8 Chapter 8: Audiologic Rehabilitation Services in the School Setting
Chapter Outline
- Introduction
- Why AR Services Are Required in School Settings: The Educational Consequences of Hearing Loss
- Hearing Loss and Learning
- Mandated by Law
- Key Components of IDEA
- Least Restrictive Environment
- The Individualized Education Plan
- Types of Communication Modalities
- AR Services Provided in Schools
- Screening and Assessment
- Management of Amplification/Audition
- Direct Instruction and Indirect Consultation
- Evaluation and Modification of Classroom Acoustics
- Transition Planning to Postsecondary Placements
- How Services Are Provided
- AR Service Providers in School Settings
- Teachers
- Audiologists
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Related Support Personnel
- Services from Children with Auditory Processing Problems
- Diagnosis/Assessment of APD
- Remediation of APD
- A Day in the Life” of an Educational Audiologist
Supplemental Learning Activities
- This chapter describes why we must confirm that children’s hearing aids are working while at school. Design a monitoring program to meet this mandate. Who will check hearing aids and FMs, and how often? Who will train these in- dividuals? How will the checks be documented? Will there be backup systems (extra batteries and hearing aids), and if so, how will those be managed? See Johnson and Seaton (2011) for guidance.
- Visit the GAP website (www.phonak.com/us/b2b/en/library/GAP.html) and explore its contents. Write a one-page review: Does the website seem to meet the needs of teens with hearing loss? Are the instructional materials relevant and helpful? Would you recommend this website to others? Your instructor may provide additional guidance if necessary.
- Review the materials in APD and prepare a short one-page summary describing briefly the research that you find there on the basic strategy for diagnosis (involving three areas) and remediation of APD (three areas).
- An interactive curriculum called the GAP (Guide to Access Planning) has been created to help teens and young adults develop personal responsibility and self- advocacy skills. The CD-ROM program specifically emphasizes knowledge and skills to promote communication access, emphasizing the use of hearing and hearing assistance technologies (www.phonak.com/us/b2b/en/library/GAP.html).
- A primary limitation to the provision of services has been the relatively small number of audiologists hired to serve children in schools. The American Speech–Language–Hearing Association (ASHA) (2002) has conservatively estimated the need to be one audiologist for every 10,000 schoolchildren. This 1:10K ratio would necessitate hiring at least 5,000 audiologists, but for over two decades only about 1,300 educational audiologists have been employed by schools (https://sites.ed.gov/idea/data/).
- The U.S. Department of Education analyzes research on a range of educational strategies (“What Works Clearinghouse”), and while its 2009 report for Earobics was somewhat positive (https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/EvidenceSnapshot/158.pdf), its analysis of Fast ForWord could only include two studies that met its scientific qualifications, so its conclusions were guarded (https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/EvidenceSnapshot/172).
