For every 1000 babies born, 2 to 3 of them
will have permanent hearing loss.
The parents of those 2-3 babies will most likely have
normal hearing (over 95% of the time).
When parents first learn their child has hearing loss, they
probably don't know another parent of a child with hearing loss.
Parents often feel they need to learn a lot and gather information about helping their child grow up with hearing loss.
Hear My Dreams is a place to meet other parents of children with hearing loss and
gather local information which can help you help your child.
~ Hear My Dreams currently operates solely through volunteer efforts and pro bono services. It is not a non-profit organization and is not affiliated with a hospital, organization or business. ~
I felt called to volunteer my time outside of my work day as a professional audiologist to provide and facilitate a professionally-led support group for parents of children with hearing loss. My 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 my studies, I have 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 I have witnessed from this support group model, my 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 me.
-Megan D. Ford, AuD
Audiologist
Hear My Dreams is located in Central Massachusetts