Hear My Dreams
support group for parents of children with hearing loss

"Swirls" by Teresa Beary
Dr. Ford feels she has been called to volunteer her time outside of her work day as a professional audiologist to provide and facilitate a professionally-led support group for parents of children with hearing loss. Her motivation stemmed from witnessing a need in the clinic during audiology consultation appointments with parents of children with newly identified hearing loss. This was solidified by confirmation of Parent Needs through simple surveys and questionnaires. Through her studies, she has learned that parent support is providing parents with a fixed-frequency, re-occurring face-to-face meeting where relationships with peers can be developed and local information and education in the area of raising a child with hearing loss can be obtained. Because of the successful outcomes that she has witnessed through the creation of Hear My Dreams support group for parents of children with hearing loss which she founded in 2007, her volunteer efforts have now continued in the form of promoting a Universal Parent Support Group (UPSG) to accompany Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS). If you are an audiologist and are interested in the idea of a UPSG, please contact Dr. Ford.