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• Working with Schools
• Making School Fun
• Checking on Comprehension
  
  
  
  
  
  

Working with Schools

Sometimes parents come for an evaluation already having met with the school, the administrators, teachers and therapists and so they already have a feel for how things work when communicating with the school.  At other times, parents are unfamiliar with the process of setting up school services for their child.  For example, when a child transitions from Early Intervention services to the school system, it can be confusing for parents who have not done it before.  I always try to work with them to help them to have an open dialogue with the school because that is so important.  I think that parents know that, they understand that, but helping them understand the importance of that dialogue can be vital. The ability for parents to carry over goals being addressed in the classroom and in therapy is helpful to the child's success.  There needs to be that communication among all team members and the parents need to understand that they are important members of that team and then as the child gets older that they child is a really important member of that team as well.

Stacey Culver, M.S., Speech-language Clinician

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Making School Fun

I think for children school should be challenging and school should be fun.  School should not be a struggle.  It should not be a dreaded thing.  Of course, school isn’t always fun, but there should be fun aspects of it. When students tell me that they hate school or they describe having to struggle just to keep up, that tells me their needs are not being met in some way.  The communication may be difficult for them, or they are not understanding the academic work, or socially something is going on that is making it very difficult for them. I often see students that do not have the languge foundations needed to understand the academic work being presented. I also see student who are capable of doing well academically, but are not getting the accommodations needed to support them academically.   There is a difference between working hard and struggling. Students who are doing both need more support in school.

Selena Steinmetz, M.A., Educational Outreach specialist

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Checking on Comprehension

As a consultant to schools, teachers frequently ask me “How do I know when the student is understanding me?” Well, it really depends on the student. Usually I will give teachers strategies for how they can check a student’s understanding. So, rather then asking a student, “Did you hear me” a teacher should ask, “What were the directions?”  or, “What will we be doing next?” or, “How are we going to set up this math problem?” It is important to ask students open-ended questions to see what they’ve really understood. Many deaf or hard of hearing students have some useable hearing (particularly if they have a cochlear implant or a hearing aid).  So the student may hear someone speaking, but the student may have not heard it correctly or may have misinterpreted what was said. Aski “Do you hear me?” and the student may say, “Yes” with honesty. However, the student may not have fully understood or misinterpreted a comment or question unknowingly.

Selena Steinmetz, M.A., Educational Outreach specialist

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