Excelling Teaching & Learning : Hearing

Scottsdale Schools Hearing Impaired Program Description

The Itinerant Hearing Impaired Program offers education services to students with hearing impairments at their school of attendance. The students are provided with instruction using the communication system which best suits the students' needs and abilities. The methods include total communication (simultaneous use of sign language, cued speech, speechreading, amplified hearing and oral speech), manual, and oral/aural methods. Speech/Language therapy and sign language interpreters are provided as needed.

The goal of the Hearing Impairment Program is to identify and provide an appropriate combination of educational services to meet the students' individual needs in the most integrated program possible. Curriculum is modified, adapted and supplemented, assistive devices (hearing aids, FM systems, computer technology, etc.) are employed, and remediation/ accommodations are afforded to enable success.

According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Arizona Revised Statutes: "A hearing impairment is a deviation in hearing from normal, as determined by evaluation, which impedes a student's educational progress in the regular classroom situation without the support of special classes or special services designed to promote his/her educational development, and whose intellectual development is such that he/she is capable of being educated through a modified instructional program.

Furthermore, "deaf" is defined as a hearing impairment which is so severe that the student is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing with or without amplification, which adversely affects educational performance. "Hard of Hearing" is defined as a hearing impairment, whether permanent or fluctuating, which adversely affects a student's educational performance but which is not under the definition of "deaf."

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