Download Changes in the Special Education Regulations in Hearing Impaired

Changes in the Special Education
Regulations in Hearing Impaired
WHAT IMPACT DOES IT HAVE ON YOU?
BY HEATHER HALL
TEACHER OF THE DEAF AND HARD OF
HEARING
KENTUCKY VALLEY SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL
COOPERATIVE
What has changed?
 The old eligibility determination forms said, “The
student has a hearing loss, whether permanent of
fluctuating, of 25 dB loss or greater which exists
through the speech frequencies of 500, 1000, and
2000 Hz in the better ear and deficits exist in
processing linguistic information through hearing,
with or without amplification. Evaluation
information confirms there is an adverse effect on
educational performance.”
What has changed? Con.
 The new regulations state,
 “(a) may be mild to profound, unilateral or bilateral, permanent or
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fluctuating, and is determined by:
1. an average pure-tone hearing loss in the speech range (500Hz,
1000Hz, and 2000Hz) of at least 25dB in the better ear;
2. an average pure-tone hearing loss in the high-frequency range
(2000Hz, 4000Hz, and 6000Hz) of at least 45dB in the better ear;
or
3. an average pure-tone unilateral hearing loss in the speech
range (500Hz, 1000Hz, and 2000Hz) of at least 60dB in the
impaired ear;
(b) results in difficulty identifying linguistic information through
hearing; and,
(c) has an adverse effect on the child’s educational performance.”
In English Please!
 This means that students will qualify like they have in
the past with a loss of 25dB in the better ear through
the designated speech range.
 In addition, students with loss in only one ear (left out
for many years) with a hearing loss of 60dB or greater
in the designated speech range will now qualify as
hearing impaired.
 Add those with high frequency loss of 2000Hz,
4000Hz, and 6000Hz of at least 45dB in the better ear
as qualifying as hearing impaired.
 This means a student can qualify as hearing impaired
three different ways now, not just the one way before.
Paint me a picture please!
Hearing Loss 25 dB
Hearing loss 45 dB
Hearing Loss 60 dB in one
ear
What does all that mean?
 What this means is that some students that may not
have qualified as hearing impaired may now be
eligible for this designation.
 You will have to look over audiograms and
assessments to see if students that once did not
qualify do now.
 Your number of hearing impaired students may go
up in your school/district.
How do high frequency hearing losses impact
student learning?
 High frequency hearing loss often involves loss of
ability to hear consonants such as s, f, t, and z, even
though vowels can be heard normally. Consequently,
people hear but cannot make out what is being said
 This may result in frustration, withdrawal from
social activities, depression, and marital discord.
People lose the ability to take in the sounds like bird
songs, rustling of leaves, and the voices of children.
http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/hearingloss/HL_whatis.html
How does unilateral hearing losses impact
learning?
 Children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) can be at risk for academic,
speech-language, social, and emotional problems, and often require
special services to address these needs. Approximately 16 to 19 out of
every 1,000 school-aged children have UHL (Brookhauser,
Worthington, & Kelly, 1991).
 Children with UHL do not have the advantages of binaural hearing, and
consequently have difficulty localizing sounds,
detecting/understanding speech directed to the impaired side, and
understanding speech in noisy and/or reverberant environments (Bess
et al, 1986).
http://deafness.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=deafness&cdn=health&tm=6&gps=308_452_1020_56
3&f=10&su=p247.3.140.ip_p726.2.152.ip_p284.8.150.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.asha.org/about/publi
cations/leader-online/archives/2005/050524/050524e.htm
What do I need to check for in my
school/district?
 Review the records of students with a history of
hearing losses.
 You need to search and see if any student had been
ruled out in the past as qualifying as hearing
impaired because the loss did not fall within the
old regulations or they only had loss in one ear.
 Check the schools in your area to see if any
students are wearing only one hearing aid and
currently are not labeled hearing impaired, they
may qualify now.
What do I need to check for in my
school/district?
 Hearing screenings are very important (If no one is
failing any hearing screenings at all in your district
something is very wrong!). Make sure that
screenings are being done, checking for losses in
both ears independently. Remember if they have a
loss in just one ear they might now qualify for
hearing impaired status!
What do I need to check for in my
school/district?
 Remember if you suspect that a child may have a
hearing loss request a hearing screening for that child.
 Speech pathologist can sometimes detect hearing
losses through patterns in speech or languages; look for
these patterns.
 If it takes calling every school in a district check for
kids with one hearing aid they may be hidden
somewhere out there. Remember they have not been
candidates for hearing impaired in the past because
they have that one good ear, that has changed now!