Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Students
What You Need to Know About Providing Services
A student with a hearing loss is registering at your school. What do you need to do?
- If the student was receiving AI services at a previous school, accept those services and begin the 30-day process of determining which services to continue and what, if any, additional services are needed.
- If the student was not already receiving AI services, conduct a Full Individual Evaluation.
- Contact a certified Teacher of the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing (TODHH). By law, a TODHH must be a member of the evaluation team for any student with hearing loss.
- Contact a certified Educational Audiologist to determine the student's listening and amplification needs.
- For assistance finding a TODHH and an Educational Audiologist in your area, please contact your regional ESC DHH Contact (insert link to list)
Legal Requiements
The Legal Framework can be accessed through the Region 18 Education Service Center. It is a primary source of information regarding services for D/HH students.
Required Elements of the FIE
- Otological Evaluation signed by a licensed otolaryngologist (ENT)*
- Audiological Evaluation signed by a licensed audiologist
- Communication Evaluation completed by the TODHH, Speech/Language Pathologist, Educational Diagnostician, and any additional member of the evaluation team with applicable information regarding the student's communication needs.
*If securing a signed Otological Evaluation delays the FIE process, please reference the Texas Otological Report regarding how to gather the necessary documentation in order to provide services as quickly as possible.
Evaluating Functional Performance
Hearing loss is an ACCESS issue. It creates barriers to learning in the typical classroom environment and impacts social interactions. This invisible barrier is why it is necessary to consider functional performance in the classroom across situations.
Success for Children with Hearing Loss
The FIE should include data regarding the student's functional performance in addition to academic performance.
Federal law §34 CFR Sec. 300.304(c) states that evaluations:
(1)(ii) Are provided and administered in the child’s native language or other mode of communication and in the form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally.
(4) The child is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability.
Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP)
IDEA requires the IEP to include a statement of the child’s present level of academic and FUNCTIONAL performance. Here is a portion of the explanation from the Parent Center Hub website:
The “present levels” statement is intended to comprehensively describe a child’s abilities, performance, strengths, and needs. It is based on, and arises out of, all the information and data previously collected and known about the child, most especially the full and individual evaluation of the child that must be conducted in accordance with IDEA’s evaluation/eligibility provisions of §§300.301 through 300.311. A well-written present level will describe:
- the child’s strengths and weaknesses,
- what helps the child learn,
- what limits or interferes with the child’s learning,
- objective data from current evaluations of the child, and
- how the child’s disability affects his or her ability to be involved and progress in the general curriculum.
A fully developed, well-written “present levels” is the foundation upon which the rest of the IEP can be developed to specify appropriate goals, services, supports, accommodations, and placement for the child.
Functional performance. With respect to the meaning of “functional performance,” the Department of Education points to how the term is generally understood as referring to “skills or activities that are not considered academic or related to a child’s academic achievement.” This term “is often used in the context of routine activities of everyday living.”
All of these types of skills are important to consider when writing the child’s “present levels” statement, asking questions such as:
- Where does the child stand in terms of functional performance?
- How does the child’s disability affect functional performance?
- How does the child's functional performance affect his or her involvement and progress in the general education curriculum?
For students who are deaf/hard of hearing, their disability often impacts social skills, self-advocacy skills, and other functional skills that are imperative for them to truly access the curriculum. The expanded core curriculum addresses those skills.
Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) for Students Who are Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing
“…students who are deaf or hard of hearing have specialized needs not covered in the general education curriculum. Hearing loss adds a dimension to learning that often requires explicit teaching, such as information gained through incidental learning. It has been estimated that for persons without hearing loss, 80% of information learned is acquired incidentally. No effort is required. Any type of hearing loss interrupts this automatic path to gain information. This incidental information must be delivered directly to students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Most teachers without specialized training related to hearing loss do not have the expertise to address the unique needs of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Therefore, IFSP & IEP team collaboration with educational audiologists and teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing is necessary in addressing academic and social instruction and the assessment of these areas (Denzin & Luckner, 1998). In order to close this information gap, the Expanded Core Curriculum for Students who are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing (ECC-DHH) was developed.”
Specially Designed Instruction
Specially Designed Instruction: A Resource for Teachers
(3) Specially designed instruction means adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child under this part, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction—
(i) To address the unique needs of the child that result from the child’s disability; and
(ii) To ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children. [§300.39(b)(3)]
Texas Education Code Section TEC§29.302 (a) states “that it is essential for the well-being and growth of students who are deaf or hard of hearing that educational programs recognize the unique nature of deafness and the hard of hearing condition and ensure that all students who are deaf or hard of hearing have appropriate, ongoing, and fully accessible educational opportunities."
Possible Amplification Needs
Training for Teachers
Training for classroom teachers and other personnel working with D/HH students should be provided by a TODHH and/or an Educational Audiologist.
Helpful Resources for Providing Teacher Training:
- D/HH Students in the General Education Classroom (LiveBinder)
- ESC Region 11 Trainings
- Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in the Classroom (video)
Hearing Loss Simulations:
Online Resources
ADA Requirements: Effective Communication
ADA/504/IDEA Requirements for D/HH Students
Expanded Core Curriculum for D/HH Students
Hearing Aid Financial Assistance
Listening Fatigue and Its Effect on Learning
Possible Educational Effects of Hearing Loss
Self Advocacy Skills for Students Who Are D/HH
Social Skills for D/HH Students
ESC Region 11 Regional Day School Programs for the Deaf (RDSPD)
ESC Region 11
Anne Darr, ESC Region 11 Consultant for D/HH Services
Twyla Loftin, Statewide Consultant for D/HH Services
Danielle Battle, Statewide Early Intervention Sensory Impairments Specialist
Brooke Murphy, Technology Specialist for D/HH Services
Email: adarr@esc11.net
Website: http://www.esc11.net/domain/118
Location: 1451 South Cherry Lane, White Settlement, TX, United States
Phone: (817) 740-3698