interpreter and to everybody
who has been here today.
If you all look in the chat field, you'll see there's a link posted
there into which where you click on.
It will take you to a survey, a short survey about today's
experience and it will also generate for you a certificate of
attendance at today's webinar in case you need that for
documentation purposes.
Remember that today's webinar has been recorded and will be posted in
the next couple of days.
Let's see, it is Thursday.
By Monday, I would guess, Monday or Tuesday of next week, so you can
stream it and share it from infanthearing.org at that time.
You'll notice on the screen right now is the -- you can see each of
the e-mail addresses for our presenters today.
So, that will remain on the screen for the next few minutes if you
need to jot down any of that contact information.
And once again, thank you, everybody for all that you do to
support families and children from such a diverse set of individuals
whose lives will be touched by hearing difference.
Thank you, everybody.
Be sure to click on that link.
And our presenters, you are welcome to turn off your cameras
now and mute yourselves.
Thank you.
>> HEIDY
NAZARIO: Thank you, all.
>> EMILY SMITH-LUNDBERG: Thank you.
>> BRENDA
HOMMERDING: And I will stop sharing my screen in a few minutes.
I see the participants are going down.
They are signing off.
Will you be able to -- I would like to review the questions again
in the Q&A just to make sure we're not missing anything or have us
prepared for if they reach out to us directly.
Can we get those Q&A questions copied or sent to us?
Is that possible?
>> GUNNAR
THURMAN: This is Gunnar.
I will take screenshots and get them into a Word document and sent
them to you.
>> BRENDA
HOMMERDING: Thank you.
You guys did an awesome job.
I'm going to stop sharing now and I'm going to sign off.
So, thank you.
Have a great day.
>> GUNNAR
THURMAN: You too, Brenda.
Thank you.