Virginia Law

The program in special education deaf and hard of hearing preK-12 is designed to ensure through course work and field experiences in a variety of settings that the candidate has demonstrated the following competencies:

1. Understanding of the characteristics of individuals with disabilities, including the following:

a. Developmental and cognitive characteristics of children and youth with disabilities;

b. Characteristics of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, including sociocultural influences and possible health-related or genetically-related problems; and

c. Foundations of the education and culture of persons who are deaf or hard of hearing.

2. Understanding of the foundation of the legal aspects associated with students with disabilities and students who are deaf or hard of hearing including:

a. Legislative and judicial mandates related to education and special education;

b. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act;

c. Legal decisions related to persons with disabilities;

d. Current regulations and procedures governing special education, including individualized education program (IEP) development, individualized family service plan (IFSP), and transition services; and

e. Disciplinary practices, policies, and procedures and alternative placements or programs in schools.

3. Understanding of the foundation of assessment and evaluation with an emphasis on individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, including:

a. Administering, scoring, and interpreting assessments, including norm-referenced, criterion-referenced, and curriculum-based individual and group assessments;

b. Interpreting assessment results for eligibility, placement, and to inform instruction, such as linking assessment results to classroom interventions;

c. Techniques to collect, record, and analyze information from observing students;

d. Data-based decision-making skills using assessment data to inform diagnostic instruction and;

e. Techniques for recognizing capacity and diversity and its influence on student assessment and evaluation.

4. Understanding of service delivery, classroom and behavior management, and instruction, including:

a. The application of current research in practice;

b. Classroom organization and curriculum development;

c. Curriculum adaptations and accommodations;

d. The development of language and literacy skills;

e. The use of technology to promote student learning;

f. Classroom and behavior management, including behavior support systems and individual planning;

g. Evidence-based strategies and procedures for teaching persons who are deaf or hard of hearing;

h. Instructional programming and modifications of curriculum to facilitate inclusion of students with disabilities into the continuum of programs and services with peers without disabilities;

i. Strategies to promote successful socialization of students who are deaf or hard of hearing with their hearing peers; and

j. Career and vocational skill development of individuals with disabilities, including persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and who may have additional needs.

5. Skills in consultation, case management, and collaboration, including:

a. Coordinating service delivery with other professionals in collaborative work environments;

b. Training, managing, and monitoring paraprofessionals;

c. Implementation of collaborative models, including collaborative consultation, co-teaching, and student intervention teams;

d. Involving families in the education of their children with disabilities; and

e. Cooperating with community agencies and resources.

6. Understanding of speech, hearing, and language development, including:

a. Speech, hearing, and language development and the effects of sensory loss and cultural diversity on typical language development;

b. How to promote development of listening and spoken language skills in children who are deaf or hard of hearing and how to promote development of American Sign Language skills in children who are deaf or hard of hearing;

c. Anatomy of speech structures, auditory and visual mechanisms, production, transmission, and psychophysical characteristics of sound; and

d. General and specific effects of having partial or no hearing on production and reception of speech and on English language development.

7. Understanding of audiology, including:

a. Diagnostic evaluation, testing procedures, and interpreting audiology reports to inform instruction in and expectations for development of listening and spoken language skills; and

b. Characteristics of individual, group amplification and assistive listening devices, including cochlear implant systems, hearing aids, FM systems, sound field systems with emphasis on utilization in educational environments.

8. Understanding of various communication modalities to include cued speech, speech reading, listening, signed language, and spoken language.

9. Demonstrated proficiency in expressive and receptive sign language, to include American Sign Language and contact varieties.

10. Understanding of the standards for professionalism.

11. Completion of supervised classroom experiences at the elementary and secondary levels with students who are deaf or hard of hearing, including those with additional disabilities.

12. Understanding of and proficiency in grammar, usage, and mechanics and their integration in writing.

13. Understanding of and proficiency in pedagogy to incorporate writing as an instructional and assessment tool for candidates to generate, gather, plan, organize, and present ideas in writing to communicate for a variety of purposes.