Oralingua School for the Hearing Impaired

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Oralingua’s program, curriculum, presentation and expectations are designed around the goal of moving students out of the special education setting and into a regular education classroom.

Oralingua’s curriculum, based on the social studies curriculum developed for hearing students by Hilda Taba, teaches skills that enable a higher level of achievement in the areas of language, listening, speech, cognition, academic and social skills. Its greatest strength lies in the integrated approach providing for continuous, incremental development in each skill area year-to-year. Each academic and skill area is dependent upon the other and all combine to provide a totally integrated program.

In conjunction with the Taba Curriculum, Oralingua uses the academic standards designated by the State of California to teach age-appropriate academic skills.

Because spoken language is the basis for so much of standard social and academic communication, and because the human system is designed (pre-wired) to learn language expressed in speech, Oralingua School has based it’s educational philosophy on the need to learn about and to learn from spoken language presented naturally using audition as a major portion of the learning system. Thus, the “Aural/Oral” approach. Components for this approach are listed below.

Early Stimulation for Spoken Language

As the human system is designed to build much of its later development on understanding the function, use and rules of language by the age of three or four, it is critical that education and stimulation of spoken language begin as soon as possible after a diagnosis of hearing loss is made. Today, technologically advanced hearing aids and cochlear implants can provide this for the vast majority of deaf or hard of hearing individuals.

Development of Speech Through Play

In Oralingua School’s aural/oral approach, speech is taught using audition to stimulate playing with sounds of speech, using the spoken word to get needs met and to tell about actively shared experiences, motivating and modeling speech in an accelerated developmental process. Babbling, repetition of syllables, exercising the voice using pitch, duration and vocal play, is presented in baby games, songs, and situational play. Consistent use of appropriate hearing devices is critical to this methodology .

Manipulating the Environment Using Language

Specific practice and reinforcement of the use of hearing as a learning tool is presented in age-appropriate activities and then practiced using visual aids, photos, experience “stories” and games as children learn to apply spoken language in play and learning activities applied to life experiences. Spoken language thus becomes a means of getting attention, explaining, questioning, arguing, requesting and understanding events and ideas. Classroom curriculum involves hands-on activities and social situations designed around life circumstances.

Candidates for Using this Approach

We have found that the degree of loss is not necessarily the determining factor in predicting success in becoming an “auditory/oral” communicator.

Children who succeed in learning to use spoken language for communication are usually those:

who are interested in the people and events around them;
whose hearing devices can reach them and are worn consistently;
who do not have other learning difficulties that preclude them from expressing or receiving information by this means;
who are given the opportunity to learn concepts and content in a meaningful and rich environment;
whose parents believe in this as a preferred means of being in the world and are committed to using and inspiring this in their children.

Realistic Expectations

There is no doubt that even a moderate hearing loss is a condition that poses difficulty in learning and in receiving information. Accommodations should be made in both school and the workplace, no matter what the communication mode.

Oralingua believes that the “handicap” of hearing loss can be reduced with a strong foundation in the use of listening as a tool, an understanding of the use of language and socially-appropriate behavior, and the knowledge that words, ideas and feelings can be accurately expressed in spoken language following specific rules. This is the reason our students are better prepared to understand and to express themselves in writing, engaging conversation, in academics and in social interactions.

Today, early detection, early intervention and consistent use of appropriate amplification are recognized as primary factors for successful development in children who use listening to develop verbal language. Careful educational planning, access to knowledgeable professionals, consistent participation by the family unit, as well as advanced technology (i.e., high-powered, carefully prescribed hearing aids, cochlear implants and fm systems), have greatly changed the outcomes for these children.

Oralingua offers the following services:

Parent-Infant Therapy – Individual sessions between infant, parents and therapist 2-3 times per week for an hour.
Toddler/Preschool Class – Toddlers and Preschool-age children meet in a group setting on a part-time basis.
Pre-K/Kindergarten Class - Pre-K/Kindergarten-age children meet in a classroom setting on a full-time basis.
Primary Grades - Children ages 6 and beyond meet in a classroom setting on a full-time basis.
Clinical and Educational Audiology
Speech and Language Therapy
Aural Habilitation Therapy
Occupational Therapy
Parent Counseling and Education
Student Assessment

Oralingua maintains a low student-teacher ratio and provides teaching for young children with hearing loss from infancy to age 10. Prospective students are assessed and evaluated all during the year. Acceptance for enrollment is based on hearing loss being the primary handicap, class space with peers of similar age and language level and a long-term commitment by the family for helping the student to learn spoken language through the consistent use of appropriate amplification.

Many past students who were enrolled in Oralingua’s program before the age of 2, are currently enrolled in their neighborhood schools and function at grade-level. These students were placed at Oralingua at the insistence of their parents who sought a setting that would coincide with their goals and expectations. Their search for such a program was often discouraged by professionals who had limited expectations for profoundly deaf children. The possibilities for children diagnosed with a hearing loss early in life are endless.

Appropriate early intervention programs are family-centered, interdisciplinary, culturally competent, and build on informed choices for families (Baker-Hawkins S and Easterbrooks S, 1994).

Parents are encouraged and expected to participate regularly in classroom and therapy sessions. They learn about techniques to elicit language and how to follow through with these learning experiences at home. The teacher provides direction and support in areas of language and speech play. Written notes and stories describing school activities are sent home 3-4 times a week to inform parents of daily goals and events. Parents are encouraged to talk with their child about these experiences to reinforce new language learned during the school day. Suggestions and homework assignments are sent to parents as well. As children grow in skill and ability, parents are helped to “lift the level” of expectations for language, audition, speech and social/emotional skills.

Parent support and education are provided twice monthly during the school day. There is an evening meeting once a month that gives both parents an opportunity to learn information about the program. Meeting topics and discussions are centered around parental interests, guest speakers and the components of the program integral for their child’s success.