Englewood, COLO-September 2006-Cochlear Americas today announced that Lilian Flores-Beltran, Latin America rehabilitation consultant for Cochlear, received the distinguished "2005 Professional of the Year" award, given by Alexander Graham Bell Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell) at the 2006 annual convention in late June. Flores-Beltran has traveled across the world in the pursuit of knowledge and has translated volumes of training materials into Spanish, enabling a growing number of deaf children in Latin America to have the opportunity to speak and listen. Each year the Professional Section of AG Bell receives a flood of nominations for outstanding hearing professionals deserving of recognition. Letters in support of Flores-Beltran stood out among the others, which were received from centers across the US and Latin America.
Flores-Beltran's peers describe her as being instrumental in guiding parents, professionals and children who are learning to listen and talk in Mexico and throughout the world. Some of her outstanding contributions to the field include providing Auditory-Verbal training and support to professionals and programs throughout South America and in the United States, Spain and Mexico. Flores-Beltran is a strong supporter of Auditory-Verbal certification and recently was instrumental in helping the International Professional Section develop its strategic plan.
Flores-Beltran, M.Ed., Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist, currently serves as the coordinator of rehabilitation at the Audiology and Phoniatrics Department in the General Hospital of Mexico, an international affiliate of AG Bell, and also as a rehabilitation consultant for Cochlear Americas in Latin America. Flores-Beltran has a master's degree in technological education and a bachelor's degree in special education with specialties in cognition and language. Most recently, she was appointed to the AG Bell Board of Directors. She has also worked with the John Tracy Clinic to plan and coordinate a parent training course in 11 countries in Latin America and Spain. The course has been attended by more than 5,000 parents to date.
The first professional Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist in Mexico, Flores-Beltran has authored Los Problemas de Audicion en el Preescolar (The Audition Problems at the Preschool Age) Third Edition., SEEPAL (Suggestions to Evaluate and Train the Speech Perception), Juegoyendo(Play & Hear) and "EPPAL" (Multimedia CD with Speech Perception Exercises).
For more information on Cochlear Americas, visit www.cochlear.com
