Blind/Visually Impaired Service Including Braille and Large Print Production

IU 13 provides access to instructional materials for students who are unable to access standard print due to blindness or visual impairment. Braille materials are ordered or produced on-site at IU 13. In addition, large print textbooks are provided whenever necessary for classroom use.

Blind/Visually Impaired Support – Itinerant

IU 13 staff provide consultation and instruction in compensatory skills in both regular and special education settings. Instructors teach new strategies for accessing the curriculum as well as the use of specialized materials, adaptive technology, and optical devices.

Orientation and Mobility Service

Students who are blind or visually impaired are taught to travel independently in both the school environment and the community at large, as appropriate to student needs.

Deaf/Hard of Hearing Services

IU 13 provides support to deaf and hard of hearing students ages 3 to 21. Using a language-rich environment and a total communication approach, instructors focus on instruction in academic and functional areas, social/emotional skills, self-advocacy and pre-vocational experiences.

Deaf/Hard of Hearing Support – Itinerant

Deaf and hard of hearing students who are attending a regular or special education classroom receive supplemental instruction and support from itinerant teachers. These teachers monitor the use of assistive devices, support self-advocacy strategies, and encourage language development.

Loaner Amplification Program

FM equipment can be requested by a child’s home school district for students with hearing loss or documented auditory processing disorders. FM devices for students with documented auditory processing disorders are available to students for an initial trial period. Loaner hearing aids are also available to help students and parents determine the benefits of amplification for a child with a newly identified hearing loss or to use while a child’s personal amplification is being repaired.

Educational Audiology Service

IU 13 provides a wide range of educational audiology services including: the provision and/or maintenance of assistive devices for deaf/hard of hearing students, consultation with families and school personnel concerning needs resulting from hearing loss, and audiological evaluations for children with special needs.

Rapid Hearing Screening

Pennsylvania requires all students with special needs to complete an annual hearing screening. Students who are unable to complete standard hearing screenings are tested at school by the IU 13 educational audiologist. Alternative test protocols such as Conditioned Play Audiometry, Tympanometry and Otoacoustic Emissions  are available for these students.

Sign Language Interpreting Service

IU 13 provides sign language interpreting and transliterating for deaf and hard of hearing students who are attending regular or special education classes.

For more information, please call 717-606-1738 or email specialeducation@iu13.org.