Re: Schools paying for hearing aids

[Guest guest]

That is really interesting, even for those of us who aren't in NH and in my case

who are going for an FM system rather than a hearing aid. In the end it gives

good points and shows a great way to word things legally in order to get what we

need. I appreciate your sharing this with us.

Schools paying for hearing aids

Hi - I spoke with who is an attorney here in NH who

specializes in helping parents with kids with special needs. He's a

great guy - he spoke with our DEAF support group and didn't charge us a

cent. He's of note in being the attorney who successfully argued that

the school district should pay for expenses related to mapping of

cochlear implants.

I asked him if there's anything in statutes or regs re: schools paying

for hearing aids. This is his response:

You won't find anything in statutes or regs that directly addresses this

issue. It was addressed around 1988 or 90 by an letter to an inquiry

that was presented to the US Department of Education (OSEP office). Tom

Heier - was the head of that office and the author of the letter (now on

faculty at Harvard School of Education). The letter says essentially

* This is a personal service device because the child uses it in all

sorts of environments, not just in education. There could be

environments where this has nothing to do with school district

responsbiility. However, education has been defined broadly to include

things not just at school so it could be argued either.

However, if under the terms of the child's IEP, for the child to be able

to profit from the goals and objectives of his IEP, he would require a

hearing aid, then at that point, it is appropriate for the school

district to pay for the cost of the hearing aid if otherwise he could

not receive the benefits of his IEP. So if a child's IEP is designed

for someone who uses ASL, then the hearing aid remains a personal

service device and wouldn't be covered by the school district.

Evidently the language in Heier's letter is very specific pointing to

the IEP as guiding the need for hearing aids or not.

Related to this - there was a provision that was put in (and predates

Heier's letter) in the regulation that deals specifically with hearing

aids and it was designed to get at the problems revealed by

congressional investigation that an enormously high percentage of kids

had hearing aids that didn't work correctly. That flows into school

district support for an audiologist; batteries, etc. but doesn't address

who is responsible for buying hearing aids.

There's a provision re: assistive technology devices that's more

widespread. These devices belong to the school district. Mr.

mused about what happens when the child graduates from HS? Hopefully

practicalities would take over and they wouldn't be waiting on the

podium to take the hearing aid away!

This question is made more complicated by types of hearing aids - at the

time there weren't the variety of hearing aids there are now. It's

really up to the school district as to the type of hearing aids that

would be provided once they agree to pay for them. He doesn't believe

there's any case law that talks about different types of hearing aids

He also said there is pending legislation at the federal level re: IDEA,

etc. Our senator from NH, Judd Gregg, inserted into the senate version

first week of May a provision that would explicitedly overturn the

rulings of the federal judge in the cochlear implant case and bars as a

related service of mapping. There's also changes in the assistive

technology services and what they are seeking to do - they are trying to

prevent any school district obligation for any medical devices inserted

in the body (which would include implants) in case this is of interest.

I hope this helps - he's such an interesting guy and so great to offer

this information to us. I can't answer questions but am glad to pass

this along.

Barbara

--

****************

Barbara Mellert

Manager, Social Science Computing

Kiewit Computing Services

Dartmouth College

13A Silsby Hall, HB 6121

Hanover NH 03755

Telephone: 603/646-2877

URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc

All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post is

the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to copyright

restrictions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Hi - I should have said - duh! - this is federal stuff, not

state of NH....

ph Enriquez wrote:

>That is really interesting, even for those of us who aren't in NH and in my

case who are going for an FM system rather than a hearing aid. In the end it

gives good points and shows a great way to word things legally in order to get

what we need. I appreciate your sharing this with us.

>

> Schools paying for hearing aids

>

>

> Hi - I spoke with who is an attorney here in NH who

> specializes in helping parents with kids with special needs. He's a

> great guy - he spoke with our DEAF support group and didn't charge us a

> cent. He's of note in being the attorney who successfully argued that

> the school district should pay for expenses related to mapping of

> cochlear implants.

