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SchoolsAn innovative preschool(Omaha World-Herald (NE) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 3--Isabella Manhart's ears work just fine. But the 4-year-old spends time in an Omaha school surrounded by students who struggle to hear and speak. Isabella attends preschool at the Lied Learning and Technology Center for Childhood Deafness and Vision Disorders, part of the Boys Town National Research Hospital, 555 N. 30th St. The preschool serves children between the ages of 3 and 5 with hearing loss and other communication disorders, as well as children with normal hearing. Along with colors and numbers, Isabella learns about children who are deaf or hard of hearing. She is eager to learn sign language. Already, she can sign "yes," "no" and "please." "It helps her appreciate that people are different all around," said her mother, Jill Manhart, the school's art therapist. "And she has made some special friends here." Kris Mixan, lead preschool teacher, said children like Isabella provide good speech models for the students who cannot hear. The school has more than a dozen students -- four of them can hear. Language is always encouraged. Many of the students wear cochlear implants or other hearing aid devices, which help the speech process. Jeff Simmons, the center's cochlear implant clinical coordinator, said the devices don't restore normal hearing. "But in many cases," he said, "students can hear well enough to develop normal speech and language." The center's aim is no different from any other preschool: to prepare students for kindergarten. The tricky part, Mixan said, is balancing a classroom with both visual and auditory learners. Some students have other challenges as well. "It's a constant juggling act on our part to know who needs what," said Mixan, who has worked with deaf children for more than two dozen years. Technology has changed the landscape of deafness, Mixan said. And the center has been on the leading technological edge for many years. The center has a program assisting educators called the Auditory Consultant Resource Network. The center is in the trial stage of an outreach project with a public school district in Akron, Ohio. The goal is to reach out to families, children and educators who work with deaf or hard-of-hearing students. The Akron school district can videoconference into the center, watch the center's teachers, interact with them and get feedback to learn ways to better educate deaf or hard-of-hearing children. "We basically feel like we are learning partners," said Catherine Carotta, associate director of the Lied Learning and Technology Center for Childhood Deafness and Vision Disorders. She hopes to expand the project, especially across Nebraska. Cameras are situated low and disguised in the preschool classrooms. The filming at the center isn't new, as educators have taped sessions for many years. Newer devices, however, have improved the way they record, transmit and share the information. The center also has the capability to allow families to view programs through the Web and videoconferencing. An example might include therapy sessions or a child's cochlear implant being turned on for the first time. Distant family members might want to witness such an event. "It's a great way for not only letting them experience that moment," said Roger Harpster, the center's media producer. "But also giving them a head start on educating them when they start to interact with this child." People also come from all around the globe to train at the renowned center. Samar Khaddam, an ear, nose and throat physician from Syria, is training there and attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to be an audiologist. She will apply the audiology training she gains in Nebraska in her country, where there is high need for such a specialty, she said. "I am so lucky to have the chance to come here," she said. "There is so much access here." Chad Rotolo, a software engineer at the center, enrolled his 3-year-old son, Vincent, in the preschool partly because of the proximity to his work but also for the talented teachers, he said. His son has benefited. Vincent, who can hear, has learned his colors and numbers. His vocabulary has increased, too. And like Isabella, he now knows some sign language. That's what preschool leaders like to see. Said Mixan: "We try to give them the best foundation that we can." 444-3198, [email protected] To see more of the Omaha World-Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.omaha.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Omaha World-Herald, Neb. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |