2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
DUKE ENERGY CONVENTION CENTER
DHH preschool in an SEL world
Montgomery County ESC has operated a preschool for Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) students for almost 20 years. The methodology of this program has evolved over time, but overall primary mission has not changed: to improve the language outcomes for graduates as well as academic, social and personal outcomes. In June of 2019 the state of Ohio approved standards for Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in K-12 education. There are still no standards approved for preschool SEL in Ohio, but the MCESC has a specific focus on SEL development and its intersection with special education and other high needs groups. Over the last 5 years, as the staff for the DHH program has received more training and given deeper thought to SEL development in our students, we realized the significant overlap between our goals as a DHH program and the stated goals of an SEL program. This presentation will seek to identify these areas of overlap and suggest that implementing a specific SEL focus in Deaf education could be of benefit to other programs serving our population.
Social emotional skills in DHH learners may be slower to develop than those of their hearing peers for a number of reasons. Most DHH students are born to hearing parents, and therefore communication and language development is often impacted. Language deprivation has a cascading impact on the development of age appropriate executive function skills and problem solving skills.
(The Illinois State Board of Education Special Education Services Department) identifies a number of areas of needed development for DHH learners and are explicitly addressed in our DHH preschool:
SEL vocabulary
social/pragmatic communication
Theory of Mind
Emotional Regulation
Self-Advocacy
Culture and Identity
- The participant will be able to identify 5 components of an SEL program.
- The participant will be able to discuss 5 areas of instruction that overlap in a DHH and SEL program.
- The participant will explain 2 possible antecedents for slower SEL skill development in a student who is DHH.
Poster:
3420032_15469PatSkidmore.pdf
Presenter: Pat Skidmore
Dr. Pat Skidmore (she/her) is an educational audiologist with Montgomery County ESC - Regional Center. She works with school teams to identify educational needs of Deaf/Hard of Hearing students and create IEP or 504 programs to address those needs.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.