News & Information

POD Family Day - Casino

The next POD Lismore meeting on Sunday May 4th in Casino.

For more information...

P.O.D. Macarthur

POD is a support group for all parents, carers and family who have child/ren that are deaf/hearing impaired.

If you are interested in knowing more about the POD group and what happens, contact the PCDE office on 02 9871 3049 or email pcde@bigpond.com.

Download POD brochure

Veronica James Science Challenge 2008

The Veronica James Science Challenge for Hearing Impaired Children is an annual event which aims to teach children with hearing impairments about science - especially interesting and useful science.

WHERE:       University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine
WHEN:          Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th April, 2008
TIME:             8.30 am to 3.30 pm each day.
This is the last weekend of the School Holidays.

Download 2008 Booking Form

For more information about the Veronica James Science Challenge visit the website -   http://www.med.usyd.edu.au/medicine/cfhi/

Join the Aussie Deaf Kids Expert Review Panel

March 2008

Aussie Deaf Kids is currently establishing an Expert Review Panel to guarantee the integrity of its new website and ensure parents of deaf children are provided with high-quality content.

Our project is to design and build a new and innovative national website for families with a deaf child. This will provide a comprehensive information resource for families within the Australian context - a guide for families on their journey from diagnosis through to the post-school period. We aim to launch the new website in November 2008. We estimate we will start reviewing content for publication on the website after June 30, 2008.

If you enjoy reading and have an interest in providing families with accurate and reliable information, please consider becoming a member of our expert review panel. This will be an honorary position. Information about our expert reviewers and their affiliations will be provided on the ‘About Us’ pages of the website.

Reviewers will be assigned articles to review based on their indicated areas of expertise and asked to consider the accuracy and reliability of the article.  

Reviewers should be able to review articles within four weeks. The process will be carried out electronically and reviewers will need to have an email address which they monitor regularly. We would prefer reviewers commit to serve for no less than one year.

We are particularly interested in individuals with expertise in deafness and the following areas:-

• Health and development
• Audiology
• Education
• Language
• Mental health
• The Law

If you are interested in volunteering your time and expertise to our Expert Review Panel or would like further information, please contact Ann Porter at ann.porter@aussiedeafkids.org.au

Cochlear Implants for Children Project

February 2008

If you are the parent of a deaf child or young person who has a cochlear implant, we need your support!

We are researching the personal, educational and social benefits of cochlear implantation for children. We are inviting you to take part in this study because you have a deaf child who has a cochlear implant and you live in Victoria, New South Wales or Queensland (the three states involved in this study).

If you are willing to contribute to this important project, you can find more information about the project and a link to the questionnaire at http://www.deakin.edu.au/cochlear-implants/index.php

We would like to interview about 5 or 10% of those parents who complete the questionnaire. This aspect of the study is crucial as it will provide the opportunity to elaborate on the survey data and give examples where appropriate.

If you are willing to participate in this important part of the project, please send an email to cochlear-implants@deakin.edu.au or contact:
Dr Renée Punch
School of Education and Professional Studies
Gold Coast campus
Griffith University
PMB 50
Gold Coast Mail Centre. Qld 9726
Ph: 07 55528453

Your input will be greatly valued and will assist in the collection of important information about the use of cochlear implantation.

For more information...

Aussie Deaf Kids Parent Working Group - Can you help?

December 2007

Aussie Deaf Kids is changing. We are creating a website for families which will provide them with the information they need to make informed decisions about the big and the day-to-day issues of raising a child with a hearing loss.

The website is for parents.  We are, therefore, looking for parents whose child has a hearing loss  and are interested in helping us ensure that the website is truly useful for families.

• Does the design work?
• Is the information you need easy to find?
• Is the information you want available on the website?
• What else can we do to improve things?

These are some of the questions we would like parents to answer for us.

Aussie Deaf Kids has always been about online collaboration, so we are forming an online Parent Working Group. We are looking for parents who are prepared to give us a little of your spare time over the next few months and walk through the conception phase with us. All discussion will be via email and you can respond at a time and place that is convenient to you. Part of the process will be brainstorming and some will be more a question and answer format. It is an exciting project and every opinion is important in informing how we design and build the website.

The more parents who inform the project, the better it will be. We need mums or dads with children of all ages from newborn to the post-school period. We need hearing parents, Deaf parents, parents from different cultural and language backgrounds and parents from across the country. You will need access to email and the Internet.

To find out more about our project, visit our project website www.aussiedeafkids.org.au

If you would like to participate in our Parent Working Group or require more information, please contact Ann Porter

Email: portabl@bigpond.net.au
Phone: 0419 495 032

5th National Deafness Sector Summit registrations

December 2007

The Deafness Forum is pleased to announce that registrations are now open for the 2008 National Deafness Sector Summit which will be hosted in Canberra on 24-25 May 2008. These biennial summits are a fantastic opportunity for disability professionals, carers and the Deaf and hearing impaired community to learn about new developments in the sector, a chance to discuss issues, network and catch up with old friends.

The 5th National Deafness Sector Summit features the Libby Harricks Memorial Oration, presented on the Saturday by guest orator Professor Bob Cowan, CEO of the HEARing Cooperative Research Centre. Author of Mao’s Last Dancer, Li Cunxin, will speak about his life and his highly successful book which is being made into a movie next year. Li’s daughter Sophie was born deaf. Professor Jennie Brand-Miller, the guru of the glycaemic index and cochlear implantee, will also feature as a speaker, along with Carmel Batson, President of CODA International.

For more information…
Registration form

If you have a baby with a hearing loss, we need your help!

October 2007

I am interested in seeing how early diagnosis influences the general wellbeing of mums and their babies as a part of my PhD project.  While research has shown a late diagnosis of hearing impairment (around 2 years) has a negative influence on children’s development, we have little research to show the effects of early diagnosis and especially how this may relate to mother and infant interactions. If you have a 4-7  month old baby that has been diagnosed with a hearing impairment (bilateral or unilateral) and are interested in helping us with this study, we would like to record you and your baby interacting for 20 minutes, one a single occasion. These recordings will be made at the University of Western Sydney (Bankstown campus) just off the M5, at any time that is convenient for you and your baby.

MARCS has a well-established Baby Lab http://marcs.uws.edu.au/research/babylab/parents, and in return for participation, families receive a $20 travel allowance, a Babylab t-shirt, a special gift and a Babylab “degree” (Bachelors, Masters, PhD, or Research Fellow). If you are interested in participating please use the contact details provided on the attached flyer.

Study of auditory neuropathy in babies - information for parents

August 2006

The National Acoustic Laboratories are funding a research project into auditory neuropathy in babies, titled "Auditory neuropathy in babies: Using electrophysiological measures under 12 months of age to predict speech discrimination ability."

The researcher, Kirsty Gardner-Berry, is hoping to recruit all babies born in NSW and diagnosed with auditory neuropathy/desynchrony for the study.

There are two groups of babies required for the study

1. Babies diagnosed with auditory neuropathy/desynchrony aged 6-12 months
2. Babies with normal hearing aged 6-12 months

Your participation in the study could benefit many children and would be greatly appreciated. To find out more, please click the link below or contact

Find out more about this study.

Australian Hearing Customer Hotline - 1300 360 355

July 2006

Australian Hearing has now established a customer hotline to Head Office, allowing clients to provide suggestions, compliments or complaints directly to senior management.

Previously existing mechanisms referring issues directly to the District Manager of the local Hearing Centre are still encouraged. The customer hotline is provided as an alternative option for raising issues regarding Australian Hearing.

The option for providing feedback on Australian Hearing services are:

You will receive a response within 10 working days.