Regional Day School Program For The Deaf (REPD)

REPD provides services to deaf or hard of hearing students who are 0-22 years of age. Students in the program are placed in the least restrictive environment with the supports and services individually designed for them to make academic gain. 

The program meets the following objectives:

1. Provides assistance and support to parents of students who are deaf or hard of hearing in the regional days school, and admits students who have:

• A documented hearing loss that seriously interferes with the processing of linguistic information even after amplification; and which
• Results in an educational need for a teacher of the deaf and/or an

 Interpreter/transliterator/CART

2. Enables students who are deaf or hard of hearing to reside with their parents/guardians and be provided an appropriate education in their home school districts, or in a regional day school program for the deaf.

3. Provide students in a regional day school program for the deaf access to General education classes with their normal hearing peers for as much of the day as deemed appropriate by the ARD committee.

4. Recognize the need for development of language and communication abilities in students who are deaf and hard of hearing, but also call for the use of methods of communication that will meet the needs of individual students through a variety of means ( including oral or aural means, finger spelling, and/or sign language)  and with the opportunity to communicate in that mode with a variety of peers and adults.

Admission to the Program

The home school or district seeking to admit a student to REPD will be responsible for completing the referral to special education.  As a student being considered with an Auditory Impairment, the Full Individual Evaluation must consist of these three parts:

Part A: Otological Examination

Part B: Audiological Evaluation

Part C: Communication Evaluation (to be completed with the assistance of a teacher of the deaf)

Admission, Review, & Dismissal (ARD Committee)

Membership of the ARD committee will include the REPD program director or designee, and a teacher of the deaf considering placement into the REPD program.  A teacher of the deaf must participate in any ARD in which issues involving auditory impairments are to be considered.

The initial ARD to determine placement of a student with an auditory  impairment will be held on the student's home campus.  If  the ARD committee determines that the most appropriate placement for the student is in the REPD, an ARD supplement admitting the student into the program will be included.

Once the student has been admitted to REPD, the ARD Committee will meet in Amarillo at the student's REPD campus.  If student resides out of district, the sending district's Special Education Director, or designee, will be invited to each ARD meeting.

Transportation

The student's sending district will provide transportation daily to and from the REPD school site.