What is the Wisconsin Sound Beginnings (WSB) Birth to 3 Consultant Program?

The mission of the Wisconsin Sound Beginnings Consultant Program is to advise and assist local Birth to 3 Programs in providing "best practices" services and supports to families with infants and toddlers who are deaf or hard of hearing.

How Can the WSB Birth to 3 Consultants Help Your County's Birth to 3 Program?

When your county receives a referral for a child who is who is deaf or hard of hearing, we suggest you contact a WSB Birth to 3 Consultant to help your county respond to the child and family's needs. Following are ways a WSB Birth to 3 Consultant can help your county and the families your serve.

• Provide support and assistance to your program when serving a family with a child who is deaf or hard of hearing. In collaboration with your program and staff, our consultants can:
  • Identify the resources, needs and goals of your program through interviews with program administrative and other staff as well as observations of current programming practices and resources.
    
  • Assist service providers in determining the general strengths and needs of a child through observation of and interaction with the child in his or her natural environment.
    
• Provide support to service providers in working with the child and family by assisting in determining family strengths, needs, resources and priorities. Our consultants can:
  
  • Meet with a service provider and family for a face-to-face interview.
    
  • Utilize telephone contact and e-mail correspondence.
    
  • Assist in assessment planning.
    
  • Participate in the development of the IFSP.
    
• Assist the program administrative staff and/or service providers in exploring the range of services and programming options appropriate to meet the individual child and family situations. Consultants can:
  
  • Locate available resources that support a specific service or program option.
    
  • Discuss and provide information on a specific intervention strategy.
    
• Identify available local, state and national resources available to the child and family, service providers and the Birth to 3 Program. Consultants can:
  
  • Facilitate and support collaborative partnerships that will support your program.
    
• Provide assistance, support and resources to families and Birth to 3 Programs as a child and family prepares for transition into the public school and/or other settings that a family may choose at age three. Consultants can:
  
  • Provide support and information regarding transition and programming available to school-age children.
    
  • Participate in transition meetings and IEP team meetings.
    
    

What Will it Cost Your County to Access the WSB Birth to 3 Consultants?

Wisconsin Sound Beginnings has a limited amount of funding to seed the work of the WSB Birth to 3 consultants. Once you make contact with a WSB Birth to 3 Consultant, you will negotiate this with the consultant. Typically, WSB has funds to support the provision of 2-3 activities per county from a WSB Birth to 3 Consultant. This may include any of the activities describes on the other side of this page, including onsite visits, follow up and other ongoing communication. (See How Can WSB Birth to 3 Consultants Help Your County?)

There will be no cost to county Birth to 3 programs for these initial consultation activities. If the consultant agrees to more extensive consultation or is available to fulfill other roles beyond those of the Wisconsin Sound Beginnings Birth to 3 Consultant Program, your county can negotiate directly with that person or her agency for ongoing work. This may include additional consultation or direct service provision.

How Can Your County Contact a WSB Birth to 3 Consultant?

Attached please find a contact list for the Wisconsin Sound Beginnings Birth to 3 Consultants. The list is organized by the five DHFS regions and also includes the statewide training and consultation team. Please do not hesitate to contact one of the people designated for your region, especially when you receive a referral for a child with a newly confirmed hearing loss. They are committed, prepared and available to help you. Additionally, the statewide team is available to provide support and assistance to the regional team.

I am excited to have met so many people in the state who are committed to caring for and teaching the children with hearing loss. I am excited to find that there are birth to three teachers and speech language paths that are committed to learning rather than just "getting by" (Wisconsin Sound Beginning Consultant).

The Wisconsin Sound Beginnings Birth to 3 Consultant Program is supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau which has resulted in contracts to the Wisconsin Personnel Development Project (WPDP) of the Waisman Center and the Wisconsin Association of Perinatal Care (WAPC). Other Birth to 3 Sound Beginnings supporters include the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, Division of Public Health, Birth to 3 Program, and Bureau for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.