Oralingua School Service 1

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Oralingua School for the Hearing Impaired was established in 1969 by a group of parents who wanted their deaf children to learn how to speak without the use of sign language. After searching Southern California unsuccessfully for a suitable program, it was clear these pioneers would have to create a school to achieve their objective.

Oralingua opened its doors to 13 profoundly deaf students. During that first year, it became evident to the staff that, by utilizing innovative techniques and maintaining an optimistic outlook, they could teach children to hear sentences and sounds and answer questions about experiences using spoken language to communicate.

With the ultimate goal of mainstreaming children with hearing loss into regular education classrooms, the staff developed learning sequences for auditory, cognitive and speech skills and an educational program based on real life experiences and meaningful language. These remain in place today and have been supplemented by goals for academic skills, along with age-appropriate behavioral and social interaction skills.

Oralingua’s Mission is to immerse children who are deaf or hard of hearing in a language-rich environment that promotes listening skills, spoken language, problem solving and social interaction that will enable them to function effectively in society while supporting their families who share those goals.

· To communicate verbally in a hearing world;

· To obtain the skills to understand and organize the abilities necessary to function competently in a mainstream educational setting as well as in the workplace;

· To be prepared to make a positive contribution to society;

· To be a positive role model for people with hearing impairments or other disabilities in order to demonstrate that limitations can be overcome;

· To motivate others to reach their full potential as independent individuals who are able to lead productive lives and find fulfillment of their dreams and aspirations.

OUR SCHOOL

· Develop the cognitive abilities of children with hearing impairments so that they can understand information, analyze problems and generate solutions in their educational careers and everyday lives.

· Develop the language, speech and listening skills of children with hearing impairments to facilitate conversation, writing and academics.

· Prepare children with hearing impairments for mainstreaming to begin their transition into more challenging academic environments.

· Build upon and refine social skills to enable children with hearing impairments to utilize the above with changing and expanding social groups.

· Support the role of the parents and extended family in the education and socialization of children with hearing impairments so that the family will be a lifelong source of mutual support.

· Implement new technologies in the field of deaf education, devise new strategies for the classroom and provide professional development for educators.

· Expand and develop methods and curricula.

· Inform the public of the efforts expended and results achieved in the education of children with hearing impairments.

· Cooperate with the medical and educational community to mutually advance the remediation and habilitation of children with hearing impairments.