Hearing aids and fm systems

[Guest guest]

Since I am new I don't know if you all are aware of your schools

responsibilities regarding hearing aids/fm systems and your kids.

The Federal IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Act) requires that

school districts fix broken hearing aids as well as provide our

children with hearing aids if they require it to receive a FAPE. In

order to be elligible to receive these services you must first

exhaust your local resources (state aid, Lions Club, etc.)

Your first step is always to make sure you have goals and objectives

using hearing aids and fm on your IEP. Now if your child needs

digital hearing aids and your audiologist will write a letter saying

that these aids are the most appropriate to meet your childs needs,

you can get digital. A friend of mine did that and the County got

her daughters last year. I got hearing aids for both of my kids and

wireless fm systems are due hopefully this week. I didn't go for

digital this time, I will next time.

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Here are the laws and links

§300.303 Proper functioning of hearing aids.

Each public agency shall ensure that the hearing aids worn in school

by children with hearing impairments, including deafness, are

functioning properly.

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(1))

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§300.24 Related services.

a) General. As used in this part, the term related services means

transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other

supportive services as are required to assist a child with a

disability to benefit from special education, and includes speech-

language pathology and audiology services, psychological services,

physical and occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic

recreation, early identification and assessment of disabilities in

children, counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling,

orientation and mobility services, and medical services for

diagnostic or evaluation purposes. The term also includes school

health services, social work services in schools, and parent

counseling and training.

( Individual terms defined. The terms used in this definition are

defined as follows:

(1) Audiology includes—

(i) Identification of children with hearing loss;

(ii) Determination of the range, nature, and degree of hearing loss,

including referral for medical or other professional attention for

the habilitation of hearing;

(iii) Provision of habilitative activities, such as language

habilitation, auditory training, speech reading (lip-reading),

hearing evaluation, and speech conservation;

(iv) Creation and administration of programs for prevention of

hearing loss;

(v) Counseling and guidance of children, parents, and teachers

regarding hearing loss; and

(vi) Determination of children's needs for group and individual

amplification, selecting and fitting an appropriate aid, and

evaluating the effectiveness of amplification.

7) Parent counseling and training means—

(i) Assisting parents in understanding the special needs of their

child;

(ii) Providing parents with information about child development; and

(iii) Helping parents to acquire the necessary skills that will allow

them to support the implementation of their child's IEP or IFSP.

- - - - - - - -

7(iii) means that if you need to acquire sign language skills to help

your child (homework) to help support the implementation of the IEP

your school is required to teach you sign language. You can request

this service by asking for books to use at home, asking for go to

your local college and they pay for sign classes, be assigned a tutor

to work with you, whatever will work for you.

http://www.ideapractices.org/idearegsmain.htm

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How the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Applies to

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

http://clerccenter2.gallaudet.edu/KidsWorldDeafNet/e-

docs/IDEA/index.html