LOGAN – It wasn’t quite 50 years ago that Karl White began his work as a researcher and Division Director at Utah State University’s Institute for Disability Research, Policy and Practice (IDRPP).
When Karl arrived in 1978 IDRPP was known as the Exceptional Child Center. Later, on a sabbatical in Washington, D.C. in 1984, his work led to the establishment of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM).
This month NCHAM is joining IDRPP, continuing a journey to identify hearing loss in infants and young children.
After the Education of the Deaf Act passed in 1985, White was asked to implement some of its provisions and he started a universal newborn screening program in Rhode Island. White said when word got out that newborn hearing screening could be done, other states picked up on it, and Utah was one of the first.
Thanks to pioneering efforts by NCHAM, which was founded by Dr. White, every state now has a universal early hearing screening program for newborns.