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The only constant in life is change. Deaf education is not immune to these forces; technology, medicine, and recent laws have reshaped the continuum of services available for Deaf students. Three more factors have entered the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) framework; access to general education curriculum, standardized testing, and early intervention. Parents of Deaf/HH children and educators should consider these factors. First, some background.

Prior to 1975; Deaf children had little options available when it came to education. Either they went to a local program or went to a Deaf school. At the local program level, Deaf students were either in self-contained classes or mainstreamed fully. Usually, there were no interpreters, notetakers, or technologies such as FM devices. Often, parents were faced with limited choices; i.e., an oral program where there is no ASL alternative in town, or vice versa.

Enter… A Regulatory Framework

PL 94-142, Education for the Handicapped Act, changed this state of affairs, ensuring a ‘free, appropriate public education” for students with disabilities. With it, came a new regulatory framework for educating all students with disabilities. The underpinning of the entire framework was the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), where students with disabilities need to be integrated as much as possible in schools near their home, taking the same classes along with nondisabled peers.

PL 94-142 couldn’t have come in a more opportune time; it coincided with the Rubella ‘bulge’ of Deaf students. All of a sudden, America had this huge mass of Deaf students and PL 94-142 empowered Deaf education at a local level.  Parents and educators finally had the tools they needed to implement Deaf education in their communities, spawning a “continuum of services” in serving this diverse body of Deaf students. There were self-contained classes, students being mainstreamed, students having a resource room, and more.

Throwing away the Cookie Cutter

As well intentioned and empowering the PL 94-142 law was, it was an imprecise instrument. What is usually applicable to a particular group of disabilities may not apply to Deaf people, for instance.  The LRE provision placed residential Deaf Schools squarely at the ‘bottom’ of this continuum of services, being deemed ‘the most restrictive environment’.  Understandably, many Deaf education professionals were concerned that Deaf students were being placed into environments ill-suited for them.

In 1988, the Commission on Education of the Deaf (COED) issued a report highlighting these concerns regarding LRE and the continuum of services. Finally, in 1992, the Department of Education issued regulations emphasizing the individual ‘factors’ of each and every Deaf student in determining appropriate placement options under PL 94-142’s LRE provisions. In 1997, the regulations were codified into law under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. (IDEA)

General Education Enters the Picture

With IDEA, the law also mandated access for students with disabilities in the “general education curriculum”. PL 94-142 only mandated access for students with disabilities on a “special curriculum” basis, and it proved to be untenable, unworkable, and inflexible.

By the time 1997 rolled around, the continuum of services was all but set. Staffing specialists had many options and have placed Deaf students in programs with levels of services and options unheard of in 1975. Shrewdly, even some Deaf schools recognized the significance of IDEA and its LRE provisions by lobbying for school choice amendments. For example, FSDB has a state statute allowing Deaf/HH students to enroll there, even though there may be an appropriate educational placement in their local communities.

Early Screening and Intervention Rearranges the Tiles

In 1999, Deaf education was reshaped again by the introduction of the Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening and Intervention Act of 1999. The law allowed block grants to states in implementing their own screening and intervention initiatives affecting Deaf children. The rationale behind the Act was that the earlier these Deaf children’s hearing loss was identified, the better chances they’ll receive appropriate language therapy and development.

Just like PL 94-142, the Intervention Act came also at a serendipitous time, in an era of technological advances in medicine, resulting in even lower Deaf incidence figures. Better medicine simply has produced an end result where the overall infant population has never been healthier as a whole. And as for those infants who are newly diagnosed with hearing loss, an array of services and technologies were made available to them and their parents in ensuring that they get the language support and development they need at a crucial time.

As a result, more Deaf/HH children are being enrolled in schools in their communities and in more inclusive programs. Thanks to early intervention, more Deaf/HH children are receiving appropriate language support and development in their local communities, and are having successful outcomes in their local educational programming. More restrictive placements began to wither and disappear, dealing with ever decreasing numbers of Deaf/HH students.

No Deaf/HH Child Left Behind

The final piece of the mosaic that makes up Deaf Education came through the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, passed in 2002. With NCLB, standards based instruction and assessment came into focus in all aspects of education. Now, LEA’s have to consider whether educational placements have standards based instruction and assessment as a factor in making appropriate placement decisions for Deaf/HH students.

While the IDEA has mandated access to the general education curriculum and testing, the NCLB extends these protections further by mandating access to standards-based curriculum and testing for all students, with or without disabilities. While not always true, more restrictive placements tend to have extensive modifications to standards-based instruction and may even exempt students from standard assessments.

