Guidelines for audiology services in the schools. Ad Hoc Committee on Service Delivery in the Schools. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

The educational needs of children with hearing impairments are the responsibility of local and state education agencies. Comprehensive audiology services to children include prevention, identification, assessment, habilitation and instructional services, supportive in-service and counseling, and follow-up and monitoring services. Audiology programs in schools must be supported by appropriate and adequate equipment and materials, technical assistance, administrative support, and evaluation and research. The needs of children with hearing impairments are diverse. Therefore, a team approach which includes the school audiologist is the only feasible way to ensure that they receive comprehensive services. Services for children with hearing impairments are greatly enhanced when audiologists are on the educational team. The inclusion of audiologists makes possible the proper interpretation and integration of audiologic data into educational planning for programming. Audiologists bring critical and unique skills and knowledge to the educational setting, thus ensuring the maximal exploitation of residual hearing for auditory learning and communication. Audiology services can be obtained by employing audiologists within the schools or by contracting for their services. Regardless of the service delivery system used, adequate numbers of audiologists must be employed to provide appropriate and comprehensive audiology services to all children.