(Re)Habilitation Connect Forum – Supporting Social and Emotional Well-Being in Cochlear Implant Users
(Re)Habilitation Connect Forum
Friday, May 8, 2026
Join us Friday afternoon at CI2026 Chicago for an engaging, multidisciplinary (Re)Habilitation Connect Forum dedicated to one of the most critical, yet often under addressed aspects of cochlear implant care: social and emotional well-being.
This forum will feature two dedicated sessions: one focused on pediatric populations and one on adults. This will allow in-depth discussion of age-specific challenges and support across the lifespan. Presentations will integrate current evidence-based research with practical, clinic-ready strategies that can be implemented immediately.
While cochlear implants provide powerful access to sound and spoken language, hearing alone does not guarantee social confidence, emotional resilience, or overall quality of life.
Hear from a dynamic panel of researchers, physicians, educators, psychologists/social workers, and speech-language pathologists who will share insights from the literature as well as real-world clinical experience.
Together, they will explore:
- What the current research tells us about social-emotional outcomes in CI users
- Risk and protective factors influencing resilience and well-being
- Practical tools for screening, counseling, and intervention
- Strategies to support families, schools, and adult patients
- Ways audiologists and SLPs can confidently address social and emotional concerns within their scope of practice
This year’s pediatric session moderators and panelists include:
- Jenna Voss, PhD, LSLS Cert AVEd (moderator)
- Ivette Cejas PhD (moderator) – Different Paths, Same Potential: Social-Emotional Development in Children with CIs
- Irina Castellanos PhD – Thinking, Language, and Regulation: Neurocognitive Pathways to Social–emotional Well-being in Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users
- Sherri Fickenscher MS,LSLS Cert. AVEd – Listening, Speaking, Belonging: SEL Practices
- Dorothy White PhD – Socioemotional Interventions and Supports for Children with Cochlear Implants – Impacts Across Domains
This year’s adult session moderators and panelists include:
- James Dornhoffer MD (moderator)
- Michelle Havlik MHS, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert AVT (moderator)
- Lindsay Zombek MS, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert AVT – Beyond Hearing: Prioritizing Psychosocial Outcomes for Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients
- Monita Chatterjee PhD – Emotion Perception by Adults with Cochlear Implants
- Sammy Gao – Measuring and Predicting Social and Emotional Changes after Cochlear Implantation
- Blair Richlin PhD CCC-SLP, LSLS AVEd and Barbara J. Gordon LCSW – Putting the Social Work Into Patient Rehab Success
Please join us for this notable opportunity to level up your knowledge and skills regarding intervention with these unique populations.
Whether you identify as a physician, psychologist, audiologist, speech-language pathologist, educator, early interventionist, (re)habilitationist, coordinator, or as any person interested in discussion of research and best practices for intervention, we hope you will join us for this exciting (Re)Habilitation Connect Forum.
Click here to view or download the (Re)Habilitation Connect Forum flyer.
‘Continue the Conversation’ Reception – sponsored by Hearing First
Friday, May 8
5:15pm – 6:15pm
Following the conclusion of the two sessions, we will continue the conversation with refreshments and an opportunity for the (Re)Habilitation Connect Forum presenters and attendees to interact and delve deeper into the forum topics in a less formal setting. This is an opportunity not to be missed! We are grateful to Hearing First for sponsoring the reception following the (Re)Habilitation Connect Forum.