California Early Hearing Detection & Intervention (EHDI)
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Submit this form to refer infants and toddlers who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing for Early Start services. We use SSL encryption to ensure your information is secure and confidential.
Fill out the Early Start Referral Form to begin the process. If a child has been identified with hearing loss by an audiologist or newborn hearing screening program within the last six months, additional hearing screening is not needed.
The Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) 1-3-6 process is a set of recommended benchmarks for identifying and treating hearing loss in infants:
1 month: Screen for hearing loss before the infant is one month old – this is done at the hospital when the baby is born, and results are sent to Dept of Health Care Services.
3 months: Confirm a hearing diagnosis before the infant is three months old – after the parents leave the hospital, they are told to follow-up with an audiologist to get a confirmed diagnosis that the baby is deaf or hearing. This information is then referred to LEAD-K Family Services. LEAD-K Family Services has parent mentors who are trilingual, who contact each family referred to provide support and resources and encourage parents to stay involved with the process.
6 months: Enroll the infant in early intervention before they are six months old – LEAD-K Family Services refers the confirmed diagnosis to the local LEA and/or Regional Center who has the baby in their catchment area and informed for them to connect with the families to start early intervention services. Later at some point the LEA may contact LEAD-K to request information contacting one of the agencies who provides language support using a Deaf Coach.
For further information please contact LEAD-K Family Services.