Re-examining the Continuum of Services

In this context of a new regulatory framework affecting Deaf Education, should we start to reexamine the LRE provisions regarding appropriate placement options for Deaf/HH students? Should the ‘continuum of services’ adjust for the realities Deaf Education is now facing? The self-contained Deaf/HH classroom would be considered the ‘Most Restrictive Environment’ and the Deaf School somewhere in the middle?

In this alternative Continuum of Services scenario, the LRE provisions are weighted towards access to the general education curriculum and standardized testing. Under this model, Deaf schools actually move up on this spectrum; some Deaf schools offer access to some general standard education curriculum and standardized testing. These schools would be a better (& superior) alternative to self-contained classes consisting of Varying Exceptionalities or Deaf/HH students.

Conclusion

In closing, parents of Deaf/HH children have a lot of educational placement choices. Thanks to this new regulatory framework, IDEA 2004+NCLB, parents and educators need to seriously consider access to the general standardized education curriculum and assessments as significant factors in determining their Deaf/HH children’s placement. And thanks to early screening and intervention initiatives resulting in a dwindling pool of Deaf/HH students, various Deaf/HH educational placements need to consider these factors as well, or risk becoming irrelevant, marginalized and/or obsolete.

Bibliography

While not an exhaustive list, I found these following links illuminating and used them as research sources.  If you find inaccuracies, inconsistencies, or concern(s) with this article, please drop me a line in the comments below.

• http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_techbrief.html
• http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-3/courts.htm
• http://www.cenmi.org/Documents/FocusonResults/FocusonResultsDetails/tabid/79/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/313/StandardsBased-Individualized-Education-Programs-IEPs-Benefit-StudentsIEPs-Must-Align-With-the-General-Education-Curriculum.aspx
• http://www.listen-up.org/rights/policy.htm
• http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/hq9806.html

This article is published for informative and entertainment purposes only. No attorney-client relationship is created, nor is legal advice given. I strongly recommend that you consult with a local attorney or special education advocate concerning the student’s educational placement and various options that may be available for the student.

Earlier this year, Congressman (Rep-D) Edward Markey introduced and sponsored H.R. 3101 to the Committee on Energy and Commerce on June 26th. Amid a flurry of sponsors, 15 and counting at time of writing, the bill has garnered support and publicity among the Deaf community. H.R. 3101′s short title is “Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009″ and its principal aim is to ensure accessbility of media on the Internet, i.e., captioning on streaming video. Another goal is to ensure accessibility of ip-based communications. The full information can be found at Thomas (LOC.gov).

I generally support this bill, and will continue to monitor it’s progress throughout its legislative life. While there is captioned content online, much more remains inaccessible. Of particular note are emergency broadcasts; we need to ensure that these broadcasts are captioned, either via traditional TV media or internet-based streaming media. I do find proposed section 103 in redefining telecommunications relay services to be troubling, and has diminished my support somewhat for this bill.

As of this writing, there has been not a lot of information about H.R. 3101 coming out from the Committe on Energy and Commerce. There have been no hearings scheduled, let alone any markup’s, or any committee recommendations. However, a blogsite has been covering the bill extensively – Caption Action 2. Plus, using the hashtag #HR3101 on Twitter, you’ll find commentary and support of the bill among many interested participants. H.R. 3101 continues to attract more co-sponsors, and recently had a high-profile boost in way of Marlee Matlin at a recent (Nov. 6th) FCC hearing about broadband access for people with disabilities.

In addition to contacting your Congressperson about H.R. 3101, you can also write to the Committe on Energy and Commerce in support of this bill. I’m not sure if non-citizens can write to the Committee in support of this bill. (i.e. Deaf Canadians and other Deaf foreigners that understand English stand to benefit from the bill. It would be nice to enlist their support!) If the Committee has a hearing on this bill, you may even comment on the bill. (There is also a specific subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, but I’m not sure if they’re actually handling H.R. 3101. At any rate, the full Committee needs to recommend the Bill to the House.)

The FCC also may comment on H.R. 3101 through this Committee. Remember the Nov. 6th hearing that FCC had on Gallaudet University? Perhaps the FCC will gather and distill the information gleaned from that hearing in reporting to the Committee about H.R. 3101. The proposed bill as written may undergo an amendment or two before it is officially reported by the Committee to the House. (Admittedly, this is why, despite my initial skepticism about proposed Section 103 of H.R. 3101, I continue to support the Bill.)

Don’t leave us in the Dark Ages, i.e., the 20th Century. Join us and support us in entering the 21st Century with full accessiblity to the Internet and related technologies.