Early Intervention to Preschool Transition for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing: A TEAM Approach

Abstract

Parents, teachers, and administrators report concerns and challenges related to the transition from early intervention (EI) to preschool for children who are deaf/hard-of-hearing. The goal of the current article is to assist teachers, administrators, and specialists involved in the transition of a young child who is deaf/hard-of-hearing from EI into preschool. The TEAM approach involves Transition planning, establishing an Educational team, determining and providing appropriate Accommodations, and Making connections for continued success. Although the TEAM approach may apply to all young children transitioning, the focus of this article is on addressing the unique needs of this particular population. Recommendations and resources are provided.

Transition Program for Young Children with Special Needs: Parents’ Experiences

“…This findings were very different to another settings where services for young children with disabilities are well-established, such as the USA in which family start early intervention when their children are infant and toddler (Davenport & Weir, 2022); Waters & Friesen, 2019) or in well-established context that adopt The Reggio-Emilia approach such as in Northern Italy (Schneider et al, 2014). Furthermore, findings on this study show that there is no evidence was found regarding the relationship and continuity between the previous school and the school that children enrolled in, yet it is suggested that the relationship and continuity of education provides positive benefits for children, families and teachers (Bornfreund & Ewen, 2021); Grant, 2013).…”

“…Another factor is a change in the support system that is most of the time unattached and farreaching (Mawdsley & Hauser-Cram, 2013;Curle et al, 2017) or reduced access to the services that they are relied (Bargeron, Contri, Gibbons, Ruch-Ross, & Sanabria, 2015). This also generates extreme pressure on the family (Davenport & Weir, 2022). Third, schools and students have less awareness of the availability of supporting facilities, as consequence they relying on informal support (Hebbeler & Spiker, 2016).…”