>

> I asked him if there's anything in statutes or regs re: schools paying

> for hearing aids. This is his response:

>

> You won't find anything in statutes or regs that directly addresses this

> issue. It was addressed around 1988 or 90 by an letter to an inquiry

> that was presented to the US Department of Education (OSEP office). Tom

> Heier - was the head of that office and the author of the letter (now on

> faculty at Harvard School of Education). The letter says essentially

>

> * This is a personal service device because the child uses it in all

> sorts of environments, not just in education. There could be

> environments where this has nothing to do with school district

> responsbiility. However, education has been defined broadly to include

> things not just at school so it could be argued either.

>

> However, if under the terms of the child's IEP, for the child to be able

> to profit from the goals and objectives of his IEP, he would require a

> hearing aid, then at that point, it is appropriate for the school

> district to pay for the cost of the hearing aid if otherwise he could

> not receive the benefits of his IEP. So if a child's IEP is designed

> for someone who uses ASL, then the hearing aid remains a personal

> service device and wouldn't be covered by the school district.

> Evidently the language in Heier's letter is very specific pointing to

> the IEP as guiding the need for hearing aids or not.

>

> Related to this - there was a provision that was put in (and predates

> Heier's letter) in the regulation that deals specifically with hearing

> aids and it was designed to get at the problems revealed by

> congressional investigation that an enormously high percentage of kids

> had hearing aids that didn't work correctly. That flows into school

> district support for an audiologist; batteries, etc. but doesn't address

> who is responsible for buying hearing aids.

>

> There's a provision re: assistive technology devices that's more

> widespread. These devices belong to the school district. Mr.

> mused about what happens when the child graduates from HS? Hopefully

> practicalities would take over and they wouldn't be waiting on the

> podium to take the hearing aid away!

>

> This question is made more complicated by types of hearing aids - at the

> time there weren't the variety of hearing aids there are now. It's

> really up to the school district as to the type of hearing aids that

> would be provided once they agree to pay for them. He doesn't believe

> there's any case law that talks about different types of hearing aids

>

> He also said there is pending legislation at the federal level re: IDEA,

> etc. Our senator from NH, Judd Gregg, inserted into the senate version

> first week of May a provision that would explicitedly overturn the

> rulings of the federal judge in the cochlear implant case and bars as a

> related service of mapping. There's also changes in the assistive

> technology services and what they are seeking to do - they are trying to

> prevent any school district obligation for any medical devices inserted

> in the body (which would include implants) in case this is of interest.

>

> I hope this helps - he's such an interesting guy and so great to offer

> this information to us. I can't answer questions but am glad to pass

> this along.

>

> Barbara

>

> --

> ****************

>

> Barbara Mellert

> Manager, Social Science Computing

> Kiewit Computing Services

> Dartmouth College

> 13A Silsby Hall, HB 6121

> Hanover NH 03755

> Telephone: 603/646-2877

> URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc

>

>

>

> All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post is

the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to copyright

restrictions.

>

>

>

>

>

--

****************

Barbara Mellert

Manager, Social Science Computing

Kiewit Computing Services

Dartmouth College

13A Silsby Hall, HB 6121

Hanover NH 03755

Telephone: 603/646-2877

URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc

[Guest guest]

Thanks Barbara for that information (and for all you do).

> It was addressed around 1988 or 90 by an letter to an inquiry

> that was presented to the US Department of Education (OSEP office).

I recall having a dickens of a time trying to track this one down (with the

help of others). When I finally got it, I put it online here:

OSEP letter re: hearing aids are assistive technology

http://www.listen-up.org/rights2/osep1.htm

I usually pair it with:

OSEP letter re: presumptively denying assistive technology

http://www.listen-up.org/rights2/osep4.htm

It is true that the DOE doesn't do much else than say that everything is IEP

driven, but that's true about almost every guidance letter they put out.

-Kay

[Guest guest]

Thanks Barbara for that information (and for all you do).

> It was addressed around 1988 or 90 by an letter to an inquiry

> that was presented to the US Department of Education (OSEP office).

I recall having a dickens of a time trying to track this one down (with the

help of others). When I finally got it, I put it online here:

OSEP letter re: hearing aids are assistive technology

http://www.listen-up.org/rights2/osep1.htm

I usually pair it with:

OSEP letter re: presumptively denying assistive technology

http://www.listen-up.org/rights2/osep4.htm

It is true that the DOE doesn't do much else than say that everything is IEP

driven, but that's true about almost every guidance letter they put out.

-Kay