UPDATE: September 1, 2020

SDSD statewide Outreach Consultants are currently supporting families and educators, working with student teams, and assisting with questions, strategies, and resources.

Our Mobile Hearing Lab is busy providing hearing screenings and hearing evaluations in schools in order to continue to expand audiology services across the state.

Our audiology clinic is excited to be serving patients again! However, our “new normal” will look pretty different for a while, so please bear with us as we work to uphold the safety of our SDSD families and staff during these unprecedented times. We are seeing patients on a reduced schedule to limit the number of people in the office at a time and to allow for a thorough cleaning in between each patient. In addition, we are prioritizing appointment types in order of emergence, and we are only scheduling two weeks out, to accommodate if there is any potential exposure to COVID-19. Therefore, if you are on our waitlist, we have not forgotten about you! Your child’s appointment is important to us and we will contact you to schedule as soon as time and safety measures allow.

We are continuing to closely monitor this ever-evolving situation, and will make adjustments as appropriate. Please know that we are doing everything we can to keep you and our staff safe while continuing to deliver high-quality audiologic care.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation during these unique times.

If there are any questions or concerns, please contact our office (SDSD Main Clinic - Sioux Falls: 605-367-5200; SDSD West River Clinic – Rapid City: 605-791-7839).

Sincerely,

SDSD Staff

Tip of the Month

Check out this beautiful ASL version of Be a Light by students from San Diego, CA!

A message from Shelby Jepperson at USD:

South Dakota parents of young children who are deaf and hard of hearing, we invite you become a member of the South Dakota Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Collaborative’s Advisory Board for the current grant cycle (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2024). We understand everyone’s lives are busy and respect your time. Meetings will typically be held twice-yearly, typically for an hour at a time, with the option to attend via Zoom. The main purpose of the SD EHDI Advisory Board is to provide guidance and direction and monitor progress towards the grant’s goals and objectives. If you have interest or questions, please contact Shelby at Shelby.Jepperson@usd.edu.

The South Dakota Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Collaborative would like to offer no-cost, online, interactive, and informational Project ECHO sessions for parents and caregivers of children that are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) helps spread information by empowering session attendees to share information with those in their communities, resulting in the growth of information. As a parent or caregiver of a DHH child, you are an expert part of the team providing important feedback on how to improve hearing screening and early intervention systems in our state. Join each session via Zoom from your internet-enabled device.

SD EHDI Collaborative - parent survey

https://www.psychdata.com/s.asp?SID=190154

Early Hearing Detection & Intervention

The Joint Committee on Infant Hearing and U.S. Public Health Service's Healthy People 2010 health objectives recommend that all newborns be screened for hearing loss by 1 month of age, have diagnostic follow-up by 3 months of age, and receive appropriate intervention services by 6 months of age. Early hearing screening is critical in making the best decision for a child's future.

Check out the above video about early hearing detection and identification. The video was created through the collaborative efforts of South Dakota Department of Health (https://doh.sd.gov), University of South Dakota, and South Dakota School for the Deaf.