Hard of hearing preschool planned in Cd'A

North Idaho’s early learners who are deaf and hard of hearing will likely receive additional local educational support next year.

The Idaho Bureau of Educational Services for the Deaf and Blind is preparing to open a Total Communication classroom for preschoolers, the first in North Idaho, and plans are in the works for it to be hosted by the Coeur d’Alene School District.

“The entire focus is on the language development and on all aspects of the language, not just signing and spoken language, but body language and connection with environment,” said Amy Clark, the director of special education for the Coeur d’Alene School District. “We want to develop those skills as much as possible before kindergarten.”

The IESDB, a government entity that works with the state department of education and local school districts, already offers Total Communication prescshool classrooms in other areas of the state.

The classroom in Coeur d’Alene will serve children from throughout Idaho’s Region 1 which comprises the state’s five northern counties. Each school district will be responsible for their students’ expenses and transportation to Coeur d’Alene.

The IESDB serves children from birth through age 21. However, according to the organization’s administrator, Brian Darcy, 90 percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents, which means those hard of hearing kids are usually identified a little later.

Learning to read is more challenging for youngsters who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Darcy said these children must learn two languages in order to communicate because American Sign Language doesn’t have a written component. Not only do deaf kids have to learn how to sign, but to read and write in English as well.

“So they have to learn a language first, then learn how to read and write in English,” Darcy said. “If we can attack that early and give them a strong foundation, once they get into first grade, they have those skills like other first-graders who grew up in a single-language environment.”

If communication skills are learned earlier, it's less likely communication barriers will get in the way of a student’s education later.

Currently, hard of hearing students receive the attention they need within the Coeur d’Alene School District’s preschools for developmental learning, through interpreters, individual education plans and other services.

Darcy said while deaf and hard-of-hearing students often have fewer “disability factors” than others with special needs, they are also a “high-intensity need group.”

The new Total Classroom environment will give these students the opportunity to communicate with others, interact with their environment and learn body language.

The Idaho Legislature approved the funds for a teacher for this class during its last session, but the new classroom won’t open this September.

“We wanted to start this year,” Darcy said. “But our teachers are very specialized and hard to find.”

The IESDB has found someone for the position, but couldn’t get through the hiring process before the start of this school year.

“We have a good relationship with the Coeur d’Alene School District and we’ve both identified this as a need,” Darcy said. “We’re really excited about taking it to the next step.”