The Awakening Educational Community

by Grace W. Tiessen

Editor: Here's another article on how schools are accommodating the needs of students who prefer an oral approach to education. Grace Tiessen reports on a free AG Bell program that supports oral programs in existing schools. Grace is the editor of The SHHH Californian and past president of SHHH-CA.

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AG Bell Program Assistance Project offers FREE assistance nationwide to public school systems to establish an auditory/oral language program or improve existing programs

For many years hearing loss separated children from their parents, other children and from the normal process of learning language. This situation is changing due to three remarkable elements, 1) the success of Cochlear Implants, 2) screening infants for hearing loss and 3) revised auditory-oral methods of teaching language to children with hearing loss.

These three elements have converged and their impact will change forever how we educate Hard of Hearing or Deaf children. In the next 10 years it is estimated that 85 percent of children who are born with severe to profound hearing loss will receive cochlear implants.

Others with mild to moderate loss will benefit from improved hearing aids and revised methods of teaching language. It is predicted that in this decade all children who are born in the U.S. will be tested within the first weeks of birth for hearing loss. If diagnosed with a hearing loss a team of specialists will work with the family and child in the process of early language development. While these are remarkable factors, the one area which is lagging behind in the field of hearing loss is teacher training.

In California, credentialing of teachers of the hard of hearing or deaf requires no coursework on how to teach hard of hearing or cochlear implanted students. Ninety percent of hard of hearing or deaf babies are born to hearing parents. These hearing parents want teachers prepared to teach oral language options such as auditory-oral and Auditory-Verbal. Teachers who were trained to teach Hard of Hearing or Deaf students from the mid 1970's to the present have generally not been exposed to revised Auditory-Oral methods of language development and new methods of teaching language to children with cochlear implants.

This is beginning to change. In 1994, the AG Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing formed a Public School Caucus. Then in 2000, recognizing the need to strengthen quality auditory/oral options within the public schools, the AG Bell Public School Caucus organized a nationwide Public School Caucus Program Assistance Program (PAP). PAP is having a major impact on the quality of programs and services for deaf and hard of hearing children in the United States. Together with the district, PAP designs an implementation plan to meet the district's needs. This includes staff development, curricula development, site visitation to observe current best practices and coaching to assure quality classroom implementation. All support is free to the public school districts. In 2005 PAP will provide support for up to 30 districts for 3 years.

PAP is carried out by Program Development Team (PDT) coordinators. The number of PDT coordinators varies. Right now there are between 6-8, but they utilize many professionals from both public school and private school programs to be members of the support teams.

Jean Ching, is a Program Development Team (PDT) coordinator working in California and Texas. She is currently supporting three districts in California (Palo Alto, Fresno and Riverside County) and two districts in Texas (El Paso and Wichita Falls). She is a long time member of AG Bell and LIDAC (Low Incidence Disability Advisory Committee). Jean was not only a teacher, but for twenty five years was Coordinator of Special Education, Palo Alto Unified School District, which included being the head of Jackson Hearing Center, an oral/auditory preschool through high school program.

Çurrently, PDT coordinators work three years with a district. They are assigned districts by the co-directors and they work with as many districts as they can or for which there is a need. The districts have to apply and be accepted into the PAP Project. Each district that is accepted has different needs and PDT coordinators work with each district to identify needs and develop goals around these needs. They may determine the need to bring in professionals for workshops or inservices or they may send teachers to observe quality programs for deaf or hard of hearing children. Administrators and teachers from quality auditory/oral programs act as mentors and coaches to the PAP districts. They look at all possible resources to help current auditory/oral programs refine and update their skills, and they also work with districts that want to develop auditory/oral programs. Here are the states and cities/counties that PAP is currently serving:

Alaska - State of Alaska, Anchorage
California - Riverside County, Fresno, and Palo Alto
Florida - Orange County and Pasco County
Idaho - Idaho State School for the Deaf
Ohio - Stark County
Minnesota - Northeast Service Area, Mt. Iron
Michigan - Oakland County
New York - New York City
Rhode Island - State of Rhode Island
South Carolina - Berkeley Co, Moncks Corner
South Dakota - South Dakota State School for the Deaf
Texas - Wichita Falls and El Paso
Washington DC - Public Schools
Wisconsin - Waukesha

This is a FREE program to the school districts. PAP is funded by the Oberkotter Foundation (see Page 3 and www.oraldeafed.org), providing support for up to 30 programs for 3 years. Districts do not receive a fixed amount of money, but each district receives the support that they need. Some districts are very large and others are very small. Some districts are in close proximity to their PDT coordinator and the coordinators are able to drive to their districts. In other cases such as Alaska, it takes more money to fly the support in. Each PDT coordinator provides support to programs in more than one area. PAP has just completed service to several districts and is now accepting new applications.

Here is a example of an AG Bell Public School Caucus Program Assistance Project in Riverside County, California. On August 4-5, 2005, a two-day workshop was sponsored by PAP and hosted by the Riverside County Office of Education. This workshop was free and included materials and meals. The attendees were Teachers of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Regular Education Teachers, Speech Therapists, Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Audiologists, and Administrators of Deaf/Hard of Hearing programs. Seventy educators attended.

There were three speakers

Carol Flexer, PhD, Professor of Audiology, University of Akron, Ohio, spoke about Auditory/Neural Foundation for Literacy. Her talk provided new information about the auditory neurological basis for literacy. Specifically, the relationship of auditory brain development to the acquisition of spoken communication, reading, and academic skills was detailed as the basis for a paradigm shift in education. Participants took home strategies for "growing the child's brain."

Denise Wray, PhD, Professor of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Akron, Ohio, spoke about Reading, Writing, and Reaching Literacy for Children with Hearing Impairments. Given advancements in technology, functional literacy skills for children with hearing loss are well within the realm of possibility. This presentation discussed where to begin the process of literacy development, what outcomes should be targeted in relationship to state content standards, and how to create materials that focus on literacy objectives as they relate to reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Lynn Robertson, PhD, Department of Education, Denison University, Ohio, spoke about From Listening to Literacy: Theory into Practice. Understanding theory is a first step to guidance toward successful practice. This presentation focused on the theoretical connections between listening, spoken language, and literacy and provided principles for practice.