In early December, Australian Hearing’s Paediatric Program Advisory Committee (PPAC) met in Sydney.
Throughout the day, we heard updates on the role of Australian Hearing in the roll out of the NDIS and the ‘Know Your Noise’ website established by the National Acoustic Laboratories.
As part of our meeting, we also took the time to decide on its goals for the coming year.
One key focus for the year will be on how families and young people adapt to the different milestones they face throughout their hearing journey.
Since beginning as a committee back in 2013, a number of members from the PPAC have shared stories of stages in theirs or their child’s hearing journey where guidance on how to handle a situation would have made life easier.
Over the next year, we’ll aim to provide Australian Hearing with advice to help parents and clients at key stages in their life, including when a child with hearing loss first steps into a classroom starts higher education or gets their first job.
It’s also important to remember that due to the complexity of today’s hearing market, the stages of transition also include when a client finishes their time with Australian Hearing or they turn 26.
If you have any ideas that you would like the PPAC to discuss, we can be contacted at (email Address). Please note that if you have concerns or questions about your individual hearing program, these should be raised with Australian Hearing directly.
The Committee will be meeting in March and I hope to bring you another update soon after.
Brendan Pearce is the Chair of the PPAC and a strong advocate for young people with a disability. Born with a moderate hearing loss, Brendan has been a client of Australian Hearing since 1997.