** Both specialists require the information from an audiogram in order to provide strategies and recommendations.  Audiograms, therefore, need to be provided with the initial referral and updated regularly (ideally every 3 years).

What services might an Educational Consultant for Children/Youth who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) provide?

The Educational Consultant (DHH) provides consultation largely to school staff regarding programming to support a child or youth with hearing loss.  This might include recommendations for educational resources, accommodations and adaptations.  The consultant might

• make recommendations for modifications/adaptations/accommodations to the classroom environment;
• support and provide guidance with specific goals in the students’ IPP;
• help school staff to understand the effects of hearing loss on learning;
• assist with training in the use and care of essential listening devices such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and personal FM/DM systems;
• make recommendations to improve listening situations in the
• interpret audiology reports for school staff and parents as they relate to the educational setting;
• assist with identification/use of specialized resource; and
• providing strategies for the student’s programming the areas of:
  • academics,
  • speech and language,
  • vocabulary
  • listening
  • communications,
  • self-advocacy,
  • social skills,
  • independence,
  • transitioning.

What services might a Consultant for Educational Audiology provide?

This consultant provides support to students who are deaf or hard of hearing and who use equipment to augment hearing in the classroom.  The Educational Audiologist provides consultation to:

• provide support to school staff with regards to proper use of personal hearing technologies (i.e. hearing aids, cochlear implants), classroom audio distribution systems (CADs) and other hearing assistive technology (e.g. personal FM systems);
• train the school staff to troubleshoot and monitor hearing equipment; determine how the student’s personal technology can best be used with existing classroom technology (i.e. IPAD, Smartboard, computers);
• communicate with diagnostic/dispensing clinics and parents regarding child or youth functioning in the school setting;
• assess classroom acoustics and make recommendations to improve classroom listening situations;
• interpret audiology reports for school staff and parents as they relate to the educational setting;
• help school staff understand the effects of hearing loss on learning and the importance of the use of the equipment.

Transitioning from one grade to the next

Transition planning from one year to the next is the responsibility of the school.  Neither the DHH nor the Ed. Aud. consultant will likely be able to arrive at every school in September to provide recommendations or to train the new year’s teacher/staff.

• When a student moves to a new grade, the new teachers should familiarize themselves with the program recommendations by consulting with the previous year’s teacher(s) and/or the “student learning facilitator”.
• Recommendations are, typically, stored at the school and/or placed in the student record. At the beginning of the year teachers are strongly encouraged to review and implement the recommendations previously provided.
• The general understanding of how to use the hearing equipment, how to check if it is working and how to do basic trouble-shooting should be moved from one teacher to the next for a new school year.