Hearing screening: resources and services.

Existing law, the Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening, Tracking, and Intervention Act, requires every general acute care hospital with licensed perinatal services to offer every newborn a hearing screening test for the identification of hearing loss, as specified, and provide written information on the availability of community resources and services for children with hearing loss to the parents of those who are diagnosed with a hearing loss. Existing law, the California Early Intervention Services Act, commonly known as the Early Start Program, provides various early intervention services for infants and toddlers who have disabilities to enhance their development and to minimize the potential for developmental delays. This bill would also require that the State Department of Education develop an informational pamphlet, as specified, for newborns and infants identified as deaf or hard of hearing, that is about visual and auditory communication and language options and that would help a parent make informed decisions for his or her child. This bill would require the department to convene an advisory stakeholder panel, composed as prescribed, to develop and revise the informational pamphlet, as specified, until January 1, 2017. This bill would require that the informational pamphlet be provided to parents of all newborns and infants identified as deaf or hard of hearing by an audiologist immediately upon identification of a newborn or infant as deaf or hard of hearing, and by a local provider for the Early Start Program upon initial contact with the parents of a newborn or infant newly identified as deaf or hard of hearing. This bill would require the audiologist to note in the newborn's or infant's record that the parent has received the informational pamphlet and, during the course of evaluation and treatment, to inform and counsel the parent of all available communication options. This bill would require the informational pamphlet to be made available in Cantonese, English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, and be made available on the department's Internet Web site, as prescribed. This bill would provide that these provisions would be implemented only upon determination by the Director of Finance that sufficient donations have been collected and deposited into the Language and Communication for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children Fund, which this bill would create in the State Treasury, and upon the appropriation of that fund. This bill would provide that no state funds shall be used to implement these provisions. This bill would also state the intent of the Legislature that every newborn or infant who does not pass his or her preliminary hearing screening test receive a followup hearing screening no later than 3 months of age, and that the Legislature strongly encourages the State Department of Health Care Services to work toward this goal.