Sensory Impairment
The term shall include the following:
Hearing: The capacity to hear, with amplification, is limited, impaired, or absent and results in one or more of the following: reduced performance in hearing acuity tasks; difficulty with oral communication; and/or difficulty in understanding auditorally-presented information in the education environment. The term includes students who are deaf and students who are hard-of -hearing.
Educational Programs in Massachusetts
Approved Private Schools:
Beverly School for the Deaf
Beverly School for the Deaf seeks to enhance the lives of Deaf and hearing children and their families living with communication and developmental challenges by providing comprehensive educational and communication-rich programs.
Clarke School for the Deaf/Center for Oral Education
The Clarke School for the Deaf is a world leader in educating hearing-impaired children. For more than 130 years, the pioneering auditory/oral programs have taught deaf and hard of hearing children to listen and talk. They have trained hundreds of teachers for placements in schools around the world. In addition, Clarke offers comprehensive services and programs to help individuals of all ages who experience hearing loss.
The Learning Center for Deaf Children (TLC)
TLC offers a challenging program of academic excellence for Deaf students from infancy through high school. The Learning Center's curriculum fosters knowledge and respect for both American Sign Language (ASL) and English, and for American Deaf and hearing cultures.
Willie Ross School for the Deaf
(WRSD)
WRSD offers a full array of educational programs from the Early Childhood level through the Secondary level. Students are eligible for admission to Willie Ross at age two-years, nine months. Students may remain enrolled at WRSD until the age of twenty-two or upon their graduation.
Public Separate Day School
The Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
The Horace Mann School educates all students by creating diverse learning environments that develop their full academic, social, technical and vocational potentials so that that they can be life long learners, responsible citizens and active participants in both their deaf and hearing communities.
Educational Programs in New England
American School for the Deaf
West Hartford, Connecticut
Governor Baxter School for the Deaf
Falmouth, Maine
Rhode Island School for the Deaf
Providence, Rhode Island
Austine School for the Deaf
Brattleboro, Vermont
Massachusetts Organizations/Resources
The Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (MCDHH)
MCDHH is a commission, under the Executive Office of Human Services, which serves as the principal agency in the state on behalf fo deaf, late deafened and hard of hearing people.
Massachusetts Association of Approved Private Schools (MAAPS)
This school directory lists the name and address of schools, contact information and includes rates and types of disability and needs served.
Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives (MOEC)
This is the Commonwealth's primary advocate for and facilitator of in-district collaboration in education and related services.
The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program
The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at Children's Hospital Boston provides comprehensive evaluation and consultative services to deaf and hard of hearing children, their physicians, families, schools, and other agencies.
National Organizations and Resources
The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AGBellM)
AGBell is a membership organization and information center focusing specifically on childhood hearing loss, with an emphasis on the auditory approach. Informational materials address questions that parents typically raise, basic information on pediatric hearing loss, and general information on how to best service students with hearing loss in the classroom.
American Society of Deaf Children (ASDC)
ASDC is a national organization of families and professionals committed to education, empowering, and supporting parents and families to create opportunities for their children who are deaf and hard of hearing in gaining meaningful and full communication access, particularly through the competent use of sign language, in their homes, schools, and communities.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
ASHA provides information and resources about communication disorders for students, parents, professionals and others.
The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP)
The DCMP acts as a captioning information and training center. The DCMP is a FREE video lending library funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the National Association of the Deaf.
The Center for the Study of Communication and the Deaf (CSCD)
CSCD is devoted to both applied and theoretical research to benefit the deaf and their families.
Clerc Educational Center at Gallaudet University
The Clerc Educational Center has been mandated by congress to develop, evaluate and disseminate innovative curricula, instructional techniques and strategies, and materials. The aim of the Center is to improve the quality of education for deaf and hard of hearing children and youth from birth through age 21.
Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Communicative Disabilities and Deafness (DCDD)
DCDD is dedicated to improving the education of children with communicative disabilities or who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The Deaf Resource Library
The Deaf Resource Library is an online collection of reference material and links intended to educate and inform people about Deaf culture.
National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities (NCLID)
The goal of NCLID is to increase the nation's capacity to provide educational and support services to infants, children and youths with deafness, blindness, and severe disabilities by developing a comprehensive, integrated, online system that prepares teachers, supports families and assists schools.
The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. (RID)
RID provides international, national, regional, state and local forums and an organizational structure for the continued growth and development of the professions of interpretation and transliteration of American Sign Language and English.
Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA)
The mission of HLAA is to open the world of communication to people with hearing loss through information, education, advocacy, and support.