Deaf in one ear and HI eligibility in schools

dawnslp · 10-12-2004, 06:48 PM

I am an SLP helping a neighbor get an IEP for her son who is deaf in one ear. The school has been telling her he doesn't qualify b/c he is A/B Honor Roll and 4's on the End of Grade Tests (EOG) (4 is the highest score). However, during his last school year, 6th grade, his grades nosedived to 2 A, 2 B's and the rest C's, almost D's. He was still able to get 4's on the EOG and that's all they care about b/c it is what gets them money. He continually has comments on his report card, "not working up to potential". Even though he did make 4's on the EOG, he did not make his "expected growth" point improvement and he was not allowed to participate in the school wide party. No teachers even know about his hearing loss and he is in the back of the room. We're getting ready to meet to discuss eligibility. I have completed the speech testing and he was two points away from qualifying with an 80 standard score in listening comp. Expressive lang. was normal. In seven years, I have never had a child score 4's on the EOG in language therapy and I have to assume his hearing loss is affecting his score. Additionally, if you think about the classroom environment, it is noisy and more lecture based in 6th grade which could explain his low grades, but during EOG testing he doesn't listen to lecture or have anyone talking around him and he does well. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Can you point me in the right direction to show this child should have an IEP? Mom only wants consultative (2x a month). I think they are going to try to tell the mom he doesn't qualify. Incidentally, they tried to leave his poor 6th grade grades off the referral and only listed the good grades/scores from 3rd, 4th and 5th grade! They didn't even list his hearing impairment under Medical Conditions...I had to write it in!!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated. I want to go in there armed and have them write the IEP.
Thanks,
Dawn

bbnt · 10-12-2004, 07:40 PM

I sent your message off to someone I know will have an answer for you.

I should get a response by tommrow and I will post it.

Levonian · 10-12-2004, 10:33 PM

The simple fact is that ten times as many children with single-sided deafness have to repeat a grade as opposed to children with normal bilateral hearing. But if the school won’t approve the IEP, there are a lot of things which can be done to minimize his difficulties. One of the most effective things that can be done is also one of the simplest. His teachers need to made aware of his hearing status, and he absolutely needs to be seated at or very near the wall, with his deaf ear facing the wall. This is far more important than front-to-back placement, which is much less critical. (As a matter of fact, he may actually be able to hear better in the back, depending on the acoustics of the room). This simple expedient should work bloody wonders.

Single-sided deafness is a condition which does not present a readily visible impairment. (How many of you know that Rob Lowe is profoundly deaf on his right side)? For this reason, it is easy for a person with normal hearing to be unable to understand how noisy environments affect a person with unilateral hearing. You have to realize that while the person is perfectly capable of carrying on a normal conversation in a quiet environment (even with their back turned), once the level of ambient background noise meets, exceeds, or even comes close to the volume of speech which is directed at him, he is essentially deaf as a rock. All he can see is your lips moving. In addition to the inability to localize sound, this is the major difficulty that SSD presents.

As I’ve stated in the past, SSD is not the end of the world, but it can be a colossal pain in the ass sometimes. The best way to deal with it is to familiarize yourself with the issues that are involved with this condition, and try to work around them and accommodate to them to the best of your ability.

deafdyke · 10-13-2004, 05:20 PM

Hmmm.....he may not need an IEP. He could just qualify for 504 Plan status, which is for kids who while acamdeicly able may still need educational assistance. Suggest also the use of a soundfield system or an FM device.

dawnslp · 10-13-2004, 05:57 PM

Unfortunately, when Mom asked for a 504 they keep telling her he should have and IEP and then when she asks for an IEP, they tell her he doesn't qualify. The basic runaround. A 504 sounds great, but Mom would like something the school is responsible for enforcing (IEP) with a case mangager, instead of a 504 plan that falls more on the parents.

Anyone know of wording in the law to help with this issue?

Thanks,
Dawn

dawnslp · 10-13-2004, 08:54 PM

IEP means Individualized Education Plan and I am a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP).

