Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program

The mission of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program is to prepare students with mild, moderate and/or profound hearing loss for a successful transition into an inclusive setting in their home district. The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Programming includes:

• A variety of amplification devices, including hearing aids, FM systems and cochlear implants

• Teachers of the Deaf and students use a combination of spoken English and Signing Exact English (SEEII).

• Curriculum aligned to the Common Core Curriculum Frameworks but modified to incorporate language, speech, and auditory development

• Consulting Reading Specialist/moderate special needs teacher

• Balanced Literacy program

• Small class sizes, ranging from 3-8 students, with a teacher of the deaf and a paraprofessional

• Individual speech, language and auditory therapy four times/week, as well as audiological support

• Inclusion classes for both academic and non-academic subjects, starting in kindergarten

• Deaf and hard of hearing mentors visit the classroom and share stories with students

• Social pragmatic skill development and use of Positive Behavioral Intervention & Support (PBiS)

• Audiology services, including: ongoing consultation with classroom staff regarding each student’s needs, hearing equipment functioning and troubleshooting, environmental and educational accommodations instruction, communicating with each student’s audiologist, and auditory skill assessment and auditory training