Getting Ready for School
Flexible Placement for Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
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Many children begin in one kind of school program, and move to another kind:

• A child who is born deaf or hard of hearing and identified early may have one to one family help, a self contained or regular preschool, and then a school placement that suits his or her language needs. That could be full time inclusion in regular classrooms, mainstreaming with an interpreter, or a school for deaf children, depending on the needs that parents and teachers see.
  
• A child who is born hearing or hard of hearing and gradually loses more hearing might begin in a preschool among hearing children, but may need more support later on, to keep the language growing.
  
• A child who receives one kind of program, but doesn't learn as successfully as parents and teachers had hoped, may make wonderful progress by changing to a different kind of program.
  

No one placement is best for all children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Any individual child will do best when the placement meets his or her needs.