Utah School for the Deaf
South Division
Marilyn Madsen, Program Director
Welcome to the South Region of the School for the Deaf. I am Marilyn Madsen, the Program Director of the South Region. We’re pleased to introduce you to our staff and students and give you a little flavor of the many things we do and where we do them.
Our offices are located in Orem at Scera Park Elementary School, in a modular unit that USDB purchased about 17 years ago. It contains four offices plus two secretarial nooks. Currently it houses both USD and USB offices, a total of 7 people.
While the office is located in Orem, on the Wasatch Front, the majority of our services are provided in rural Utah, ranging to Utah’s borders with Colorado, Arizona and Nevada.
There are 40 school districts in Utah. The South Region of the School for the Deaf serves 23 of these districts. Do you have an idea of how many square miles there are in Utah? Well, here’s a piece of trivia! Utah contains 84,899 square miles and of that 84,899 square miles, 64, 838 square miles are included in the South Region, which works out to be 76% of the state.
Currently we have modular unit classrooms in Orem at Westmore Elementary, Orem Elementary and Scera Park Elementary, as well as a class at Lakeridge Jr. High and one class at Mountain View High School and one class at Pine View Middle School in St. George. These units provide a specialized learning environment for those students who it is determined would benefit by the educational placement team.
To give you some statistical information about the South Region, we have 24 teachers of the deaf who are all licensed and endorsed. Of those 24, five also work in conjunction with the PIP Program as Parent Advisors. We have 15 instructional aides and 8 interpreters, two who provide oral transliteration and six who use sign language. These teachers and support staff are located all over the state, which makes it a great challenge for getting together for faculty meetings, professional development activities and in-services.
Let’s look at the statistics of the students in Deaf South. We have a total of 426 students which includes those who are self-contained and those who are served by consultants. USDB holds the IEPs for 60 of these students. 366 are served through a variety of service patterns in their neighborhood schools.
“Where in the world” are the students? Deaf South serves students everywhere south of the Point of the Mountain to Arizona and everywhere east of the Nevada border to the Colorado line. There are students who live in such remote locations that the teacher consultant must leave Utah, drive through a portion of Arizona and return to Utah to serve the students.
The 60 self contained students are located in five general areas: Orem, serving the Alpine, Provo, Nebo and Juab school districts, as well as Vernal, Richfield, St. George and Blanding.
With students located across the vast area contained in Deaf South, the Teacher Consultants, Specialists and Program Director are required to drive many miles to serve these students appropriately. In one month alone, the total mileage of these 15 people is 16,500 miles and when you consider the Division covers 64,838 square miles… and when you consider the many, many students served? It’s well worth the effort.
To explain briefly the five levels of consultant services provided to the students.
Students may be identified through the Parent Infant Program or we may be asked by local school district personnel to assist with students who are deaf or hearing impaired. A referral is made to a USD Teacher Consultant and the Assessment period begins. During this time, the Teacher Consultant will speak to parents and teachers, arrange for a hearing evaluation, observe students in their classes and, if necessary, conduct assessments.
Once the necessary information is gathered key personnel are convened to evaluate the student’s needs. If they have normal hearing, the student does not receive services. If however, the student has needs then they move to one of four levels of service offered by the USD Teacher Consultant.
Tracking. Students who receive this level of service may benefit from the following: The Teacher Consultant may in-service the teachers about hearing loss, provide training regarding a child with a hearing loss in the classroom and its impact on learning and arranging for audiological evaluations. The Teacher Consultant may also provide support for assistive technology in the classroom such as FM systems, classroom amplification, etc. This type of intervention and support often results in the student NOT developing greater needs in the future because strategies are implemented early to serve the student.
Technical Assistance. Students who receive this level of service are those who have an IEP or a 504 plan in place. These students receive the same services as those provided at the Tracking level. The Teacher Consultant is a member of the local school district IEP or 504 team, providing that key component needed to appropriately serve a student with a hearing loss.
Collaboration. Collaboration involves more time and involvement by the USD Teacher Consultant. They will actively work with teachers to design effective instructional strategies for the deaf students. They may train in curriculum modification, demonstrate actual lessons and even provide training to the other students in the class. At the Collaboration level of service, these students and teachers also benefit from the same services of the previous levels, Tracking and Technical Assistance.
Direct Service. Students who require direct instruction of IEP goals and objectives receive the direct instruction from the Teacher Consultant. This typically looks like tutoring. The Teacher Consultant will evaluate the student’s needs and determine the appropriate goals that should be instructed to the student. Working with the IEP team, they will determine the time needed on a daily or weekly basis in order to best meet each student’s needs. The student receiving Direct Service, as well as the IEP team members and parents receive all the opportunities, strategies and training provided at the other levels of the consultant continuum.
Utah is a very diverse state. Everywhere you travel the scenery changes. Utah is covered by mountains, deserts, slickrock, lakes and forests. But it’s also diverse in its peoples and cultures. Within Deaf South three Native American tribes are represented: Ute, Navajo and Paiute. This means the Teacher Consultants must not only understand the impacts of hearing loss or deafness for their students, but they must also understand the variety of cultural differences and values and understand the impact this has for their students and their families.
We hope this helps to explain the Deaf South Division and the unique needs of the students as well as the variety of levels of services provided to the students. When you hear on the news about Navajo Mountain, Dinosaur National Monument, Cove Fort and other places, you’ll know that the deaf students in those locales receive the quality of services for which USDB is renowned.
To view our different sites go to: Deaf South Power Point
Deaf South Division of the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind
Director: Marilyn Madsen Program Specialist: Teresa Davenport
424 S. 350 E. 424 S. 350E.
Orem, UT 84058 Orem, UT 84058
801-224-6590 801-224-6590
801-361-3233 801-362-0872