AUDIOLOGICAL: At one of the school-sponsored facilities noted on the previous page; on-site FM auditory equipment; programmatic within a school system; central auditory processing testing for students with normal hearing who experience difficulty processing auditory information.

ACADEMIC: Students may require specialized instruction and assistance in academic subjects.  A teacher of the deaf can provide direct service at a student’s school.  All teachers of the deaf are certified and supervised by the division and have access to the resources of the Willie Ross School. 

CONSULTING:  Ongoing meetings may be arranged with faculty members, speech clinicians, audiologists, guidance counselors or other direct care staff, which augment  and support the direct instructional services.  This insures that all individuals working with a student communicate regularly regarding the impact of the hearing loss.  Additional specialists from the school are available upon request.

PROGRAMMATIC:  Assistance to local education agencies in developing a systemic approach to providing the most appropriate, as well as cost effective, services for groups of deaf and hard-of-hearing students is available.  A program in a public school, which meets both immersion and inclusion requirements, can be developed with the institutional support of the Willie Ross School.

EVALUATION:  The Evaluation Center serves students who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or language impaired.  They are evaluated in the preferred communication mode by credentialed and licensed staff.  Complete or selected evaluations in the areas of audiology, central auditory processing, speech/language, educational achievement, psycho-educational, and clinical assessments are available. 

ORIENTATIONS:  Orientation sessions, seminars and workshops for faculty and staff of public and/or private schools regarding the implications of hearing loss are available.
 
CLASSROOM PRESENTATIONS:  Students with hearing losses often undergo a period of adjustment with new class members.  Demonstrations of FM auditory equipment and instruction regarding hearing loss can be presented to any grade level.

INSERVICE PRESENTATIONS- PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT POINTS (PDP’s):  Willie Ross School for the Deaf can offer Professional Development Points to participants who have successfully completed the training session.

CENTER FOR TOTAL COMMUNICATION:  On-Campus Classes: Total Communication classes, using PSE (Pidgin Signed English),, are offered at the Longmeadow Campus during the fall and spring.  These classes ar open to the public.  Registration is held at the main campus or through the mail.  Detailed information regarding the center is available on this website. 

OFF-CAMPUS CLASSES:  Corporations, agencies and schools can arrange to have total communication classes provided at their location by a sign language instructor from the faculty.

CENTER FOR ACCESS SERVICES:  Interpreting Services: An essential aspect of programming for deaf and hard-of-hearing students is the evaluation of the need for interpreting services, in both oral and total communication modes.  Training in this regard, as well as supervision of the educational interpreters at public school sites, is available.

ASSISTIVE DEVICES:  A number of assistive listening and alerting devices for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals are on display at the Longmeadow Campus of the school.  They are available for public presentations and demonstrations.

EARLY INTERVENTION
(INFANCY TO AGE 3): Willie Ross School provides Early Intervention services to families with infants and toddlers diagnosed with a hearing loss.  The Early Intervention Team focuses on communication and audiological needs on an individual basis, regardless of the communication modality used by the family.  The team is headed by a speech/language pathologist and is staffed by audiologists and teachers of the deaf.  Detailed information regarding our Early Intervention Services is available upon request.  Information is also available on this website.

A student can be educated at Willie Ross or can receive services from Willie Ross.  The flexibility of this approach permits all students to receive exactly what they need in the setting which is most enabling for them.