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Educational Programs

parent / infant programs

Parent Guidance Program, Birth to Three

Parents play a key role in the education of their deaf or hard of hearing child. At the Omaha Hearing School the Parent Guidance Program for parents of infants and toddlers who are deaf or hard of hearing is as much a learning process for parents as it is for the child. Parents learn to communicate together.

Hearing loss affects the entire family, so it is important to include the entire family in the educational process. Parents can choose to involve others in the program, such as grandparents, brothers and sisters, babysitters, and other people important in the life of their child.

Current research tells us that the earlier and more specific the intervention, the more successful the outcome for the family and child. With Nebraska Newborn Hearing Screening at birth, families can enter the Omaha Hearing School Parent Guidance Program as soon as the diagnosis of hearing loss is confirmed. Through year-round, weekly, in-home visits from an orally trained teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing, the parents learn skills to guide their infant or toddler in the development of listening and spoken language skills using the normal routines of their everyday life.

preschool programs

Ages 3-5

The Omaha Hearing School's Preschool Program offers children who are deaf or hard of hearing the highest quality of education by addressing each individual child's needs. Children learn oral language skills through language experiences, planned opportunities for auditory learning throughout the day, individual tutoring taught by orally trained teachers of the deaf, and speech practice with a speech language pathologist. The desired teacher/child ratio of 1/7 provides the extra attention needed to plan for success.

Children participate in meaningful and appropriate learning experiences, helping them to become strong listeners and speakers and are thus better able to interact in the hearing world. Opportunities for mainstreaming with their hearing peers are available in our popular, on-site Neighborhood Preschool Program.

Research shows that early auditory experiences and listening to spoken language are critical to the future academic success of children with hearing loss. The oral deaf education option provides that strong foundation by specifically focusing on spoken language as the key to reading and overall academic success. Acoustically designed classrooms reduce the background noise that is so prevalent in open-area classrooms, to maximize a child's ability to listen.

The Omaha Hearing School's Preschool Program is but one step along the way in the child's educational career. Our goal is to help prepare the child for transition to their neighborhood school so the child can successfully participate both academically and socially with hearing peers.

kindergarten

The goal of the kindergarten class at the Omaha Hearing School is to provide focused language instruction in an effort to narrow the gap between each child's chronological and language age while expanding his or her academic skills. In this Kindergarten class, reading and math instruction is based on the same or similar textbooks used in area public school kindergarten classrooms.

The Omaha Hearing School kindergarten class is a small, self-contained classroom taught by a teacher of the oral deaf who provides specific language and academic learning.

Kindergarteners also have the opportunity to be mainstreamed in a program with their hearing peers. This provides the deaf or hard of hearing child with meaningful social and language encounters with typically developing children while in a larger group. The OHS Kindergarten prepares deaf or hard of hearing children with the skills they need to enter their neighborhood schools and mainstream classes.

Kindergarten-Aged Classroom

For those children who are of school age but do not yet have the necessary language and listening skills to benefit from formal reading and math instruction, the Omaha Hearing School provides a self-contained classroom taught by a teacher of the deaf. In this Kindergarten classroom, the focus continues to be the acquisition of more complex language and vocabulary skills. In order to meet the success level of each child, the teacher of the deaf also provides beginning literacy and academic instruction when the child demonstrates readiness for these skills.

academic programs

Elementary Program, Grades 1-3

The Elementary Program is located directly across the street from the Omaha Hearing School (OHS) in Western Hills, an Omaha Public Schools elementary building. This classroom has proven to be a valuable addition to the school's programs for the past eleven years. The ability to provide continued services to a child who is deaf or hard of hearing in his/her early elementary years is critical. The OHS program employs strategies and accommodations that help children prepare for successful mainstreaming.

An OHS teacher of the deaf, a speech language pathologist and Western Hills general education teachers work together in order to meet the needs of each individual child. This team seeks to build reading, math and study skills as the foundation for future academic success.

Mainstream opportunities are chosen based on each child's specific language level and socialization needs. The hearing impaired child must have the language necessary to access the information in the general education curriculum before successful mainstreaming can take place.

Once a child has developed the prerequisite skills necessary for successful academic and social mainstreaming, the child's neighborhood school staff is involved in the decision-making process for placement. The Omaha Hearing School continues to provide training and support for students as they return to their neighborhood schools. OHS is but one stop along the way for a child with hearing loss and the ultimate goal is to assure that the child has a seamless transition to his or her neighborhood school.

mainstream program

The Omaha Hearing School building houses two separate, but closely related programs: our mainstream preschool and pre-kindergarten programs and our programs for deaf and hard of hearing children.

Located on site in the Omaha Hearing School building, the Neighborhood Preschool and Begindergarten programs provide developmentally-appropriate, early childhood education for normally hearing children ages three to five, as well as mainstream opportunities for both deaf and hard of hearing children. The bright and inviting classroom is equipped with the same specialized acoustical treatment found in the rest of the school, thereby enhancing the listening experience. As with all of the school's classrooms an adjacent observation room is available so parents can watch their children work and play without disturbing the classroom routine. Neighborhood preschool programs are taught by certified teachers with early childhood endorsements.

The Neighborhood Preschool and Begindergarten programs were developed because of the desire to create a hands-on, language-rich preschool environment for young children, and to help deaf and hard of hearing children share in the mainstream experience. Inclusion is encouraged as soon as a deaf or hard of hearing child's language is sufficient for him or her to successfully converse with his or her hearing peers. Children with hear loss have meaningful encounters with children who have typically developing language, speech and social skills. Hearing children benefit both from the high quality of these language-rich programs, and from the opportunity to experience and appreciate diversity.

The Neighborhood Preschool's philosophy rests on research-based principles of child development that value play as the foundation for social, emotional, cognitive, and physical learning. Children are encouraged to ask questions, generate and test ideas, be creative, and solve problems. Both child-initiated and teach-facilitated activities will be language-rich, meaningful to children, challenging yet not frustrating, allowing for choice and decision making, and respectful to the individual needs and differences of children. Teachers encourage the students to take risks, be persistent, and explore their environment.

Begindergarten provides each child the opportunity to grow in language, cognitive, social, motor, art and music skills in a safe, fun, child-centered environment. Children in Begindergarten receive individual attention due to the small class size of twelve students, one teacher, and one classroom assistant.

The Begindergarten format provides exposure to school readiness skills through more structured and teacher-directed activities. Begindergarten prepares the four or five-year-old child (with previous preschool experience) for successful participation in kindergarten.

In Neighborhood Preschool and Begindergarten, normally hearing and deaf or hard of hearing children learn side-by side. They talk, play, pretend, and problem solve - together.