Thanks,
Dawn

bbnt · 10-14-2004, 06:56 PM

Ok I got the reply today. I sent your post to someone I know and the following is her response.

Quote:

OK, I did some research and came up with this information regarding IDEA requirements for evaluations for special ed eligibility. It’s a lot of information and there is a chance the kid can qualify for services but the mom has to fight and the mom has to WANT it.

First of all, this kid definitely needs an IEP. With all the states enacting exit exam requirements for graduation, this kid will likely make increasingly slower progress, and start to fail. Students with unmet needs are more likely to drop out of school due to frustration. I hope this SLP can help the mother understand this – the mother needs to be thinking ahead to high school. Students usually do better in elementary school and then take a nosedive in high school because the environment is radically different. It is far better to get services NOW than continue to wait till the situation reaches the crisis point.

The SLP and the family has a basis for requesting a full evaluation. I know the SLP already did one test but here is the information that the SLP and the family needs:

The evaluation must be a full evaluation. This is the section of the IDEA that applies:

1. Comprehensive Evaluation.
The evaluation procedures in §300.532 have been amended to provide that each child's evaluation must be sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the child's special education and related services needs, including any needs the child has that are commonly linked to a disability other than the disability in which the child has been classified. (See §300.532(h).)

Now, what happened is the SLP gave him an evaluation but it may not be good enough because of the following section:

1. Assessments Under Non-standard Conditions.
A new §300.532(c)(2) has been added to provide that "If an assessment is not conducted under standard conditions, a description of the extent to which it varied from standard conditions (e.g., the qualifications of the person administering the test or the method of test administration) must be included in the evaluation report.

(this is from http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/leg/idea/brief14.html )

The SLP gave the student the evaluation in a quiet, one-on-one environment, and the kid nearly failed. “Quiet and one-on-one” is nonstandard, and it does not describe a regular classroom. There should be an evaluation done in what approximates normal classroom conditions to see how well the child performs without additional accommodations.

Now, there IS a problem. The law says that a student doesn’t have to be failing all his classes in order to be considered eligible for special education services. In other words, the student can be getting all Ds and still not be considered. Below is an explanation of eligibility, from http://clerccenter2.gallaudet.edu/Ki....html#referral

Discussion of eligibility

The initial evaluation determines whether the student has a disability that would make him or her eligible for special education, and if so, the educational needs of that child. It is not sufficient that the student has a disability. The disability must have an adverse educational impact in order for the child to be eligible under IDEA. Section 300.125 defines a child with a disability as:

. . . a child evaluated in accordance with §300.530-300.536 as having mental retardation, a hearing impairment including deafness, a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment including blindness, serious emotional disturbance (hereafter referred to as emotional disturbance), an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, an other health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities, and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services. [Emphasis added.]

This part further defines deafness as "a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, [and] that adversely affects a child's educational performance." It also states, "Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section."

Neither the Act nor its Implementing Regulations define a minimum decibel loss as the threshold for eligibility, though some state rules may establish minimum thresholds. The critical principle is that the hearing loss adversely affects a child's educational performance, and thus the child requires special educational services. It is left to the states to determine what kinds of evaluations are necessary, but not before consulting the parents and considering independent evaluations; the evaluation report that must be included in the decision.

There is nothing in the law that says there’s a specific requirement for granting eligibility. The mom has to insist that the student’s drop in grades indicates that the student IS affected negatively, that there IS a severe impact of his hearing loss on his education. This part needs to be proved, and the drop in grades is good enough.

The SLP can help Mom understand all of this but can’t force her to do anything about it.

