Audience: Students & Families
Office: Early Childhood & Student Services
Funding Source: Fee for Service
The Deaf & Hard of Hearing Program (DHHP) serves Berks County’s school-age students with hearing impairments.
Classrooms are provided within the Reading School District. Each classroom serves up to eight full- or part-time students. Classroom staff includes: teachers, educational interpreters, communication facilitators, a speech and language therapist, a school audiologist, and a school psychologist. All classrooms use what is called “total communication,” combining sign language, speech, speech reading, and use of residual hearing to meet the unique needs of each student. Each classroom teacher is responsible for teaching academic classes. Academics are taught on an individual or small-group basis using language-based instruction. Classroom paraeducators support and reinforce instruction.
Depending on needs and abilities, students also have the opportunity to attend academic, elective, and vocational classes with same-age peers in regular classroom settings. Educational interpreters accompany students to these classes as needed, providing the students with a means to obtain and express information in their primary mode of communication. A major component of the DHHP is speech and language services. These may include: evaluations, re-evaluations, consultations, integrated service, and direct individual and/or group sessions.