1. WHAT IMPACT DOES IT HAVE ON YOU? BY HEATHER HALL TEACHER OF THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING KENTUCKY VALLEY SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL COOPERATIVE Changes in the Special Education Regulations in Hearing Impaired

2. What has changed? The old eligibility determination forms said, The student has a hearing loss, whether permanent of fluctuating, of 25 dB loss or greater which exists through the speech frequencies of 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz in the better ear and deficits exist in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification. Evaluation information confirms there is an adverse effect on educational performance.

3. What has changed? Con. The new regulations state, (a) may be mild to profound, unilateral or bilateral, permanent or fluctuating, and is determined by: 1. an average pure-tone hearing loss in the speech range (500Hz, 1000Hz, and 2000Hz) of at least 25dB in the better ear; 2. an average pure-tone hearing loss in the high-frequency range (2000Hz, 4000Hz, and 6000Hz) of at least 45dB in the better ear; or 3. an average pure-tone unilateral hearing loss in the speech range (500Hz, 1000Hz, and 2000Hz) of at least 60dB in the impaired ear; (b) results in difficulty identifying linguistic information through hearing; and, (c) has an adverse effect on the childs educational performance.

4. In English Please! This means that students will qualify like they have in the past with a loss of 25dB in the better ear through the designated speech range. In addition, students with loss in only one ear (left out for many years) with a hearing loss of 60dB or greater in the designated speech range will now qualify as hearing impaired. Add those with high frequency loss of 2000Hz, 4000Hz, and 6000Hz of at least 45dB in the better ear as qualifying as hearing impaired. This means a student can qualify as hearing impaired three different ways now, not just the one way before.

5. Paint me a picture please! Hearing Loss 25 dB Hearing loss 45 dB Hearing Loss 60 dB in one ear

6. What does all that mean? What this means is that some students that may not have qualified as hearing impaired may now be eligible for this designation. You will have to look over audiograms and assessments to see if students that once did not qualify do now. Your number of hearing impaired students may go up in your school/district.

7. http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/hearingloss/HL_whatis.html How do high frequency hearing losses impact student learning? High frequency hearing loss often involves loss of ability to hear consonants such as s, f, t, and z, even though vowels can be heard normally. Consequently, people hear but cannot make out what is being said This may result in frustration, withdrawal from social activities, depression, and marital discord. People lose the ability to take in the sounds like bird songs, rustling of leaves, and the voices of children.

8. How does unilateral hearing losses impact learning? Children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) can be at risk for academic, speech-language, social, and emotional problems, and often require special services to address these needs. Approximately 16 to 19 out of every 1,000 school-aged children have UHL (Brookhauser, Worthington, & Kelly, 1991). Children with UHL do not have the advantages of binaural hearing, and consequently have difficulty localizing sounds, detecting/understanding speech directed to the impaired side, and understanding speech in noisy and/or reverberant environments (Bess et al, 1986). http://deafness.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=deafness&cdn=health&tm=6&gps=308_452_1020_56 3&f=10&su=p247.3.140.ip_p726.2.152.ip_p284.8.150.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.asha.org/about/publi cations/leader-online/archives/2005/050524/050524e.htm

9. What do I need to check for in my school/district? Review the records of students with a history of hearing losses. You need to search and see if any student had been ruled out in the past as qualifying as hearing impaired because the loss did not fall within the old regulations or they only had loss in one ear. Check the schools in your area to see if any students are wearing only one hearing aid and currently are not labeled hearing impaired, they may qualify now.

10. What do I need to check for in my school/district? Hearing screenings are very important (If no one is failing any hearing screenings at all in your district something is very wrong!). Make sure that screenings are being done, checking for losses in both ears independently. Remember if they have a loss in just one ear they might now qualify for hearing impaired status!

11. What do I need to check for in my school/district? Remember if you suspect that a child may have a hearing loss request a hearing screening for that child. Speech pathologist can sometimes detect hearing losses through patterns in speech or languages; look for these patterns. If it takes calling every school in a district check for kids with one hearing aid they may be hidden somewhere out there. Remember they have not been candidates for hearing impaired in the past because they have that one good ear, that has changed now!