DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING TEACHER

MAYFIELD INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT                                             REPORTS TO: Director of Special Education

JOB DESCRIPTION: To work with students with hearing disabilities; assisting students and staff so that the students can be successful in the least restrictive setting.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Deaf/Hard of Hearing teaching certificate
• Familiarity of ASL preferred
• Successful completion of student teaching at a recognized college or university, or one year of regular full time teaching experience.  
• Possession of a baccalaureate or higher degree with emphasis in an academic major or minor subject matter fields commonly taught in P-12 grade levels.                                                     

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Review available medical/audiological information pertaining to the student’s performance and probable use of hearing; obtaining updated medical/audiological information and share with parent, teacher, and other appropriate staff.
• Monitor the condition and use of appropriate amplification equipment for each student.
• Make regular contact with parents of students and keep records of contacts, including updating short range objectives and other appropriate records.
• Demonstrate knowledge and skills in the areas of language development and language refinement needed by hearing impaired children.
• Provides inservice (formal and informal) for mainstream teachers and other support personnel as appropriate, including suggestions for environmental modifications, preferential seating, communication, understanding the impact of hearing loss, and use of a hearing aid, sign language interpreter, or FM (as applicable).
• Creates an environment that provides appropriate visual (line of sight) and acoustic access for full participation for students with hearing loss. Monitors for this access within the general education environment (including visual access to the sign language interpreter as applicable and line of sight with the teacher).
• Understands assessment as an educational process including how to interpret information obtained from standardized and nonstandardized assessment, analyze and use to develop instruction and goals for individual students.
• Provides information and emotional support for students and families to promote understanding and coping skills for their child’s hearing loss.
• Engages in professional development to stay current on researched-based instructional strategies and services, and seeks additional resources and assistance as needed to meet the individualized needs of  students.
• Providing secondary transition services to students with hearing loss that are focused on post-secondary goals.
• Assisting the student with hearing loss in developing interest profiles, career exploration and career development through activities that enhance their employability.
• Educating school staff about implications of hearing loss across environments and the use of hearing assistance technology to enhance auditory access in the school setting.
• Supporting special education teachers, general education teachers and related service providers by addressing the student’s needs related to their hearing loss and creating strategies that are appropriate to the student’s unique needs.
• Collaborating with school teams to identify and support academic and functional needs for the student with hearing loss and additional disabilities, by providing evidence based strategies and techniques to maximize communication access, language acquisition, auditory skill development, self-advocacy skill development and use of compensatory skills.