This website has been made possible by CHOICES Delaware.
Choices Delaware (s
hort for Making Language CHOICES Available to Delaware Families of Children with Hearing Loss) is a grassroots organization consisting of a core project team of individuals with a range of expertise in language development, hearing loss, and education. Two members have deaf children. Two others have the personal experience of severe-profound hearing loss. Thirteen other individuals have provided information and/or the financial support that made this web site possible.
Core Team
Nicholas J. Fina, Ed.D.
Dr. Fina, the founding project lead and principal investigator for CHOICES Delaware, is an independent educational consultant with interests in issues related to disability in the workplace and higher education. He is vice-president of the Hearing Loss Association of Delaware, a member of the State Council for Persons with Disabilities, and an adjunct instructor in the University of Delaware School of Education. He wears a hearing aid and a cochlear implant as a result of a progressive, lifelong hearing loss. Doctor Fina is the current project leader for CHOICES Delaware.
Roberta M. Golinkoff, Ph.D.
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff holds the H. Rodney Sharp Chair in the School of Education at the University of Delaware and is also a member of the Departments of Psychology and Linguistics. An author of 12 books and numerous professional articles, Dr. Golinkoff founded and directs the Infant Language Project, whose goal is to understand how children learn language.
Linda S. Heller MA, CCC-A.
A practicing educational and rehabilitation audiologist for more than 25 years, Linda Heller is now a health, aging, and disabilities consultant and advocate. Recognizing that people with hearing loss need training and support after they obtain a hearing aid, she founded the Delaware Chapter of Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc. (now the Hearing Loss Association of Delaware) and remains on the HLADE Board of Directors. Linda also represents HLADE on many boards and councils for people with disabilities, She has a lifelong hearing loss.
Kathleen L. Johnson, M.A., CCC-A
Kathleen L. Johnson, M.A., CCC-A, is the Educational Audiologist for Capital School District in Dover, Delaware. She holds a Master of Arts Degree in Communication Disorders, specializing in Pediatric Audiology, as well as an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. Kathleen had also completed a Cochlear Implant Fellowship year with Cochlear Americas, at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. For over 17 years, she has provided a multitude of Audiology’s services in the areas of cochlear implants, aural rehabilitation, Central Auditory Processing Disorders (CAPD), Audiometric testing, hearing aid fittings, Hearing and Balance Disorders, and educational audiology in the New England area, until relocating to Delaware.
Ellen Z. Hall, R.N.
Ms. Hall is the mother of two children, one of whom was born profoundly deaf.
Thierry Morlet, Ph.D.
Dr. Morlet is the Head of the Auditory Physiology and Psychoacoustics Laboratory at A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children. He is also affiliated with the University of Delaware Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science. Clinical implications of his research include diagnosis and management of children with Auditory Processing Disorders, children presenting with Auditory Neuropathy/Dys-Synchrony,Friedreich Ataxia, and of children with various inner ear malformations.
Mia A. Papas, Ph.D., M.S.
Dr. Mia Papas is Director of Clinical Research and Health Outcomes at the Value Institute in the Christiana Care Health System. Dr. Papas’ research is focused on three primary areas: 1) health disparities; 2) maternal and child health, and 3) diet and cancer.Dr. Papas is an adjunct assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Drexel University School of Public Health. She is a principal author on peer-reviewed articles and has contributed to over 30 publications describing studies of early childhood growth deficiency, overweight adolescents, and adherence to cancer screening guidelines. She is the mother of two toddlers, one of whom became profoundly deaf shortly after birth.
Eileen Reynolds, M.S., CCC-A.
Ms. Reynolds has been a passionate advocate for the needs of children and families affected by hearing disorders for over 25 years. She has worked in clinical, state, and educational settings. She and is currently Delaware licensed and certified in Educational Audiology, Special Education and Education of Students with Hearing Loss. She works as an itinerant support specialist and helps students, families, and teachers succeed in local inclusive schools.
Susan D. Sahadevan, B.S.
Ms. Sahadevan has been a classroom teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing in Maryland and Delaware for more than 20 years. She currently works as an itinerant teacher in the Red Clay School District.
Michael Teixido, M.D.
Dr. Teixido is an otolaryngologist with a special interest in medical and surgical conditions that affect hearing and balance. He is a member of the Delaware Early Hearing Loss Detection and Intervention advisory board (EHDI). He actively advances the study and understanding of problems involving hearing, balance and general otolaryngology through publication, through his participation in many national and international professional organizations, through frequent lectures to his professional colleagues nationally and internationally, and to the public. He is the director of the Delaware Otologic Medicine and Surgery Fellowship, and co-director of the Pediatric Cochlear Implant and Auditory Rehabilitation Program of the Nemours duPont Hospital for Children. Dr. Teixido teaches regularly at Thomas Jefferson University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
CHOICES DELAWARE/hearingCHOICESdelaware.com 