To download the AARC/CEEHI/VISIT Fall 2009 Newsletter in PDF, click here.

What is in it:

• What is Autism?
• Cortical Visual Impairment
• Serving Babies with Hearing Loss Birth to Three Years of Age

By Andrea Story, VISIT Program Coordinator

What is it?

In order for a person to see, there has to be three visual systems in place. This illustration shows the three systems (eye, optic nerve, and visual processing parts of the brain).

Cortical visual impairment (CVI) is one of the names used to describe vision impairment that is caused by a problem with the visual processing parts of the brain (i.e., the occipital lobes or some other part of the visual pathways). CVI is not caused by a problem with either the eye itself or the optic nerve. Other names used to describe the same visual impairment are cerebral blindness, cortical blindness, central visual disturbances, and neurological vision impairment. Continue Reading

Autism is one of a family of pervasive developmental disorders. It is often referred to as autism spectrum disorders, or ASD. It is characterized by difficulties in social interaction, communication, and restricted, repetitve, and stereotyped patterns of behaviors. Asperger’s syndrome is another condition on the autism spectrum, but children with this diagnosis may have less obvious symptoms and may not be diagnosed unil later in childhood. The Center for Disease Control estimates that as many as 1 in every 150 children is diagnosed with ASD and it is four times more liekly to occur in boys than in girls. Until recently, autism was sledom detected before the age of three years. Today, indentification of children with autism can begin as early as 18 months of age. The good news is, the earlier the diagnosis, the sooner the child can receive services known as early intervention. Continue Reading

By Mandi Morgan, CEEHI Program Coordinator

Alaska recently passed HB 109. This mandates that the Department of Health and Social Services shall implement the program requiring 100% of all newborns and infants in the state be screened for hearing loss. A hearing screen should occur with all babies prior to discharge from the hospital after birth. The results of this screening is shared with the Alaska Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (AK EHDI) program. They maintain a database and check on children who have received a fail on their newborn hearing screen.

The AK EHDI program and audiologists in Alaska follow new guidelines on the One-Three-Six Program. This program requires all babies receive a hearing screen in the first month of life. If the child fails the newborn hearing screen, then the child should have an audiological assessment prior to reaching three months of age. If the child has a confirmed hearing loss of 30 dB loss in one ear (unilateral loss) or 40 dB in both ears (bilateral loss), a team will provide services to this baby no later than the child reaching six months of age. The audiologist is required to contact the local Infant Learning Program within two days of confirming a baby has a hearing loss. Continue Reading