Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and Intervention

Georgia Resources for Parents and Professionals

The Atlanta Area School for the Deaf (AASD), a State of Georgia school established in 1972, is devoted to providing quality, comprehensive, full-day instructional services to infants, children, and youth who are deaf, including persons with multiple handicaps. Classroom programs range from preschool through twelfth grade. Students experience a range of academic, vocational, and social opportunities.

The Auditory-Verbal Center (AVC) is a nonprofit center in Atlanta that teaches children who are mildly hearing impaired to profoundly deaf to listen and speak so that they can succeed in mainstream schools and experience lives without limitation.

The Babies Can’t Wait (BCW) Program  is the statewide early intervention services for children with a severe or profound bilateral hearing loss and/or significant developmental delay – Georgia’s IDEA Part C Program. 1-800-229-2039

Children 1st is Georgia’s system for linking families with children age 0-5 to public and private support services. Service linkage through Children 1st is available through all Georgia’s public health districts. 1-800-229-2039

Children’s Medical Services (CMS)  is the statewide Public Health support program for children birth to age 21 with chronic medical problems including hearing loss.
1-800-229-2039

Family Voices of Georgia (FV of GA) advocates for families of CYSHCN through a number of activities: parent matching, training, focus groups, support groups, conferences, resource guides, listservs, website, newsletters, and surveys.

Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC)  provides over $8 million each year in equipment and services to the community at little or no cost to the recipients.

The Georgia Association of the Deaf (GAD) is the largest self-help consumer organization of persons with a hearing loss in Georgia. The main goal of GAD is to bring persons with hearing loss in Georgia together to advocate for equal rights.

The Georgia Chapter of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing helps families, health care providers and education professionals understand childhood hearing loss and the importance of early diagnosis and intervention.

The Georgia Chapter of Hands and Voices is part of a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to supporting families and their children who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as the professionals who serve them. This organization is a parent-driven, parent/professional collaborative group that is unbiased towards communication modes and methods.

The Georgia Council for the Hearing Impaired  aims to establish and maintain a system of statewide services to the deaf, hard of hearing, late deafened, deaf-blind and other individuals or groups with whom they interact.

The Georgia Department of Education Program for Exceptional Students is the DOE program which assists local school systems in providing special education and related services.

The Georgia Parent Network is a Yahoo Group designed exclusively for parents/guardians of children with disabilities in the state of Georgia. The purpose is to allow communication between families on the common issues shared, so as to better support, advocate, and influence change for children with disabilities.

Georgia PINES (Parent Infant Network for Educational Services) is a statewide program providing free weekly family training home visits, and visits in natural environments for families of children birth to five years of age with hearing/vision loss to develop auditory, speech and language skills. Loaner hearing aids. Occupational and physical therapy. Parent workshops. Collaboration with other agencies. Funded by the Department of Education.

Georgia Relay Services  provides telephone services that enable people who have difficulty hearing or speaking to communicate with conventional phone users over standard phone lines.

The Georgia School for the Deaf is the State residential school for deaf children ages 4 through 21.

The Georgia Sensory Assistance Project  provides information, training, and technical assistance for families of children with deaf/blindness.

The Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities  collaborates with Georgia citizens, public and private advocacy organizations, and policy makers to positively influence public policies that enhance the quality of life for people with developmental disabilities and their families. The Council provides collaboration through information and advocacy activities, program implementation and funding, and public policy analysis and research.

The Hearing Loss Association of America/Georgia Chapter provides contacts for local Georgia chapters and promotes awareness and information for hard of hearing people in Georgia.

Parent to Parent of Georgia  is the Georgia support and information resource for parents of children of disabilities. Site lists both English and Spanish contacts across the state.

Parents Educating Parents & Professionals (PEPP, Inc.) provides services, training, and information  to families of children with disabilities.

The Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and Intervention Program is the Statewide initiative to develop and sustain a comprehensive coordinated system for Universal Newborn Hearing Screening in Georgia to assure that all newborns receive a hearing screen prior to hospital discharge, infants with hearing loss are diagnosed by 3 months of age, and are referred for appropriate intervention by 6 months of age.