Hear and Say Today
Hear and Say provides programs and services to an estimated 500 children in 2011.
Our services and programs include:
- Fully equipped audiological facilities
- Purpose designed building including therapy rooms, indoor and outdoor play areas, training auditorium for parents and professionals and for meetings, offices and waiting area
- Auditory-Verbal early intervention program
- Full cochlear implant program to 12 years of age
- MAPping and assessment to 18 years and over
- Surveillance of children established as at-risk of hearing loss by the Healthy Hearing Program
- Outreach program for rural and regional areas including videoconferencing and webcam
- Our main centre in Brisbane and additonal centres at the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and North Queensland
- Language enriched playgroup program
- Transition program to facilitate children's integration into regular school settings
- Educational support for professionals pertinent to the child's education
- regular parent education and support
- Research programs as a supporting party of Co-operative Research Centre for Cochlear Implant and Hearing Aid Innovation
Hear and Say staff are made up of:
- Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapists
- Speech Pathologists
- Teachers of the Deaf
- Audiologists
- Early Childhood Teachers
- Development, Fundraising and Communications
- Administration and support
- Volunteers
- Social Worker
Funding base:
- 30% Queensland Health Grant; Education Queensland Grant; Commonwealth Special Education Non-Schools Organisations Grant and Disability Services Queensland Grant, Better Start Funding
- 60% Donations including: fundraising, grants, trust funds, community service groups, corporate support
- 10% Parent contribution and Medicare Levy
Future plans:
- Stabilisation of ongoing funding
- Roll out of a Queensland Early Childhood Centre of Excellence to meet future demand for placements
- To have the financial support and state-of-the-art facilities that will keep abreast of new technology and clinical programs
- Expansion to areas of rural and regional cluster groups and families
- Development of expanded parent/Infant programs to accommodate new referrals from universal neonatal hearing screening
- Extend overseas program providing a worldwide program
- Extend our professional Auditory-Verbal Therapy education program
- Cochlear implant education program for professionals
- To advocate for the very best solutions and programs for our hearing impaired children in Queensland, Australia and world-wide