More Than Just An “Ear Lady”

When I first started working as an educational audiologist in 1976, it was a golden time in special education in Colorado. With the recent passage of Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children’s Act, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Colorado was prepped to fulfill the obligations of the law for all children with special needs throughout the state. At that time educational audiology was not well defined as a school-based practice. At the same time Fred Berg published the first book on this topic, Educational Audiology: Hearing and Speech Management (Grune & Stratton, 1976). While educational audiology was described quite differently from today’s practices, it did define a role to bridge clinical audiology and deaf education focused on hard of hearing students to maximize auditory potential.

My goal as an audiology student was to practice in the school setting. This emphasis was driven by the fact that my daughter had recently been diagnosed as a 4-year-old with severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, later determined to be the result of Rubella that I contracted while pregnant. I was fortunate to have strong undergraduate training in speech and hearing followed by a graduate degree that included an externship with Jerry Northern and Marion Downs, both of whom supported my more “educational” than “medical” path in pediatric audiology. When I was hired by a school district, there were four other educational audiologists in Colorado, most of whom had migrated from speech-language pathology to audiology to fill the emerging positions. Since educational audiology was not well established, my new position in the school district only had a vague job description. Therefore, I was able to design a model based on what I felt was necessary to meet IDEA audiology requirements as well as professional standards of practice in audiology. As a parent I had invaluable insight for developing a program because my daughter was receiving deaf education services, and I was housed in a large center-based deaf education program. I knew the importance of supporting all aspects of a child’s development since so much behavior and school performance was connected to this sensory difference.

So where does the “Ear Lady” title come from?  In my first year, as I was managing follow-up screening, student services and accommodations, and FM use in the schools, I found the students referring to me as the “Ear Lady.”  Teachers would forget my name but could say the “Ear Lady” is here to see you, and students assumed the same nomenclature. I really detested this reference. Because my office and sound booth were located in the center-based deaf/hard of hearing program, I had a name sign and was present daily so they could also ask for me by name. So, what could I do with children in other schools whom I saw less frequently? I wore a nametag and made a point of making sure teachers used my name. When I went to check on students, I initiated a conversation about topics other than ears. I found by asking children open-ended questions about school, the activities they liked to participate in, who their friends were and why, and their communication struggles, I learned important information about their language, hearing and communication skills, social-emotional states, and class participation that informed and expanded my work with them. It led to group activities for discussion about identity, challenges of limited hearing access, accommodations, advocacy, and more. In addition to core audiology roles, this work eventually convinced me of the potential benefits of an Educational Audiology Handbook, a practical text containing educationally based audiology practices as well as forms, handouts and other resources to support educational audiology practices.

In each of the Handbook editions (1997, 2012, 2021) and the current fourth edition, the priority has been to ensure the text is faithful to the authentic practice of educational audiology, especially as new practice opportunities emerge.  With the third and fourth editions, more contributing authors were engaged who would maintain its relevance, particularly as co-author Jane Seaton and I were no longer practicing as educational audiologists.

The fourth edition of the Educational Audiology Handbook continues to promote “educationally relevant” practices,  that include supplementing the clinical audiology diagnosis with assessments that reflect how hearing differences impact learning and communication in the classroom, and recommending strategies and accommodations to ensure full communication access to each student’s educational program. Access includes meaningful benefit, i.e., whether the student is ready to learn in a general education classroom where the language and vocabulary level may require modification for the student to understand. As promoted by Fred Berg, we bridge clinical audiology and deaf education. In addition, educational audiologists focus on student well-being to address the identity, self-determination, and self-advocacy skills that are important for long-term independence in adult life.  Jane and I are grateful to our contributing authors who bring their knowledge and experience to emphasize evidence-based practices and discuss essential strategies for collaborating effectively with educators, parents, and other professionals to support students who need audiology services in school settings.

The Educational Audiology Handbook is the textbook for the new certificate program in Educational Audiology (CH-Ed Aud) offered by the American Board of Audiology (ABA) in collaboration with the Educational Audiology Association (EAA). The program contains seven modules that cover the 17 chapters in the Handbook.  The program is asynchronous, needs to be completed within one year, and requires successful completion of each module’s assessment. The accompanying recorded lectures by the chapter authors bring the Handbook to life, an unexpected but desirable outcome of this program. Each one emphasizes the integration of real-world experiences and case studies that reflect current challenges and successes in the field. While providing essential information for audiologists who are preparing to provide services in the schools, we anticipate that this program will also elevate educational audiology as a subspecialty in audiology and as a related service in special education.  Specialty certification through the ABA was first explored in 2001 by the Educational Audiology Association and 25 years later it is finally happening!