Section 460. Special education hearing impairments preK-12

The program in special education hearing impairments preK-12 is designed to ensure through course work and field experiences in a variety of settings that the candidate has demonstrated the following competencies:

1. Understanding of the characteristics of individuals with disabilities, including the following:

a. Characteristics of children and youth with disabilities: developmental and cognitive;

b. Characteristics of individuals with hearing impairments, including socio-cultural influences and health-related problems; and

c. Foundations of the education and culture of persons with hearing impairments.

2. Understanding of the foundation of the legal aspects associated with students with disabilities and students with hearing impairments, including:

a. Legislative and judicial mandates related to education and special education;

b. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act;

c. Legal decisions related to persons with disabilities;

d. Current regulations and procedures governing special education, including individualized education program (IEP) development, individualized family service plan (IFSP), and transition services; and

e. Disciplinary practices, policies and procedures and alternative placements/programs in schools.

3. Understanding of the foundation of assessment and evaluation with an emphasis on individuals who are hearing impaired, including:

a. Administering, scoring, and interpreting assessments, including norm-referenced, criterion-referenced, and curriculum-based individual and group assessments;

b. Interpreting assessments for eligibility, placement, and program uses;

c. Techniques to collect, record, and analyze information from observing students;

d. Diagnostic instruction using assessment data;

e. Techniques for recognizing capacity and diversity and its influence on student assessment and evaluation; and

f. Using data from student program evaluation.

4. Understanding of service delivery, classroom management, and instruction, including:

a. The application of current research in practice;

b. Classroom organization and curriculum development;

c. Curriculum adaptations and accommodations;

d. The development of language/literacy skills;

e. The use of technology;

f. Classroom and behavior management, including behavior support systems and individual planning;

g. Methods and procedures for teaching persons with hearing impairments;

h. Instructional programming and modifications of curriculum to facilitate integration of students with disabilities into the continuum of programs and services with peers without disabilities;

i. Individual and group behavior management techniques; and

j. Career and vocational aspects of individuals with disabilities, including persons with hearing impairments, in society.

5. Skills in consultation, case management, and collaboration, including:

a. Coordinating service delivery with other professionals in collaborative work environments;

b. Training, managing, and monitoring paraprofessionals;

c. Involving families in the education of their children with disabilities; and

d. Cooperating with community agencies and resources.

6. Understanding of speech, language, and hearing development, including:

a. Speech and language development and the effects of disabling conditions and cultural diversity on typical language development;

b. The effects of hearing impairments and cultural diversity on language development;

c. Anatomy of speech structures, auditory and visual mechanisms, production, transmission and psychophysical characteristics of sound; and

d. General and specific effects of hearing impairment on production and reception of speech.

7. Understanding of audiology, including:

a. Diagnosis in hearing evaluation, testing procedures and characteristics of amplification devices and their application to the instructional processes; and

b. Individual, group amplification systems, cochlear implant systems and other assistive/augmentative communication devices with emphasis on utilization in educational environments.

8. Understanding of communication modalities to include various modalities of communication, including cued speech, speech reading, verbal communication, and demonstrated proficiency in sign language communication.

9. Understanding of the standards for professionalism.

10. Completion of supervised classroom experiences at the elementary and secondary levels with students who have hearing impairments.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 23, Issue 25, eff. September 21, 2007.

Statutory Authority

§ 22.1-298.2 of the Code of Virginia.