What are the goals of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Support Program?
Who is eligible for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Support Services?
How are students referred for Services?
How is eligibility determined?
What is an Educational Functional Hearing Assessment?
What services can be provided to the student?
What are the enrollment procedures?
Who is responsible for a student’s personal hearing aids?
Who is responsible for a student’s school-purchased assistive listening device?
What teachers need to know when they have a student with a hearing loss.
What are the goals of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Support Program?
Identify & assess students with hearing loss, and provide them with an appropriate
support program & instruction to maximize the student’s learning potential
Provide the student with the educational skills and accommodations needed to be
successful in the least restrictive environment
Recommend and monitor auditory equipment
Facilitate literacy, self-advocacy and independent living skills
Offer students appropriate access to the education environment
Who is eligible for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Support Services?
Any student of school age, residing in Beaver County, is eligible if he/she exhibits one or
more of the following:
Documented hearing loss of 25db or greater
Documented academic delay
Documented chronic middle ear infections
Uses a hearing aid (or similar amplification device) or cochlear implant
How are students referred for Services?
Students are referred to the program by their school district. A referral form accompanied
by a copy of the student’s most current clinical audiogram or failed hearing screening
results is required to initiate the referral process.
How is eligibility determined?
Eligibility is determined on a case by cases basis of students who have a documented
hearing loss and are in need of specially designed instruction in order to reach his/her
potential. The determination of eligibility for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Support Services is
made through a comprehensive assessment by a multi-disciplinary evaluation team. The
multidisciplinary assessment MAY include:
Educational Functional Hearing Assessment
Questionnaires and Observations of Classroom Teachers
Observation and Assessment of Listening Environments
Speech/Language Assessment
Assessment in any other area thought to be significant in determining the student’s
unique needs
What is an Educational Functional Hearing Assessment?
An Educational Functional Hearing Assessment may include the following:
Functional Listening Assessment
Auditory Skills Assessment
Speechreading Assessment
Receptive and Expressive Language Assessment
Phonemic Awareness Assessment
Reading Assessment
Observation
Teacher and Parent Reports
Review of Audiological and Academic records
What services can be provided to the student?
The BVIU Audiology/Hard of Hearing Support Program can provide services in a variety of
ways. The type of service delivery is based on each child’s individual needs and abilities
and the information gathered in the evaluation process.
Service delivery can include any of the following:
Consultative and Monitoring
Teachers of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing may provide consultative services to school district
personnel who have a student with a hearing loss in their classrooms. These services may
include instruction on accommodations that are necessary in the regular education
classroom to ensure that the student with a hearing loss can access the curriculum. These
include preferential seating, reduction in background noise, visual presentation of
materials, close captioning of TV, DVDs, etc.
Teachers of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing may provide monitoring services for students who
do not require direct instruction. Teachers contact the students regular education
teachers periodically throughout the school year with the goal of monitoring the academic
progress, social and self-advocacy skills of the student.
Itinerant
Teachers of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing provide direct instruction to an individual or a small
group of students to support academic areas and to strengthen language, speechreading,
auditory and self-advocacy skills as determined by the Individualized Education
Program. Support may also be provided in hearing aid orientation, vocabulary
development, reading literacy and writing skills, and test taking and study skills.
Itinerant teachers also monitor the functioning of hearing aids and personal FM
amplification devices in the school setting.
What are the enrollment procedures?
The following are state mandated procedures required in the public school program in
order to enroll a student into Deaf/Hard of Hearing Support:
1. Permission to Evaluate: This form is sent to parents after a student has been
referred by the school district and the Educational Audiologist has reviewed the
student’s clinical audiogram. It gives the Hearing Support Program permission to
conduct an evaluation.
2. Multidisciplinary Evaluation (MDE)/Evaluation Report (ER): This evaluation
and report is completed and signed within 60 calendar days of the Permission to
Evaluate form being returned. Each member of the team, which may include the
teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing, the Speech and Language pathologist, the
classroom teacher, the school counselor, the principal, the school psychologist, the
district representative (LEA) and the parent, is involved in sharing the following:
 Educational, social and physical history
 Summary/interpretation of diagnostic assessments
 Strengths of the student
 Degree of need of the student
 Information from the parents about home and from the teacher about the
classroom.
3. Invitation to the IEP Meeting: This form is sent to the parents after the ER has
been completed and circulated.
4. IEP: A meeting is held and an IEP is developed and reviewed every year. This
provides information on the student’s strengths and needs, and lists both annual
goals and short term objectives. The specially designed instruction that will be
utilized is also listed. Parental involvement in this process is critical.
