Support Services

The Montana School for the Deaf and Blind offers a comprehensive range of support services for its students, all led by highly-qualified, trained professionals in their areas of expertise.

Speech and Language Therapy

A full-time Communications Technician works with deaf and hard of hearing students to improve their speech and communication skills.  Many of the students say, write, and sign conversational sentences about something that interests them, usually in one of 4 formats: What Happened, Describe, Give Directions, and Explain How.  Then, they choose certain sounds and/or signed words to practice in the students' own memorized sentences. They say the sentences on a "SpeechViewer" computer so they can see and hear their own voices on the computer screen.  Students practice better when the sentences are in their favorite topics, such as sports, family, parties, and shopping.  Other students practice the pronunciation, sign-meanings, and sentences for 100 challenge words from newspapers. Then, each May, those students participate in the Annual Vocabulary Bee competition for prizes and awards.

Students with visual impairments may also have difficulties understanding information they hear, or impairments in expressing ideas using speech. Their teachers collaborate with MSDB's on-staff Speech Pathologist to develop effective strategies for those students to better understand and express ideas for increased class participation. Students receive Speech/Language Therapy to develop new skills. Chewing and swallowing skills are assessed by the Speech Pathologist, who also trains teachers and teacher assistants to use oral motor exercises with some students. The Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist, and Speech Pathologist team with teachers to develop good access to switches for more independent use of communication and for life skills activities.

Physical and Occupational Therapy

MSDB has a full-time Physical Therapist on staff, and an Occupational Therapist who consults with us on a weekly basis.  Some of our students have physical difficulties in addition to their deafness or visual impairment.  The Physical Therapist works with a few of these students individually to improve developmental skills, strength, endurance, balance, coordination, flexibility and mobility.  Other students receive therapy services that are integrated into their school day.  The Physical Therapist often works in collaboration with the classroom teacher, the Orientation and Mobility Instructor, and the Speech and Language Pathologist to develop therapeutic interventions and routines for the classroom and to train staff that will carry out these programs.  The primary goal for physical therapy is to facilitate the student's independence and success within their school program.  The IEP team determines how much and what type of school physical therapy a child receives based on his/her individual needs.  Some students with ongoing medical needs also receive physical or occupational therapy in a clinical setting outside of the school day.

Orientation and Mobility

Being able to move independently and safely is one of the most important issues facing people who have lost most or all of their sight. A person's ability to travel independently touches every aspect of his or her life. Orientation and Mobility is a related educational service aimed toward assisting individuals who are blind or visually impaired in reaching their potential in traveling safely, efficiently, and gracefully through all environments. The Montana School for Deaf and Blind Children uses an integrated service delivery model for related services. Each student and their family works with a team, composed of teachers, therapists, and specialists dedicated to creating a program specifically for that child. Related services team members, such as Occupational, Physical and Speech Therapists, the Audiologist, and Orientation and Mobility Specialist reinforce each student's program as developed in their IEP.

It is within this setting that MSDB provides training in the use of mobility aids, such as the long white cane, which is a tool to assist people to move about safely and confidently. Training focuses on orientation and safe travel techniques such as negotiating steps, stairs and curbs; getting around home, school, the cottage residences, and work sites; crossing streets, planning routes and using public transportation.

Audiology

Audiological services are provided to all of the children enrolled at the Montana School for the Deaf and the Blind, as well as to children from the surrounding areas on a referral basis.  These services include diagnostic hearing testing, hearing aid/amplification evaluation, hearing conservation issues and monitoring, and consultation services for children aged birth to 21 years.  These audiology consultation services are provided to help families and schools deal with the impact of hearing loss on development and education.

Counseling and Assessment

MSDB has a full-time School Psychologist on staff who is responsible for the coordination of intake services, conducting psychological and educational assessments, and providing school-based counseling for students. MSDB's School Psychologist coordinates the referral, evaluation, placement and admission procedures for all students referred to the School. Upon the recommendation of the IEP team, the School Psychologist conducts evaluation for special school-based services for students attending MSDB, as well as for deaf-hard of hearing or visually impaired students served by our Outreach Program. This includes assessment of individual academic skills, cognitive functioning, and social and emotional development.

The School Psychologist is also is responsible for collaborating with teachers, parents and administrators to find effective solutions to behavior and learning problems for individual students. This may include intervention with students to help resolve interpersonal or family problems that interfere with school performance; help families manage crises, such as death, illness or issues of abuse; and serve as a liaison between school and community based therapy services.