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I am sorry... I have one more thing to say!

The general public has a tendency to look at just the dollars and cents of things, which is totally understandable.

So here is a breakdown for you to consider:

PPS: $30,000 per year per student

What they offer: 8 hours of school per week in pre-school, 20 minutes per month with a teacher of the deaf. A self-contained classroom with no support for mainstreaming.

Tucker Maxon (private school) $19,000 per year per student

What they offer: 25 hours per week of school in pre-school, 20 minutes per day with a teacher of the deaf, 40minutes per week with a Speech Pathologist, 15 hours per year of Audiology, plus more when needed. Classes of typically hearing children with the chidlren with hearing loss, which prepares them for mainstreaming, and living in the community in general.

Which would you choose for your child?!

Helen

posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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Both of my girls have hearing loss and have bilateral cochlear implants which offers them hearing at a level equivalent to their peers. Here is what PPS offers in their pre-school program.... 8 hours a week of school for their oral program, 20 minutes per month in a pull out (in the corner of the classroom) with a teacher of the deaf for one-on-one speech. The classroom is a self-contained classroom, meaning there is no interaction with their hearing peers. Yet, they are mainstreamed into a regular classroom at 5.

When you visit the classroom you will find children who don't play together and have limited language. And these are kids who wear hearing aids, which means they have residual hearing and should be speaking almost as well as their hearing peers. Also, PPS offers professionals who do not believe my girls can be on par with their hearing peers! They don't believe that in the year 2009, my children can be successful.

My oldest has been with Tucker Maxon School for 3 years. She received her first implant at age 2 and entered into their Early Intervention program. She is in school 5 hours per day, sees a teacher of the deaf daily, speech pathologist 2x per week, and in 3 years, my daughter went from no language to testing on par with her hearing peers! The school has typically hearing children along with deaf/heard of hearing children. This model has been proven to be the best model for all children with hearing loss to learn language. So when my daughters do 'mainstream', they will already know how to communicate, navigate and comprehend the mainstream classroom.

Where would she be with only 8 hours per week  of school, in a contained classroom, and professionals who wouldn't believe in her?

Parents with 'normal' children are allowed to choose which school their child attends, and we should be allowed the same for our kids. Tucker Maxon would actually cost less for PPS than if my girls attended public school. The public school system is not giving our kids the education they deserve or the support they need to succeed in school.  Public schools are so afraid to work with the private entity, instead they should work together. It would be the best option for everyone, including ODE.

Helen 

posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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