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Deaf education program at Lawrence Elementary finds success with software
By Senitra Horbrook, Staff Writer
A software program designed for general education has become an essential learning tool for students in the deaf education program at Lawrence Elementary School.
“Deaf education took the program and made it work better for their students,” said Paige DeWitt, principal. “They did some adapting and figuring out what works best for them.”
DeWitt is speaking of the Waterford Early Learning and SuccessMaker, a digital learning software program from Pearson Education. The Early Learning software is designed for grades K-2, while SuccessMaker is used for grades 3-6. The school received the program using Title I funds. The school was originally using the software for students who were specifically struggling with math and reading, but found an unexpected additional usage in the deaf education program.
The deaf education program uses FM technology to adapt the Waterford programs. A transmitter microphone is hooked up to the computer. The students wear receivers on their hearing aids or cochlear implants. Audio from the computer is sent via radio waves from the FM transmitter to the receivers on the students’ amplification.
“All kids like technology. It’s their world now. This has involved them more in technology. When you watch them, their faces light up. They squeal,” DeWitt said. “They can hear the sounds. It helps them learn more of the phonetic base of the language in a way they have fun doing.”
About 60 students are involved in the deaf education program at Lawrence. The students have various degrees of hearing loss or impairment. Some of the students remain in the self-contained classes all day, while others go to the class of hearing students of the same grade, sometimes with an interpreter.
DeWitt and Alt have noticed demonstrated results from adapting the Waterford program for deaf education use.
“The students are more independent, especially the younger ones, to be on the computer, using the computer by themselves, without having a teacher stand beside them,” Alt said.
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