A school in Calgary is helping to bridge the gap between deaf and hard of hearing and the hearing world.

The Connect Society provides pre-school and kindergarten services to children who are deaf or hard of hearing or who have family members that are deaf or hard of hearing.  They include three certified teachers trained in working with deaf or hard of hearing students: five early childhold asssistants, some of whom are trained in deaf/blind intervention: a speech language pathologist: and a deaf instructor who teaches American Sign Language.

The school has 28 students between the ages of three and six.  Four of the students come in each day from Airdrie.  The students are divided into age groups and then the classes are divided into language levels.

Program Manager Teresa Foy exlains how the school works, "We make sure that we present information right at their comprehension level.  We do a lot of work in small groups, so there's up to ten children in the classroom, but we divide those children into smaller groups and work with them in those groups and individually to make sure they're understanding what's being presented.

Foy says their biggest challenge is communicating with the students.  "Some of our kiddies come in with very little language, so they're just not understanding what's happening.  Our challenge is to help them understand and create meaning in the activities that they're participating in.  So bridging that communication gap is essential.  Once kids start developing that little bit of understanding we can quickly make life less confusing for them, their anxiety goes down, their joy in learning goes up."  

Although there are many challenges in working with deaf and hard of hearing children, Foy says when a breakthrough is made, the joy is remarkable.  .  

"We've had children that have started out program absolutely distressed because they didn't understand what was happening, not able to sit, not able to follow any routines.  Some of those students, just a year and a half later, are in a kindergarten class, following directions, doing discovery learning, communicating to their peers, actively involved in every single aspect of kindergarten life.  It's overwhelmingly joyful around here when any child makes a breakthrough in understaning and that ability to participate.  All of my staff take such pleasure in helping children to make those breakthroughs and helping them be successful."

The Connect Society program originated in Edmonton where it's been for over 50 years.  The Early Childhood program in that city has seven classrooms full of children and is bursting at the seams.  The goal in Calgary is to develop an early intervention program because Foy says very soon there's going to be universal screening of all newborn children and there will be many children diagnosed at birth as deaf or hard of hearing. 

"When we were brought down a year and a half ago," says Foy "CBE (Calgary Board of Education) had done a survey of needs in the education program for deaf and hard of hearing and discovered there was a huge service gap in the pre-school / kindergarten area and Connect Society Edmonton was invited down to fill that service gap.  So there's a real need in this community and it's a matter of getting our name out there to let people know that these specialized services are available to support kids so they can make the best transition they can into the school system for grade one."  

To find out more about the services offered by the Connect Society, click here: 

 

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