INDIANA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
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Enrollment Process
ISD is an ASL/English bilingual educational environment for students that live in Indiana and are enrolled with their local school district.
ISD placement considerations are primarily based on a child's communication, language access as a Deaf/HH student. Also, the student must be able to demonstrate the ability to learn through using ASL, receptively and expressively.
The ISD is a public agency responsible for providing special education and related services to qualifying individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. The parents or Local Education Agency (LEA) may request that a deaf/hard of hearing student, ages three (3) to 22 years, be consider for potential educational placement. A professional review of the most recent educational information is required prior to ISD being invited to participate in the LEA’s IEP Case Conference Committee (CCC) meeting to discuss educational placement opportunities. A representative from the ISD admission team must be at the conference to discuss possible placement at ISD.
Note: The process can take up to 3 months and longer, if more information is needed.
The ISD Admission team reviews student records (IEP/IFSP, evaluations, audiology information, and grades/transcript) - Fill out the Potential Enrollment Intake if you want to move forward with considering enrollment to ISD for your child and the team will contact you to schedule campus visit or they may recommend an observation before a visit is scheduled or recommended.
The local school will lead the CCC meeting to discuss the student's present levels of performance, eligibility, goals, services, and the educational programs available. The options considered must also include a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE),
The “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that a continuum of placements be considered, which includes neighborhood schools (closest to home), center-based programs (serving larger groupings of students who are deaf or hard of hearing clustered at selected schools) and specialized day schools, some with residential components, designed specifically for students who are deaf or hard of hearing... [the committee at the IEP meeting will need to consider which placement best meets child’s needs] as many as 40% of students who are deaf or hard of hearing have additional disabilities that require more specialized supports and services (Mitchell & Karchmer, 2006),” (Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing; 3rd edition, 2018) that need to be considered at the case conference.
The ISD Intake Specialist will work with the parents on completing the ISD registration process and prepare for the student's first day at ISD.
The New Student Support Specialist will work with the local school in developing and completing the IEP. The local school will continue to collaborate with ISD to monitor the student's progress.