School Based Program

Services for students in Preschool and Elementary school who require a higher level of support with respect to their listening and language.

Elementary

Students in our Elementary Class receive instruction from an Auditory Oral Teacher of the Deaf with support from an Instructional Assistant trained in supporting the language and educational needs of children with hearing loss using hearing technology. Instruction is provided using general education curriculums approved by the RI Department of Education, and aligned with the RI Common Core State Standards. Instruction is presented using auditory oral strategies necessary to support the successful acquisition of language and educational content. Students in this class attend specials (art, music, library, PE) with their peers in the general education classrooms. In addition, they have the opportunity to participate in parts of the academic day in the general education classrooms, as is deemed appropriate by their educational team.

Preschool

Students in our Preschool Class receive instruction from an Auditory Oral Teacher of the Deaf with support from an Instructional Assistant trained in supporting the language and educational needs of children with hearing loss using hearing technology. Instruction follows the RI Early Learning and Development Standards (RIELDS) and is presented in a language rich environment using auditory oral instructional strategies in order to target the language and listening needs of the students.

Mainstream Program

Our Mainstream Program serves as the intermediate step between a self-contained classroom with a full time Teacher of the Deaf and the student's return to school in their home school district.

Students in our Mainstream class receive the majority of their academic instruction from general educators in the general education classrooms. In addition to the classroom teacher, our Mainstream students receive support and instruction from an Auditory Oral Teacher of the Deaf, as well as an Oral Language Facilitator (an Instructional Assistant with additional training in working with students with hearing loss in a general education setting) through both pull out and push in services. While students in our Mainstream class are receiving instruction from the general education teacher, the Teacher of the Deaf continues to be the teacher of record for the student and is responsible for implementing their IEP services and supports.

As students demonstrate more successful independence in the mainstream classrooms (both academically and functionally), the RIAOP staff works with the student's district of residence to develop a transition plan to ensure a successful and positive return to their neighborhood school.

Related Services

All students in the RI Auditory Oral Program's School Based Program receive speech, language and listening therapy from an Auditory Oral Speech Language Pathologist. In addition, students have access to additional related services, as deemed appropriate by their IEP teams, including by not limited to Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Social Work and Special Education