North Dakota Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program

Sue Burns

The North Dakota Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (ND EHDI) program is a cooperative effort between the North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities and the North Dakota Department of Health’s Division of Children’s Special Health Services.  This program uses an online data system to collect hearing screening, diagnostic and intervention data.  All North Dakota birthing hospitals are voluntarily screening infants prior to hospital discharge and entering the data onto the web-based data system.  Infants who were missed or require follow-up screening are referred to Right Track, an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C ChildFIND program.  Right Track will then contact the families to assist them with the follow-up screening process and answer their questions or concerns.

For those infants who are referred from the follow-up screen and require an audiological evaluation, the ND EHDI staff notifies two early intervention programs.  The first is the infant’s local Part C program.  The second is the Parent Infant Program (PIP), a birth to age three outreach program affiliated with the North Dakota School for the Deaf.  PIP staff will contact families to encourage them to see an audiologist.  These staff members are certified educators of the deaf and can  offer expert guidance in the audiological follow-up process, as well as continue to provide educational services if the child is diagnosed with a hearing loss. 

North Dakota has had a greater than 95 percent birth screening rate for the last three years.  The referral rate for additional screening at hospital discharge is 10 percent.  Unfortunately, only 60 percent of the infants in need of additional screening have received the screening.  North Dakota is also having difficulty with the reporting of the number of infants who have received a diagnostic evaluation.  Steps are being taken to increase the number of children who receive their follow-up screening and their diagnostic evaluation.  The North Dakota EHDI program is working with a variety of community partners to make the process easier for families and providers.  The program is working to raise hearing screening to the same level of importance as metabolic and endocrine screening. 

Currently, the ND EDHI program is funded through federal grants from the Health Resources Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  A sustainability workgroup has been meeting to discuss possible options to sustain the program when federal grants are no longer available, as hearing screening in North Dakota is not state mandated.