Evaluating Functional Performance: 

Hearing loss is an access issue. It creates barriers to learning in the typical classroom environment and impacts social interactions. This invisible barrier is why it is necessary to consider functional performance in the classroom across situations.

Success for Children with Hearing Loss

The FIE should include data regarding the student's functional performance in addition to academic performance.

Federal law 34 CFR §300.304(c) states that evaluations:

(1)(ii) Are provided and administered in the child’s native language or other mode of communication and in the form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally.

(4) The child is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability.

Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP)

IDEA requires the IEP to include a statement of the child’s present level of academic and FUNCTIONAL performance. Below is a portion of the explanation from the Parent Center Hub website:

The “present levels” statement is intended to comprehensively describe a child’s abilities, performance, strengths, and needs. It is based on, and arises out of, all the information and data previously collected and known about the child, most especially the full and individual evaluation of the child that must be conducted in accordance with IDEA’s evaluation/eligibility provisions of 34 CFR §300.301 through 300.311. A well-written present level will describe:

• the child’s strengths and weaknesses,

• what helps the child learn,

• what limits or interferes with the child's learning,

• objective data from current evaluations of the child, and

• how the child’s disability affects his or her ability to be involved and progress in the general curriculum.

A fully developed, well-written “present level” is the foundation upon which the rest of the IEP can be developed to specify appropriate goals, services, supports, accommodations, and placement for the child.

Functional performance. With respect to the meaning of “functional performance,” the Department of Education points to how the term is generally understood as referring to “skills or activities that are not considered academic or related to a child’s academic achievement.” This term “is often used in the context of routine activities of everyday living.”

All of these types of skills are important to consider when writing the child’s “present levels” statement, asking questions such as:

• Where does the child stand in terms of functional performance?

• How does the child’s disability affect functional performance?

• How does the child's functional performance affect his or her involvement and progress in the general education curriculum?

For students who are deaf or hard of hearing, their disability often impacts social skills, self-advocacy skills, and other functional skills that are imperative for them to truly access the curriculum. The expanded core curriculum addresses those skills.

Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) for Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: 

ECC - DHH

“…students who are deaf or hard of hearing have specialized needs not covered in the general education curriculum. Hearing loss adds a dimension to learning that often requires explicit teaching, such as information gained through incidental learning. It has been estimated that for persons without hearing loss, 80 percent of information learned is acquired incidentally. No effort is required. Any type of hearing loss interrupts this automatic path to gain information. This incidental information must be delivered directly to students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Most teachers without specialized training related to hearing loss do not have the expertise to address the unique needs of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Therefore, IFSP and IEP team collaboration with educational audiologists and teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing is necessary in addressing academic and social instruction and the assessment of these areas (Denzin & Luckner, 1998). In order to close this information gap, the Expanded Core Curriculum for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (ECC-DHH) was developed.”

Additional Tools for Evaluation:

• Functional Listening Evaluation

• Evaluations of Students Who Are DHH

• Informal Assessments for Parents, Students, Teachers

Texas Health and Human Services: DHH Parent Advisor Services

Services for Children and Families, Ages 0-3

• Services are available through Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) for families of children, ages 0-3, who are deaf or hard of hearing.

• To locate the ECI program in your area, use the ECI Program Locator.

• To locate the Regional Day School Program for the Deaf that serves your local education agency, use the Regional Day School Program for the Deaf Locator.

• For additional information or assistance, contact Mari Hubig, Early Intervention Specialist.

Legal Requirements: The Legal Framework can be accessed through Education Service Center Region 18. It is a primary source of information regarding services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Required Elements of the Full Individual Evaluation (FIE):

1. Otological Evaluation: Signed by a licensed otolaryngologist (Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor)*

2. Audiological Evaluation: Signed by a licensed audiologist

3. Communication Evaluation: Completed by the TODHH, speech/language pathologist, educational diagnostician, and any additional member of the evaluation team with applicable information regarding the student's communication needs

*If securing a signed otological evaluation delays the FIE process, please reference the Texas Otological Report regarding how to gather the necessary documentation in order to provide services as quickly as possible.

Specially Designed Instruction: A Resource for Teachers

(3) Specially designed instruction means adapting, as appropriate, to the needs of an eligible child under this part, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction—

(i) To address the unique needs of the child that result from the child’s disability; and

(ii) To ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children. [§300.39(b)(3)]

Texas Education Code Section TEC§29.302(a) states “that it is essential for the well-being and growth of students who are deaf or hard of hearing that educational programs recognize the unique nature of deafness and the hard-of-hearing condition and ensure that all students who are deaf or hard of hearing have appropriate, ongoing, and fully accessible educational opportunities."

Texas Transition: Student-Centered Transition Resource: Pathways: The Texas Transition and Employment Guide to a Successful Life After High School for Students with Disabilities

Assistive Technology for DHH Students: A resource created by the National Deaf Center. 

• Assistive Technology for Students Who Are DHH

• Cochlear Implants

Training for classroom teachers and other personnel working with students who are DHH should be provided by a TODHH and/or an educational audiologist.

Helpful Resources for Providing Teacher Training:

• DHH Students in the General Education Classroom (LiveBinder)

• ESC Region 11 Trainings

• Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in the Classroom (video)

• ESC Region 13 Video Library

• Teacher Orientation for an Interpreter in the Classroom

• The Unfair Spelling Test

• Flintstones Hearing Loss Simulation

• Hearing Loss in the Classroom

• What Do Cochlear Implants and Hearing Aids Sound Like?

• Amplification

• ADA Requirements: Effective Communication

• ADA/504/IDEA Requirements for DHH Students

• Deaf Child Bill of Rights

• Expanded Core Curriculum for DHH Students

• Hearing Aid Financial Assistance

• Listening Fatigue and Its Effect on Learning

• Possible Educational Effects of Hearing Loss

• Self-Advocacy Skills for Students Who Are DHH

• Social Skills for DHH Students

• Statewide Outreach Center (SOC) at TSD 

• Success for Kids with Hearing Loss

• Unilateral and/or Mild Hearing Loss in Children