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Institute plans to integrate deaf, hearing students
To help its deaf students, the Heuser Hearing Institute is opening its doors to hearing children.
The new Louisville Language Academy, a preschool for 2-, 3- and 4-year-old hearing children, will help improve the communication skills of deaf students through side-by-side learning opportunities, officials said.
Registration is under way for the academy, which will open next fall, offering math, reading, literacy and other subjects. The academy will periodically merge its five hearing classes with deaf ones such as arts, crafts and music in Heuser's Louisville Deaf Oral School.
Two-year-olds will attend the academy for a half-day twice weekly for $224 a month. Three- and 4-year-olds will attend for a full day three times a week for $420 a month.
The student-teacher ratio is expected to be no greater than 12 to 1, and extended care is available. More classes will be added if needed, and families will pay monthly, quarterly or by the semester.
Mona McCubbin, the institute's executive director, said all children learn from their peers. She said the expectation is that interaction between deaf and hearing students will improve the ability of deaf students to communicate, coupled with cochlear implants. The surgically implanted electronic devices are worn by many deaf students and provide a sense of sound.
"With the implants, they're already developing language so quickly," McCubbin said. "But with peers to interact with for speech, it will really help level the playing field."
The hearing students will gain a tolerance of differences during the experience, she said.
Eventually, McCubbin said, she'd like to see the integrated classes learn other languages, such as Spanish and speaking exact English through sign language.
Jane Kiefer of Middletown said the new program "sounds neat."
While she and her husband Ron are happy with the program in which their 2-year-old hearing daughter Audrey is enrolled, Kiefer said she would like to learn more about what Heuser had to offer.
The Louisville Language Academy is the latest in a series of moves by the institute to reach more people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
The Louisville Deaf Oral School tests for serious hearing impairment in preschoolers and teaches the children how to deal with hearing problems.
The institute provides adults and children with hearing testing and speech therapy, and it fits them with hearing devices, among other services. It also offers devices customized for the deaf and hard of hearing, such as alarm clocks, telephones and smoke detectors.
Named for Henry V. Heuser Sr., a retired industrialist and former chairman of Henry Vogt Machine Co. and the Vogt Foundation, the Heuser campus is at First and Kentucky streets. It also has a hearing researcher in conjunction with the University of Louisville's School of Medicine and College of Arts and Sciences, Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services and Norton Healthcare.
The Tafel Early Education Center, which also serves the deaf on the campus, can accommodate up to 72 students ages 2 to 8. Students from 18 counties in Kentucky and nine in Southern Indiana have been served at the school or through home visits.
To help its deaf students, the Heuser Hearing Institute is opening its doors to hearing children.
The new Louisville Language Academy, a preschool for 2-, 3- and 4-year-old hearing children, will help improve the communication skills of deaf students through side-by-side learning opportunities, officials said.
Registration is under way for the academy, which will open next fall, offering math, reading, literacy and other subjects. The academy will periodically merge its five hearing classes with deaf ones such as arts, crafts and music in Heuser's Louisville Deaf Oral School.
Two-year-olds will attend the academy for a half-day twice weekly for $224 a month. Three- and 4-year-olds will attend for a full day three times a week for $420 a month.
The student-teacher ratio is expected to be no greater than 12 to 1, and extended care is available. More classes will be added if needed, and families will pay monthly, quarterly or by the semester.
Mona McCubbin, the institute's executive director, said all children learn from their peers. She said the expectation is that interaction between deaf and hearing students will improve the ability of deaf students to communicate, coupled with cochlear implants. The surgically implanted electronic devices are worn by many deaf students and provide a sense of sound.
"With the implants, they're already developing language so quickly," McCubbin said. "But with peers to interact with for speech, it will really help level the playing field."
The hearing students will gain a tolerance of differences during the experience, she said.
Eventually, McCubbin said, she'd like to see the integrated classes learn other languages, such as Spanish and speaking exact English through sign language.
Jane Kiefer of Middletown said the new program "sounds neat."
While she and her husband Ron are happy with the program in which their 2-year-old hearing daughter Audrey is enrolled, Kiefer said she would like to learn more about what Heuser had to offer.
The Louisville Language Academy is the latest in a series of moves by the institute to reach more people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
The Louisville Deaf Oral School tests for serious hearing impairment in preschoolers and teaches the children how to deal with hearing problems.
The institute provides adults and children with hearing testing and speech therapy, and it fits them with hearing devices, among other services. It also offers devices customized for the deaf and hard of hearing, such as alarm clocks, telephones and smoke detectors.
Named for Henry V. Heuser Sr., a retired industrialist and former chairman of Henry Vogt Machine Co. and the Vogt Foundation, the Heuser campus is at First and Kentucky streets. It also has a hearing researcher in conjunction with the University of Louisville's School of Medicine and College of Arts and Sciences, Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services and Norton Healthcare.
The Tafel Early Education Center, which also serves the deaf on the campus, can accommodate up to 72 students ages 2 to 8. Students from 18 counties in Kentucky and nine in Southern Indiana have been served at the school or through home visits.