practices - Gallaudet University

Recommendation: The assessment team includes the
child’s parents and caregivers as well as educators to provide
accurate and timely information for determining whether or not
the child is making satisfactory progress. Observations from
parents and caregivers are included so that the assessment
process becomes more collaborative between the program and
the parents. A focus on the successes of the individual student is
essential. An important role of the program is to help the
parent consider the benefit of the program’s goals and
philosophy for his or her child.
12
recommended
practices
in family
involvement
CATEGORY: STUDENT PROGRESS
Practice in Action: In the Louisville Deaf Oral School,
yearly auditory, speech, language, speech perception, preacademic,
and academic assessments are conducted on every
child, notes education director Carotta. “Parents’ input
regarding the progress, concerns, and goals for the child is at
the center of all assessments and educational programming,”
she says. Selection of the child’s communication mode is based
on the parents’ choice and the child’s success with the selected
modality. In order to facilitate the decision-making process, the
staff provides information about communication options as well
as the child’s current levels of functioning and progress. Staff
and family identify resources and technology that will
positively impact the selection of one modality over another as
well as factors that may interfere with the child’s optional use
of a selected modality. They also suggest additional means for
enhancing performance such as cochlear implants, Cued Speech,
or augmentative communication technology.
Director of mediated instruction Berchin-Weiss notes that
parents and caregivers and teachers work collaboratively on
establishing a team approach where parents and caregivers and
teachers participate as equal partners, address the child’s
hearing status and communication needs, integrate knowledge
of deaf culture, and integrate knowledge of mediated learning.
ODYSSEY WINTER 2002