Jill Y. Bargones, Ph.D., CCC-A (She/Her)

Program Lead

I am delighted to be part of Family Conversations and the Northwest School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children school community. It warms my heart to work with all the collaborative and passionate people who make up this community – teachers, administrators, staff, students and families. I started working and playing with Deaf and hard-of-hearing toddlers when I was in high school – at that time 2-year-olds would take a school bus every morning to the program in California.   We now know that infants and toddlers learn best at home with their own caretakers, so I was eager to begin work with families with young children with a variety of hearing levels while I completed my Master’s degree in Audiology at the University of Washington. I went on to study the development of auditory attention in babies as part of my PhD study. Over the years, I have enjoyed doing research in the development of the auditory system, hearing and listening, helping to collect data that led to Universal Newborn Hearing Screening, and to study how children with a variety of hearing levels who receive early support with their families grow and learn. I helped to start the Cochlear Implant Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital in 1994, and later spent a year in the bilingual (ASL-English) program in Anacortes, before returning to Seattle to join the Family Conversations team.  I’m inspired to work with and support families and their Deaf or hard-of-hearing infants and toddlers as they engage and build strong and healthy relationships during their everyday routines and play  with language and communication  as the foundation.  

I love the outdoors and you’ll often find me on my bike, paddle board or with a pickle ball paddle in my hand.

Sign name: “J” to “L”