Wexford-Missaukee Intermediate School District Helping Schools Help Students

Hearing Impairment (HI) What is a Hearing Impairment? Individuals with disabilities Education Act (IDEA) IDEA defines deafness in two categories: • •

Hearing Impaired, sometimes called hearing loss, means an impairment in one’s hearing that impacts education. Being deaf is defined as a hearing impairment so severe that the child cannot process language through hearing, even with the help of amplification.

These two conditions are treated differently under the law, but children in both categories are offered services. Deafness is never a reason for a child to be denied proper education. Deafness can be due to many reasons such as genetics, chronic ear infections, measles, a blow to the head, malformed cochlea or body parts in the inner ear, nerve loss, or for reasons unknown, and adversely affects a child’s education success and performance. A determination of a Hearing Impairment disability shall be based upon a comprehensive evaluation by a multidisciplinary evaluation team, which includes an Otologist or Otolaryngologist, Audiologist, parental observations, general education teacher, Hearing Impaired Teacher Consultant (HITC) and educational testing scores as defined in R340.1701 (a) PA451, MCL380.1 et seq.

Application of IDEA to the Identification of a Speech and Language Impairment In the educational setting it is the responsibility of the Multi-Disciplinary Evaluation team (MET) to determine if the child meets the educational criteria to be eligible for special education support and to help establish an educational plan (IEP) to meet that child’s unique learning needs. The MET must demonstrate that the student’s health condition significantly impacts the student to a degree that the student requires special education programs/services. In other words, a child may have a medical diagnosis and not qualify for special education services. Special Education eligibility can only occur if there is an overall adverse effect on educational performance. Please see “Wexford-Missaukee ISD Hearing Impaired Guidelines” document for more comprehensive information.