100 Babies Project

The 100 Babies Project is a shared project between Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH), Georgia Pathway to Language and Literacy and Georgia Department of Education (DOE).  If you are a family with a child newly identified with a hearing loss, please watch a video explaining the project (English/Spanish).

Goal:  By 2020 all children in Georgia who are deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) have a Birth to Literacy Plan.  The Birth to Literacy Plan will include everything that must happen to be reading on grade level by third grade regardless language (spoken or American Sign Language).

Eligibility:  Babies born in Georgia on or after January 1, 2014 with a diagnosed permanent hearing loss, bilateral or unilateral.

Enrollment:  Any parent interested in the project must sign an informed consent (english | spanish) form to be included in the project.  All participants will be assigned a Georgia Testing Identification Number (GTID).  All children are assigned a GTID when they enter public school in order to track standardized test scores.  Participants in the project will be assigned a GTID early to track language development from birth to age 8 (third grade).

Plan:  DPH will collect the following from birth through third grade.

• Audiological information (hearing aids, cochlear implant, etc.)
• Access and enrollment of intervention services
• Language assessments
• Family survey (collected annually)

Benefits:  Children enrolled will be assessed every six months to determine if they are on track for grade level reading.  If the child is enrolled with an interventionist, only one formal assessment will be collected in the home between 2-3 years of age.  All other assessments will be completed by the providers working with your family.  Providers working with the family will provide information on: 

• Successes
• Barriers
• Existing/New resources
• Key factors in achieving grade level reading

Note:  Participation in this project is completely voluntary.  Eligibility of intervention services will not be impacted based on project.  For questions regarding this project, please contact our Newborn Screening program at 404-657-4143 or MCH at 888-651-8224.