At the Alexander Graham Bell Montessori School, we make all of
the natural advantages of the Montessori method accessible to our
deaf and hard-of-hearing students through the use of Cued
Speech. We believe Cued Speech is the fastest, most
effective, and most natural way to directly communicate with deaf
and hard-of-hearing children. The Alexander Graham Bell Montessori
School is a model inclusion program, in which we successfully
mainstream deaf and hard-of-hearing children side-by-side with their
hearing peers using Cued Speech to provide 100% access to all spoken
language. An AGBMS education provides deaf children and their
families with:
- Early Intervention programming. Children as young as
age 2 can enroll in the school and start benefiting from a “Cued
Speech” education.
- Family inclusion and training. As part of our
Early Intervention program, a teacher of the deaf, certified by
the State of Illinois, develops an Individualized Family Service
Plan (IFSP) for each family served. The teacher meets with the
family each week, sometimes at the individual family’s home and
sometimes at the school as part of a group of families. Families
are taught to use Cued Speech and how to work with their children
on language development.
- Special support for parents. Services especially
designed for parents include education and training in Cued
Speech; education and training on how to work with the students at
home; and communication with teachers to support the home/school
connection.
- An Individualized Education Program (IEP). Each
child who is deaf or hard of hearing will have an IEP, which is
developed by AGBMS professional staff working in conjunction with
representatives of the child’s public school district. The
AGBMS teacher of the deaf, speech pathologist, and regular
teaching staff will ensure that the child’s program at the school
is designed to meet all of the needs and goals identified in the
child’s IEP.
- ·Participation in regular academic programs. All
teachers and aides at AGBMS utilize Cued Speech to communicate
with, and in the general presence of, the deaf and hard-of-hearing
students. The staff uses Cued Speech in all group
instruction and all individual work with the deaf children.
- Interaction with deaf and hearing peers.
AGBMS maintains true mainstreaming numbers in a classroom where no
more than 20% of the children are deaf or hard of hearing.
Deaf children are not segregated – instead, they are
successfully educated alongside all of their peers. This
encourages communication, acceptance, and friendship amongst all
of the children, which mimics life outside the classroom.
- Access to the general curriculum. All children at AGBMS
follow the regular Montessori academic program -- and deaf and
hard-of-hearing students achieve their full potential by being
challenged to meet the same academic standards as their hearing
peers.
- Speech Therapist. Speech and language therapy services
are determined by each student’s IEP. Generally, our
Speech/Language Pathologist conducts individual speech and
language therapy sessions with each of our students for at least
60 minutes per week. She is an essential contributor to the
development, maintenance, and carry-over of oral communication
skills in the classroom and at home.
- Transition support. When deaf and hard-of-hearing
students are ready to leave AGBMS, we provide placement services;
general transition planning; transliterator recruitment, training
and evaluation services; initial training with new teachers and
staff who will be interacting with our student; and periodic
follow-up with our students in their new school.
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