Giving Your Deaf Child the Best Education

For parents of deaf children it can be a very trying and confusing situation when it is time to decide what is best when it comes to ensuring that their child has the best possible education. One of the first concerns is where the child will attend classes. Most parents, due to the location is which they life, place their children in regular schools where they end up in an inclusive classroom setting. This is where the children with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities are taught in the same area. This can sometimes be a good thing but it can also hamper the learning process as well since all children learn differently, especially children with different family, support, and educational backgrounds, learning styles, and disabilities are all in one classroom setting.
Some parents opt to place their children in what is called a school for the deaf. The school for the deaf is a special school where the children are either deaf or hard of hearing. Most of these schools are accredited by the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf (CEASD) which is an organization of executive heads of educational programs for students who are hard of hearing or deaf in the united States. This is also an accredited program in Canada as well.
The thing that comforts parents most about placing their child in the school for the deaf is the fact that their children will be treated like normal individuals in a nurturing environment. The school has elementary, middle, and high school programs where the children are still held accountable for the same state regulated course of study and testing as public and private schools. There are athletics programs included but not limited to football, volleyball, and basketball.
For children who have additional challenges non-graded individual instruction is provided as well to ensure that they reach their fullest educational potential. Also at the school for the deaf, programs are available for academically gifted students where they are encouraged to take classes at local high schools as well as local community colleges for credits that can be applied to college.
Parents are also impressed by the fact that their children will be learning in an environment that provides audiology and occupational therapy services, school counseling programs, speech and language, transportation, vocational, transitional, education evaluation, and advocacy / social services, as well as mental health service should their child require them. Since at the school for the deaf all of these services are under one roof parents of deaf children do not have to travel to different areas all over their state to get the care, help, or advocacy that their child may need depending on their individual circumstances.