Services for Students with Hearing Impairment
The Mahoning County Educational Service Center (MCESC) has established a continuum of services for children with hearing impairment beginning at the preschool level. Services are provided on a team basis. Team members consist of parents/families, speech language pathologists, intervention specialists, classroom teachers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and audiologists.
Currently, we provide a full day preschool program 4 days per week. Each day is divided into two separate specially designed classrooms. The morning is designated for pre-teaching and individualized instruction while the afternoon is spent in an inclusion preschool classroom for review of concepts and socialization with typical hearing peers.
Other services for students with hearing impaired:
- Providing individualized speech-language therapy services
- Aiding in the selection of FMs and sound field technologies
- In-servicing teachers and classmates about children with hearing loss
- Teaching educators and related personnel basic troubleshooting of hearing aids and cochlear implants
- Providing information on materials needed to maintain hearing equipment in the school setting, such as: sensor wands, batteries, hearing aid care kits, and stethoscopes
- Distributing handouts on cochlear implant precautions and classroom accommodations
- Maintaining a communication notebook between the related professionals involved in working with individual students
- Pre-and post-teaching of vocabulary and concepts taught in the classroom
- Providing collaborative lessons with classroom teachers
