Language and communication, first and always.
Instruction follows the child. Classrooms use spoken language, speech-reading, auditory processing and sign language based on what each student needs, most classes use American Sign Language, and every classroom has an FM amplification system. Thinking Maps, a visual approach tied to eight specific thought processes, are used at every grade level, and the curriculum follows New York State standards throughout.
The work starts before school does.
Support for families of deaf children from birth through age three, in the years when language is built fastest. Families do not wait for a child to fall behind before help arrives, and they do not have to leave to find it later.
A first classroom where nothing has to be repeated.
Children arrive into rooms where the adults and the other children already share their language. Early literacy and early number work sit alongside the everyday business of being three and four years old, and no part of the day happens out of a child’s reach.
Reading and reasoning, taught visually.
The curriculum follows New York State standards, taught in ASL and English together. Thinking Maps give students a visual structure for eight specific thought processes, so the shape of an idea is something a child can see and not only hear about.
The identity years, taken seriously.
Coursework gets heavier and so does the social world. Students keep the same support around them as the academics step up, and clubs like robotics and Junior NAD give them somewhere to lead rather than somewhere to keep up.
Leaving with a language, not just a diploma.
Students work toward a New York State diploma with the support services built into the school day rather than bolted onto it. Drama Club, athletics, and the dorm program sit alongside the academics, and counseling looks past graduation to college, training, and work.
Not referrals. Colleagues down the hall.
In most districts these are appointments a family has to chase. Here they are departments in the same building as the classroom, which is the practical difference between a service a child is entitled to and a service a child actually receives.
Where the standard route does not fit.
The Foreign Language Transition Program (FLTP) is for deaf students who are new to the United States. It helps them adapt to a new culture and a new language, taught in self-contained classrooms by bilingual and multicultural staff. These students are often learning ASL and English at the same time, and frequently so are their parents.
The Alternate Achievement Pathway (AAP) serves students who are deaf and have additional disabilities. Students in AAP work toward a Skills and Achievement Commencement Credential rather than a high school diploma, and usually go on to a day habilitation or adult services program.
Both exist for the same reason the rest of the school does: a child should not have to arrive already fluent in order to be taught.