- Statewide Outreach Center at Texas School for the Deaf
- About Deaf Students with Additional Needs
Students with Additional Needs
About Deaf Students with Additional Needs
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Some children who are deaf or hard of hearing will need more support to access education, and daily living skills. Deaf students with additional needs may require specialized assessments to help identify specific areas of need, and could qualify for additional special education services based on other disabilities.
The Statewide Outreach Center at the Texas School for the Deaf provides resources and information to parents and educators serving children who are deaf or hard of hearing but may also have severe cognitive disabilities, are medically fragile, or are deafblind. These special needs are referred to as low incidence disabilities. Professionals and resources will often refer to this group as Deaf Plus, High-Risk Deaf, or Deaf with additional needs.
Assessment and IEP decisions determine where, along the continuum of placement options, students who are deaf or hard of hearing and have additional special needs will be served.
These additional resources can help families and professionals to assist individual student needs.
- Legal Framework for deaf and hard of hearing
- It’s helpful to know how students who are deaf and hard of hearing qualify for special education services. It’s also important to know rules, regulations and laws related to these services.
- Legal Framework for multiple disabilities
- Knowing the foundation for multiple disabilities qualifications for placement in an educational program can assist in setting up an effective and beneficial approach for the student.
- Specialized Services such as Texas Behavior Support Initiative
- Texas Sensory Support Network Livebinder
- Parent Training Video and Materials
- Other considerations and strategies for serving students with disabilities in general education
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Autism
The following resources provide specific information about children with autism.
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Cerebral Palsy
While Cerebral Palsy affects motor conditions, children who are deaf or hard of hearing still benefit from a language-rich environment.
Find more resources by visiting the Communication and Language Development section.
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Charge Syndrome
These resources are specifically about children with Charge syndrome.
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DeafBlind
If a child is deaf or hard of hearing and has a diagnosed vision need, the child can receive special education services with the Deafblind qualification.
Texas recognizes vision needs as visual impairment and uses the term “Deafblind”. Deafblind is an umbrella term used to recognize students with varying hearing levels and visual needs, such as Usher Syndrome or colorblindness.
These resources provide information about deafblindness and the organizations supporting families and students.
- Texas Deafblind Project
- Deafblindness - from Texas Project FIRST
- State, National, & International Deafblind Resources
- Usher Syndrome
- Usher Syndrome Coalition
- Paths to Literacy
These are resources that provide information about communication approaches and strategies for students who are deafblind. Communication with students who are deafblind often requires a tactile, hands-on or touch, approach.
Pro-Tactile
Pro-Tactile uses touch on the body to give information, including emotions, conversational feedback, and audience reactions, as well as environmental information, tactile classifiers, and tactile mapping.
Hand Tracking
Hand tracking, is when the deafblind individual places their hand(s) on the wrist(s) of a signing person. The deafblind individual will use their hands to feel the orientation and location of the signer’s hands to recognize the sign.
Print-on-Palm (POP)
With POP, the index finger is used to print the message into the hand of the person who is deafblind. This can be used if the deafblind person is familiar with the printed alphabet.
Tadoma Method
Tadoma is a method of communication in which the deafblind person places their thumb on the speaker's lips and their fingers along the jawline. The middle three fingers often fall along the speaker's cheeks with the little finger picking up the vibrations of the speaker's throat.
Tactile Symbols
Tactile symbols are concrete, 2D or 3D object representations of people, objects, places, activities or concepts. These are some resources for developing tactile calendars and schedules.
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Learning Disability
Children who are deaf or hard of hearing may have learning needs; however, learning disabilities are not always directly related to hearing levels. The resources below offer information about children with varying hearing levels who may have additional learning needs.
