Special Education

Outreach Consultant for Deaf and Hard of Hearing

To promote appropriate educational practices and interventions for deaf and hard of hearing* children in Montana. To provide consultation and technical assistance to education professionals, families, and other service providers about service

options, resources and best practices as they relate to deaf and hard of hearing children. The successful candidate must have an understanding of and be able to communicate the continuum of communication options between American Sign Language and Listening and Spoken Language.

• It is common in published articles to capitalize Deaf and Hard of Hearing to identify members of the Deaf Community. This job description refers to children and students who identify with the Deaf Community and those that do not. Therefore, “deaf and hard of hearing” will be written in lower case letters throughout unless used in a title such as Consultant for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

• Classroom Support, Consultation, and Technical Assistance

• Improve access to instruction and environment by providing recommendations to school staff, Have a basic working knowledge of a vaireity of assisitive listening technology and the basic ability to interpreter audiological records. Assists in the development of the IEP and participates in the IEP meetings, Works with district if requested to provide support in hiring sign language interpreter, Conducts necessary trainings with small groups and school-wide staff.

•  Early Childhood Education and Intervention

• Collaborates with Part C to participate in intake activities, Provides advising and instruction to families of children who are aged birth to three regarding child development, communication and language options and opportunities, and meeting developmental goals and other needs of children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deafblind, Works with families and other service providers to develop and implement the Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP), Interpret audiological information reports, Establishes and monitors Family Advisor program including recruitment, training, mentoring, reporting, approving invoices, and general oversight.

• Assessment and Evaluation (specific to Consultants of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing),

• Assists in obtaining and helping teams understand audiological reports, Performs assessments and evaluations related to educational needs to suggest appropriate accommodations and modifications to the classroom and/or curriculum (assessments and evaluations might be formal or informal - i.e. resources from Success for Kids with Hearing Loss)

• Extension Programs and Other Services

• Assists in the planning, facilitation, and recruitment of families and students to attend annual Family Learning Weekends, Deaf Enrichment weekends, and Summer Camp, Works with the MSDB Admissions Coordinator in facilitating referral of students who can be appropriately served by MSDB’s on-campus programs.

• Office Duties and Organization

• Maintains and manages student files and data within a centralized data system, Completes follow-up reports, recommendations, phone contacts, and/or emails in a timely manner, Organizes and facilitates issue-specific training opportunities for students, Prepares reports as required or requested, Develops relationships and maintains contacts with office/school/service agencies via email and other technologies, phone contacts and maintains a record of those contacts, Complete and maintain annual accounting of students served on caseload.

• Travel to various Local Education Agencies (LEAs) within given caseload - may entail overnight stays while on the road.Travel to campus for majority of monthly meetings and Outreach Events held on campus.

• Performs related and other duties as assigned.

• Detailed Job Description available upon request.

QUALIFICATIONS: Skills and knowledge related to Deaf Education and providing accommodations in regular classrooms is required. Bachelor's Degree or higher in Deaf Education, ASL, Deaf Studies, Special Education or related degree is highly

preferred. Bachelor's Degree or higher from an accredited Interpreter Training Program or Master's in Speech and Language Pathology (with experience working with deaf and hard of hearing students) might be considered. Degree in Audiology might be considered. Ability to obtain Montana Teaching Licensure is preferred.