Congratulations on the birth of your baby! Whether mild or profound, in one ear or two, the unexpected diagnosis of hearing loss in an infant or toddler may be overwhelming for a parent. While hearing loss is the most common health condition screened for in the newborn period, the majority of children diagnosed with this condition are born to parents who have normal hearing.

Regardless if a parent is hearing, Deaf or hard of hearing, they may be faced with many questions about your child’s hearing loss and what to do next. Remember that parenting is always a journey taken one step at a time. You already know how to love, cuddle and comfort your baby. What may be new for you is learning about hearing loss. Children with hearing loss communicate in many ways, but just like hearing children, it is best if they start when they are very young. Children whose hearing loss is identified early that receive early intervention services often learn language at the same pace as hearing children.

With timely and appropriate support services, children with hearing loss can certainly excel in school and can become anything they want to be when they grow up.  Much of your child’s success in life will depend on your love, support and ongoing commitment to working side by side with them and their hearing health care team, their early interventionist, school personnel and Deaf and hard of hearing role models. There are lots of people and  organizations ready to help.  The following links contain information that you may find helpful.

Your Baby's Hearing Screening and Next Steps

A Parent's Guide to Hearing Loss

SPAN Parent Advocacy Network

SPAN’s mission is to empower and support families and inform and involve professionals interested in the healthy development and education of children and youth.

SPAN’s vision is that all families will have the resources and support they need to ensure that their children become fully participating and contributing members of our communities and society.

NJ Deaf Mentor Program

The NJ Deaf Mentor Program is a free program for families who have a child with hearing loss from birth to 5 years old, that provides 2 types of Deaf Mentors: Snapshots DHH Mentors and ASL Deaf Mentors.

      Click here to meet Deaf Mentors and DHH Mentors

NJ Statewide Parent-to-Parent Program (NJP2P) 

Parent to Parent offers one-to-one matches of families who have similar needs and experiences with trained support parents. This program provides families the support and resources they need to help their children with hearing loss reach their full potential and to help them feel less isolated and more confident about themselves

Division of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DDHH)

The mission of the Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (NJ Department of Human Services) is to provide education, advocacy, and direct services to eliminate barriers and promote increased accessibility to programs, services, and information routinely available to the states general population

DDHH provides American Sign Language (ASL) acquisition and development services for deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind children ages 0-5 as well as support and resources to their families. Families are matched with an ASL Deaf Language Associate to work with them for up to 25 hours a week.

Click here for ASL Language Instruction Program 

  Click here for ASL Resources

Hands and Voices – Provisional Chapter 

Hands and Voices is a nationwide organization dedicated to supporting families and their children who are Deaf or hard of hearing. This is a parent-driven, parent/professional collaborative group that is unbiased towards communication modes and methods.