Catherine Totten is the Joint Service Coordinator and Lead Principal Clinical Scientist (Audiology) at the Yorkshire Auditory Implant Service (YAIS). She is a clinician who has worked in the field of Audiology for over 30 years and in cochlear implantation for around 25 years. The YAIS provides management and support 1300 cochlear implanted patients, plus a further hundred under assessment. The patients are severe/profoundly deaf adults and children who have been fitted with one of the three main cochlear implant manufacturer’s cochlear implant devices. This includes a number of bilaterally implanted patients.
Catherine’s role involves the day to day clinical co-ordination and provision of YAIS and the specialised audiological service within the YAIS. This includes responsibility for the introduction, development and audit of new audiological techniques, policies and clinical protocols. In addition, her responsibilities include the initiation, implementation and co-ordination of research activities of the service. This has involved studies carried out in conjunction with other UK centres and the manufacturers of the cochlear implant devices, resulting in the presentation of papers at both national and international conferences.
Elizabeth Hamilton is a Principal Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) at the Yorkshire Auditory Implant Service (YAIS). She is a clinician who has worked in the field of cochlear implantation for around 20 years, both in the community and for the service. She is a certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (AVT) and a certified Hanen Practitioner.
Elizabeth’s role involves the day to day clinical provision of speech and language therapy for paediatrics from 2 months old to 16 years old, both pre and post cochlear implantation. She is the lead qualified AVT specialist, providing supervision for those in training. In addition, she has led and contributed to the research activities of the service. This has influenced service provision and resulted in presentations both nationally and internationally.
Keynote session
Information provided will cover:
- the demographics of the population in Bradford and the caseload at YAIS
- the YAIS MDT – who is involved and their roles in supporting the children and families
- how YAIS support children from multilingual homes, including the role of the Rehabilitation Support Worker
- a parent’s and an older child’s perspective of growing up in a multilingual context with a CI
- key considerations of working with multilingual children – a clinical perspective
- outcomes of children from multilingual homes at YAIS
Recommended readings
Quality standards: Cochlear implant Services for Children and Adults. British Cochlear Implant Group.
Cochlear implants for children and adults with severe to profound deafness. NICE – National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
Carol Flexer (2017). Supporting Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing to Develop Literacy Through Listening and Spoken Language
Referral criteria at YAIS
Rehabilitation strategies and approaches used at YAIS