The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, formerly the Education of the Handicapped Act (P.L. 94-142), includes "hearing impairment" and "deafness" as two of the categories under which children with disabilities may be eligible for special education and related service programming. While the term "hearing impairment" is often used generically to describe a wide range of hearing losses including deafness, the regulations for IDEA define hearing loss and deafness separately.

Teachers certified in the education of students with auditory impairments must be available to students with auditory impairments, including deaf-blindness, through one of the school district's instructional options, a regional day school program for the deaf, or a shared services arrangement with other school districts. §89.1131 (4)

A child who is deaf or hard of hearing is one who has been determined to meet the criteria for deafness or for hearing impairment.  Deafness means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired with processing linguistic information through hearing, without or without amplification, that adversely affects the child’s education performance (300.8.(c)(3)).   Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects the child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness. (300.8(c)(5)). 

Definition 

Hearing impairment (called auditory impairment in Texas) is defined by IDEA as "an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance."

Deafness is defined as "a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification."

Thus, deafness may be viewed as a condition that prevents an individual from receiving sound in all or most of its forms. In contrast, a child with hearing loss can generally respond to auditory stimuli, including speech.

In the review of eligibility for a student considered deaf or hard of hearing the following evaluations conducted by professionals are reviewed by an ARD committee for the development and implementation of the IEP. 

• Ontological Examination - Provided by a licensed Otolaryngologist (ONT), or a licensed medical doctor, if the report from an ONT is not readily available

• Audiological Examination- Provided by a licensed audiologist, the documentation is to include the impact of the hearing loss and include guidance as to how the impact of the hearing loss is shown with or without an amplification/instrument. 

• The deaf or hard or hearing must adversely impact the educational access and/or performance of the student

We offer a continuum of services for students with auditory impairments. They include:

• general education classroom with consultative and/or direct instructional services from a teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing

• a combination of general education and self-contained special education classes with consultative and/or direct instructional services from a teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing

• self-contained special education classroom with consultative and/or direct instructional services from a teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing

• Residential placement - Texas School for the Deaf

The components of services for students with Auditory Impairment:

• are determined by the ARD/IEP Committee

• are based upon individual needs of student

• can include infants/toddlers as determined by the IFSP

• can include services from a certified sign language interpreter as determined by ARD/IEP Committee

• can include technology support including ALD (Assisted Listening Devices) or FM Systems and Captioning

District personnel have knowledge and competencies in the following areas:

• extent to which significant hearing loss impacts access to the general education curriculum;

• extent to which significant hearing loss impacts communication and social skills;

• alternative methods of communication;

• specially designed instruction;

• accommodations and modifications

• technology supports including FM systems, cochlear implants and closed captioning