Preschool Program St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf at Carle Preschool serves children, ages three through six, who have a significant hearing loss. Using an early childhood education model, we focus on developing the oral communication skills of young children with hearing loss. We believe in the development of the whole child, integrating speech and audition goals into activities that develop cognitive, social, and gross and fine motor skills. Our preschool is open five days a week, eleven months a year. The remainder of the time consists of typical activities found in preschool settings such as music, story time, art, movement, gross motor, fine motor, and snack time.
Cognitive development is an integral part of all activities.
Additional support services including audiology, social services and psychology are available as needed. Mainstream Programs SJI-C offers several services to aid in a child's transition from our program into their local school. These services are in addition to the daily opportunities for the preschool children to share classes, playtime and lunch with their hearing peers. A good start to successfully mainstreaming a child with a hearing loss is a well-informed staff. At SJI-C we believe this good start is critical.