Download Audiology in Schools

Audiology in
Schools
What to expect
Jennifer Famularo Craig, Au.D., CCC-A
What is Audiology
 Audiology- The science or study of hearing: hence
Audiologist, one who specializes in audiology.
 A branch of science dealing with hearing: specifically
therapy of individuals having impaired hearing.
Purpose
1. Why do schools need access to school based audiology
services?
2. What does legislation say about audiology services in our
schools?
3. What types of services can a school based audiologist
provide?
IDEA 2004 Part B
 Deafness
 a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired
in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or
without amplification, that adversely affects a child’s
educational performance.
 Section 300.8 (c) (5)
IDEA 2004 Part B
 Hearing impairment
 an impairment in hearing whether permanent or fluctuating,
that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but
that is not included under the definition of deafness in this
section.
 Section 308.8 (c) (5)
IDEA 2004 defines AUDIOLOGY
 1. Identification of children with hearing loss:
 2. determination of the range, nature, and degree of
hearing loss, including referral for medical or other
professional attention for the habilitation of hearing:
 3. provision of habilitative activities, such as language
habilitation, auditory training, speech reading, hearing
evaluation and speech conservation.
IDEA 2004 Audiology definition
continued…
 4. creation and administration of programs for prevention
of hearing loss;
 5. counseling and guidance of students, parents, and
teachers regarding hearing loss;
 6. determination of the child’s need for group and
individual amplification, selection and fitting an
appropriate aid, and evaluating the effectiveness of
amplification.
 Section 300.34 (c)) (1)
Related Services 34CFR300.34(b)
Exception: services applied to children with surgically implanted devices
including cochlear implants
 Related services do not include a medical device that is
surgically implanted, the optimization of that device’s
functioning (e.g. mapping), maintenance of that device, or the
replacement of that device.
 Nothing in paragraph (b)(1) of this section Limits the right of the child to receive related services
 Limits the responsibility of a public agency to appropriately
monitor and maintain medical devices
 Prevents the routine checking of an external component of a
surgically-implanted device to make sure it is functioning properly.
What does this mean?
 Mapping is not required by schools
 Does not affect provision of any other related services that
might support the CI (speech therapy, assistive
technology/FM)
 Requires monitoring to make sure the device is working.
Hearing aids (IDEA)
 Each public agency MUST ensure that hearing aids worn in
school by children with hearing impairment, including
deafness, are functioning properly.
 Section 300.105 (a) (2)
Implications for Schools
 School needs to provide evidence of monitoring plan of
Hearing aids and cochlear implants ( and specify in IEP)
 Who is monitoring procedure?
 Who will do it?
 Where will it be done?
 How often?
 What will happen if the device is not working?
Considerations of special factors
 The IEP Team Must: 34CFR 300.324(2) (iv-v)
 Consider the communication needs of the child, and in the case
of a child who is deaf or hear of hearing, consider the child’s
language and communication needs, opportunities for direct
communication with peers and professional personnel in the
child’s language and communication mode, academic level, and
full range of needs, including opportunities for direct instruction
in the child’s language and communication mode.
 Consider whether or not the child needs assistive technology
devices and services.
What that implies…
 Schools must have documentation of considerations and
actions regarding:
 Identification of student’s primary language and
communication
 Opportunities for direct communication with peers and
professional personnel in the student’s language and
communication mode
 Opportunities for direct instruction in the student’s language
and communication mode
 Student’s needs for assistive technology and assistive
technology services.
Section 504
 Any person who
 Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits
one or more major life activities (Learning, hearing,
speaking, etc)
 Is discriminated against based upon a record of such
impairment, or
 Is discriminated against based upon being regarded as
having such an impairment.
Section 504… a little more
 504 provides accommodations not modifications
 For children who are deaf and hard of hearing this means:
 Note taker
 Tape recorder
 Outlines of course content
 Study guides
 Seating
Classroom Talk time
 Classrooms are auditory-verbal environments where
listening is the primary modality for learning. (Flexer,
1995)
 Audiologist are uniquely qualified to ensure that all
students have adequate access to auditory information.
Importance of Hearing
 The classroom acoustic environment can affect a child’s
ability to understand the teacher
 Students spend at least 45% of day in activities that
require listening (Berg, 1993)
 On any given day, 43% of students could fail a hearing
test(Flexer, 1989)
 Even acoustically treated rooms still may need to consider
the distance and noise issues.
Access Communication
 Regardless of communication philosophy, teachers and
parents of children with hearing loss are motivated by the
same goal:
 Establishing excellent communication competence.
What to look for and ask…
 1. Is the chosen methodology working to enhance communication
development?
 2. Is this child a functional communicator?
 3. Does this child have a broad range of people with whom he or she
can communicated? Does his communications method broaden
rather than narrow his ability to interact with other people?
 4. Is the child’s communication supportive of literacy development
and academic success?
 5. Using this communication system, is the child making steady and
measureable progress in language, listening, and speech overtime?
Classroom Characteristics
what characteristics typify school programs that emphasize
meaningful auditory integration?
 Educators consistently communicate the message that
sound has a meaning, and there is a reason to listen!
 Educators convey strong expectations for listening all day.
They project a “listen even when I have not specifically
told you to listen” attitude.
Acoustic factors that affect
learning
 Distance
 Dimensions
 Large size
 Lecturing
Noise
Reverberation
students
heating
air conditioning
linoleum
Window
cinderblock
Traffic
Computers
Other classes
hard ceilings
Desks
What can we do to help?
 Reduce noise levels
 Remove noise source
 Increase distance from noise
 Reduce areas of hard reflective surfaces
 Increase areas of soft, sound absorbing surfaces
 Acoustic tiles
 Carpet
 Drapes
 Tennis balls on chairs
Increase speech signal
 Use FM sound system
 Teachers voice drops 6 dB with each doubling in distance
from student’s microphone
 Smaller class size and preferential seating with help (
usually not enough)
 FM ensures the signals are optimal for auditory learning
FM…. What is it?
 Teacher wears a mic / transmitter
 Frequency tuned receiver is worn by the student
 The teacher’s voice is transmitted wirelessly to the
receiver via radio waves. (coupled to the student’s hearing
aid or cochlear implant)
 Teacher’s voice is sent directly to the student, regardless
of distance.
Benefits of FM
 Improves listening in noisy environments
 Overcomes distance problems
 Eliminates reverberation problems
 Disadvantage: some children are not good at reporting
problems with FM
School Audiology Services
what to expect!
 Hearing loss Prevention/ Conservation
 Screening/ Management of Hearing Screening programs
 Audiological evaluations
 Management of Auditory Processing Disorders
 Amplification analysis and troubleshooting
 Classroom amplification
Audiology Services Cont…
 Classroom acoustics
 Counseling and guidance for students and parents
 Professional development for School Personnel
 Part of the IEP team and goals
Any Questions?
 Jennifer Famularo Craig, Au.D., CCC-A
 The Western PA School for the Deaf
 412-244-4272
 [email protected]