5. Notice of Recommended Educational Placement (NOREP): This form gives
permission for the student to be placed in Deaf/Hard of Hearing Support.
Who is responsible for a student’s personal hearing aids?
Personal hearing aids, either traditional or surgically implantable (ie BAHA or Cochlear
Implant), are considered to be personal medical devices that are obtained, provided and
maintained by the student’s family through the Pennsylvania Medical Assistance Program
or private health insurance.
Routine listening checks are performed by the BVIU Teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing
for students wearing personal hearing aids during scheduled Hearing Support time, as
indicated on the IEP. BVIU teachers insure proper hearing aid function by performing light
troubleshooting and informal listening checks of personal hearing aids with use of a
listening stethoscope, battery tester and supplies for cleaning of earmolds. Minor repairs
may be reported to the BVIU Educational Audiologist for correction. Extensive
malfunctions or earmold problems are reported to the parents for repair or replacement
through their private insurance and/or Clinical/Dispensing Audiologist.
An electro-acoustic evaluation of personal hearing aids is available, if indicated, by the
Educational Audiologist.
The student’s family is responsible for routine replacement of personal hearing aid
batteries. Students who qualify for the Pennsylvania Medical Assistance Program may
obtain batteries at a participating pharmacy with a doctor’s prescription. Extra batteries
should be available to the student during the school day, if the need arises. It is
recommended that parents provide extra batteries to the elementary school nurse and
that the expiration date of the batteries should be monitored regularly. Older students
who are known to be sufficiently responsible may keep extra batteries with their personal
items in school. Caution should be exercised to avoid accidental ingestion of batteries by
any student who may come in contact with new or discarded batteries.
For students who use a personal FM system in conjunction with their personal hearing
aids, battery responsibility is a “shared” matter in that the school district is asked to
purchase half of a school year’s worth supply of batteries to have on hand at school. The
battery replacement at home and on a daily basis remains the responsibility of the family.
Who is responsible for a student’s school-purchased assistive listening device?
Some students use additional Assistive Listening Devices, such as Personal FM Systems
or Individual Soundfield Systems during the school day. These devices may be used in
addition to, or instead of a personal hearing aid. Assistive Listening Devices are provided
and maintained by the school district and are monitored by the BVIU Hearing Support
Teacher and the BVIU Educational Audiologist in the same manner as the personal hearing
aids. Repairs and replacement of batteries and earmolds are referred to the BVIU
Educational Audiologist on an as needed basis. Each personal FM system also receives at
least an annual evaluation and repair if indicated.
Large group classroom Soundfield FM systems are provided and maintained by the school
district’s building personnel.
In both cases, the school-purchased assistive listening devices remain at school and do
not go home.
What teachers need to know when they have a student with a hearing loss.
Listed below are some recommendations for school district teachers who have a child with
a hearing loss in their classes.
Seat the student optimally within the classroom, where they will gain the most visual
information
from the teacher in their teaching area. Sometimes this is in the front of the
room near the
teacher.
Reduce background noise as much as possible. And do not seat the student near a
noise-making
device such as a fan, aquarium, etc.
Speak naturally – avoid exaggerations.
Keep hands, books and papers away from your face.
Face the student at all times when you are speaking. And do not speak when you
are writing on the
board.
Get the student’s attention before giving assignments or announcements.
Stand in one place when giving instructions.
Don’t ask the student if he/she can “hear”. A child with a hearing loss may be able
to hear you
speak but may not understand what you are saying.
Check for understanding frequently, but use open ended questions and not simply
yes/no questions.
Rephrase a question or statement instead of just repeating it.
Be sure the light is on your face for easier speechreading. And do not stand with
your back to a
bright light or window.
Write assignments and any new and unusual words on the chalkboard/whiteboard.
And, it is helpful
for topic changes to also be indicated in writing on the chalkboard/whiteboard.
Encourage the students in class to face each other during discussions so that the
child with a
hearing loss may follow what is happening.
Do not require a student with a hearing loss to complete a worksheet during a
video/DVD/television
Program as the student is not able to watch the program and write at the same
time. Instead,
allow him to complete the worksheet after the program is finished.
Do not give oral tests to students with hearing loss.
Remember that the child with a hearing loss may tire easily and appear inattentive
because he must
expend more energy watching and listening to what is being said.
Become familiar with the proper use of any assistive listening devices used by the
student.
Call the Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit Educational Audiologist (724.728.3730,
ext. 152) if you
have questions or concerns.