Q & A

• Because your child has a hearing loss, he/she is behind in language development.  Sign language helps your child understand language.
• Sign language reduces the frustration in communicating and facilitates learning.
• For hard-of-hearing and cochlear implant students, using sign language while developing speech reduces frustration in communicating.  As your child develops spoken language, they will use whichever method is most comfortable for them.

Sign language helps facilitate the understanding of spoken language.

No, just the opposite.  Sign language will help your child develop spoken language.

• It is less restrictive to attend a school with peers who are deaf, where communication is not frustrating, and where teachers understand and are trained to teach deaf students, than to attend a school where no other students are deaf or hard-of-hearing and teachers do not know how to teach deaf students.
• The environment makes it comfortable to learn with carpets, soundfield systems, and FM sound.  Smartboards open the world of language and make learning fun.

As your child develops language, literacy skills and social skills and closes the gap between performance level and grade level, and when the public school can meet all of your child’s needs as a deaf child by providing appropriate classroom environment, audiological services, interpreters where needed, speech and listening services, then it may be appropriate for your child to return to the public school.

For students who are ready for integrated learning and social experiences, Willie Ross has the ability to provide our students the chance to be with hearing students, when appropriate, by participating in mainstream classes with or without interpreters, based on their individual needs.

Because your child has a hearing loss, your child is behind in language and social skills and needs a special way of learning.  All of our teachers are trained as teachers of the deaf.  Willie Ross responds to your child and we teach according to those needs.

 The Willie Ross School for the Deaf also provides:

• Speech, listening, language therapy
• A full range of audiological services
• Occupational and physical therapy
• Counseling or practicing social skills
• A nurse and a PE teacher who teaches fitness, recreation, and nutrition
• Our school and classrooms are designed for deaf learners with soundfield systems, FMs, carpeted classrooms, Smartboards, computers.

• According to their needs, one child at a time
• With spoken language
• With sign language
• We use voice and sign to help them understand the language, and to help them acquire language
• With visuals
• With demonstrations
• With role playing
• With experiences
• With deaf and hard-of-hearing peers and hearing peers as appropriate
• With interpreters when appropriate

Because your child will be taught with both spoken and sign language, they will use what is most natural and comfortable for communicating for them.

No. It has been proven that sign language helps a child with a CI to understand speech and develop spoken language.