PPEP connects deaf families to needed resources
7th February 2022 · 0 Comments
By Meghan Holmes
Contributing Writer
Louisiana’s School for the Deaf currently provides early intervention services to almost 200 children around the state through their PPEP – Parent Pupil Education Program. The program connects deaf and hard of hearing children from ages 0-5 and their families to free services that support language and communication development as well as educate parents about amplification devices, services in the region and the transition into school.
“We provide information about what it means to be deaf or hard of hearing, and how that looks in a life’s journey, as well as provide communication opportunities like sign language. We have certified teachers working statewide to make sure kids get what they need and continue to receive support once it’s time to enroll in school,” said Dr. Natalie Delgado, the Statewide Outreach Director of Deaf Education with Louisiana School for the Deaf.
Most families’ journeys to the PPEP program start through Louisiana’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention initiative, which connects pediatricians to a statewide database identifying deaf and hard of hearing children, as well as networking them to services.
“We knew that we needed follow-up testing when she was a newborn, but didn’t get an official diagnosis until she was 4 or 5 months old,” said Jessica Carpenter, whose 5-year-old daughter Lily participated in the PPEP program. “Someone came and met with us not too long after that and we started getting speech lessons. “I knew just a little bit of sign language, because being deaf runs in my family – I have a couple of great aunts and uncles that are deaf. But it wasn’t enough to really communicate with her, so since then I have been learning. I took classes at Louisiana School for the Deaf and am studying to become an interpreter.”
Currently, the PPEP program has five teachers traveling the state and visiting children, either in their home or at a daycare, and is seeking to hire another. “Once children are identified, we send a teacher either once a week or once a month for an hour each visit, depending on their needs,” Delgado said.
As students approach school age, PPEP also helps inform parents about options for deaf and hard of hearing children.
“Some students do really well in a public school, or charter school, and some do well at a school for the deaf,” Delgado said. “It really ranges according to the level that they hear as well as what language or communication modality they utilize. I can definitely tell you that throughout the state there’s a serious shortage of deaf teachers and qualified interpreters to work with these students, and professionals who can communicate with them in general.”
Parent Jessica Carpenter considered enrolling her daughter at public school, but decided on the Louisiana School for the Deaf after meeting with pre-K teachers there.
“We started an IEP with Ascension Parish, but we weren’t sure whether or not she would be able to have an interpreter with her at the school or not,” Carpenter said. “I was set on sending her to LSD once I went and met with the teachers there because I knew she was going to get everything she needed plus more.”
In addition to a shortage of qualified educators, the pandemic has also made it more difficult to provide deaf and hard of hearing children with the resources they need, as some parents have delayed needed appointments and testing due to outbreak concerns. Dr. Delgado emphasizes that parents should get any needed hearing check-ups as soon as possible.
“We also encourage families of children with recurring ear infections to go back and get checked again once an infection has gone away. It’s possible that a child was deaf or hard of hearing before the ear infection, so it didn’t change anything.”
Future plans to expand the PPEP program include the establishment of a deaf mentorship program and expanding sign language education for parents.
“We are also hoping to open a birth to age 3 early childhood program soon. Our ages 4-5 pre-K program has been ranked excellent and it’s a bimodal bilingual preK utilizing spoken English and American Sign Language. COVID has slowed the pace of some of our workshops, but we hope to offer more in-person things soon,” Delgado said.
This article originally published in the February 7, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