10-12-2004, 06:48 PM	#1 (permalink)
dawnslp Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 3	Deaf in one ear and HI eligibility in schools I am an SLP helping a neighbor get an IEP for her son who is deaf in one ear. The school has been telling her he doesn't qualify b/c he is A/B Honor Roll and 4's on the End of Grade Tests (EOG) (4 is the highest score). However, during his last school year, 6th grade, his grades nosedived to 2 A, 2 B's and the rest C's, almost D's. He was still able to get 4's on the EOG and that's all they care about b/c it is what gets them money. He continually has comments on his report card, "not working up to potential". Even though he did make 4's on the EOG, he did not make his "expected growth" point improvement and he was not allowed to participate in the school wide party. No teachers even know about his hearing loss and he is in the back of the room. We're getting ready to meet to discuss eligibility. I have completed the speech testing and he was two points away from qualifying with an 80 standard score in listening comp. Expressive lang. was normal. In seven years, I have never had a child score 4's on the EOG in language therapy and I have to assume his hearing loss is affecting his score. Additionally, if you think about the classroom environment, it is noisy and more lecture based in 6th grade which could explain his low grades, but during EOG testing he doesn't listen to lecture or have anyone talking around him and he does well. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Can you point me in the right direction to show this child should have an IEP? Mom only wants consultative (2x a month). I think they are going to try to tell the mom he doesn't qualify. Incidentally, they tried to leave his poor 6th grade grades off the referral and only listed the good grades/scores from 3rd, 4th and 5th grade! They didn't even list his hearing impairment under Medical Conditions...I had to write it in!!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated. I want to go in there armed and have them write the IEP. Thanks, Dawn

10-12-2004, 10:33 PM	#3 (permalink)
Levonian Rattus Norvegicus Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Research facility. Posts: 3,829	The simple fact is that ten times as many children with single-sided deafness have to repeat a grade as opposed to children with normal bilateral hearing. But if the school won’t approve the IEP, there are a lot of things which can be done to minimize his difficulties. One of the most effective things that can be done is also one of the simplest. His teachers need to made aware of his hearing status, and he absolutely needs to be seated at or very near the wall, with his deaf ear facing the wall. This is far more important than front-to-back placement, which is much less critical. (As a matter of fact, he may actually be able to hear better in the back, depending on the acoustics of the room). This simple expedient should work bloody wonders. Single-sided deafness is a condition which does not present a readily visible impairment. (How many of you know that Rob Lowe is profoundly deaf on his right side)? For this reason, it is easy for a person with normal hearing to be unable to understand how noisy environments affect a person with unilateral hearing. You have to realize that while the person is perfectly capable of carrying on a normal conversation in a quiet environment (even with their back turned), once the level of ambient background noise meets, exceeds, or even comes close to the volume of speech which is directed at him, he is essentially deaf as a rock. All he can see is your lips moving. In addition to the inability to localize sound, this is the major difficulty that SSD presents. As I’ve stated in the past, SSD is not the end of the world, but it can be a colossal pain in the ass sometimes. The best way to deal with it is to familiarize yourself with the issues that are involved with this condition, and try to work around them and accommodate to them to the best of your ability. Last edited by Levonian; 10-13-2004 at 05:25 PM.

10-13-2004, 05:57 PM	#5 (permalink)
dawnslp Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 3	Thanks for the information Unfortunately, when Mom asked for a 504 they keep telling her he should have and IEP and then when she asks for an IEP, they tell her he doesn't qualify. The basic runaround. A 504 sounds great, but Mom would like something the school is responsible for enforcing (IEP) with a case mangager, instead of a 504 plan that falls more on the parents. Anyone know of wording in the law to help with this issue? Thanks, Dawn

10-13-2004, 08:54 PM	#6 (permalink)
dawnslp Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 3	Definitions IEP means Individualized Education Plan and I am a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP). Thanks, Dawn

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10-12-2004, 07:40 PM	#2 (permalink)
bbnt King of all I see Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Arizona Posts: 3,513	I sent your message off to someone I know will have an answer for you. I should get a response by tommrow and I will post it.

10-13-2004, 05:20 PM	#4 (permalink)
deafdyke So NOT a Princess! Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Trebekistan Posts: 6,684	Hmmm.....he may not need an IEP. He could just qualify for 504 Plan status, which is for kids who while acamdeicly able may still need educational assistance. Suggest also the use of a soundfield system or an FM device.