Melinda Webb School enrolling students without hearing loss

For the first time, Houston’s Center for Hearing and Speech is enrolling preschool-aged students without hearing loss to attend the Melinda Webb School this fall. Located in their new facility at the Texas Medical Center, the school’s goal is to prepare both typical and non-typical students who have typical for any general education classroom.

“Research says in the field of listening and spoken language development for children who are deaf and hard of hearing,” says Lindy Powel, MWS’ director of education, “that interaction with typically developing students is critical for preparing them socially, academically and language-wise for a typical classroom.”

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The MWS has partnered with a local private preschool on the best ways to implement the co-enrollment. With the school’s new facility, Powel believes the school has the right resources and knowledge base to make the school mutually beneficial for students with and without hearing loss.

“For the kids without hearing loss,” says Powel, “they will be enrolled in a classroom with a master’s level teacher in a preschool program. That could be rare to find someone with that level of education and experience on a preschool level.”

“Being surrounded by their peers who are not hearing impaired, I think, is a wonderful way for them to get integrated into mainstream classrooms,” said Dr. Soham Roy, professor of otorhinolaryngology with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and affiliated with UT Physicians and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital.

According to Powel, all of MWS’ teachers are well versed in typical hearing development and the state standards for early learning. Through the partnership with the private preschool, the school was able to learn the empathy, social/emotional, and behavioral benefits co-enrolling students could achieve.

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“They’re going to have experiences that other kids might not get to appreciate,” said Dr. Roy of students who enroll at MWS without hearing loss. “They’re going to be surrounded by children of different backgrounds who have had different experiences because of hearing impairment, and I think that’s going to broaden their worldview. Being able to get that kind of experience early in life is a wonderful thing for these kids.”

Houston’s Center for Hearing and Speech was found in 1947 and is the only facility in the Houston area that offers health services and spoken language education for children with hearing loss in one location. In addition to the MWS, the Center for Hearing and Speech has both an audiology and speech clinic that serves children up to eighteen years old.

All of MWS’ students have varying degrees and types of hearing loss and come to the school at different times in their lives. They see babies as young as a week old who have been identified early and received timely intervention, as well as students a few years older with a later diagnosis.

According to a 2006 article by Laurie Katz and Teris K. Schery published in the journal Young Children, hearing loss is a general term referring to reduced functioning of the ear that can affect the intensity and/or clarity of sounds heard. The most common type of hearing loss in young children is a conductive loss, which concerns how loud sound must be for a child to hear it. A second and more permanent type of hearing loss is a sensorineural loss, which involves damage to the cochlea or the acoustic nerve to the brain.

Hearing aids appropriately fitted to a child’s hearing loss and used consistently is critical for enhancing the child’s speech and language development as well as providing access to environmental sounds. According to Powel, the biggest challenge in helping children with hearing loss is, “getting the child amplified, giving them the right technology, the right path, to support their family so that their child has the tools they need to be successful.”

The school’s classrooms are given special considerations for acoustics, making sure each class has a great listening environment along with technology like teacher worn microphones with devices that transmit directly to student’s hearing aids.

The school’s teachers and speech therapists remediate and teach specific listening and spoken language skills so they’re able to build a foundation for the children’s education. Without the foundations in listening and language, learning academic skills is enormously difficult. Because the MWS’ students receive a timely intervention, many have listening and language skills comparable to their peers by the time they are a year and a half or two years old.

“It’s pretty well appreciated and documented that kids with hearing loss, when they have an opportunity for hearing rehabilitation, do well in mainstream classes,” said Dr. Roy. “I think the MWS is as good as it gets around the country for giving children with hearing loss the opportunity to participate with mainstream education and become caught up with their peers.”

ryan.nickerson@hcnonline.com