My Turn: Arizona's deaf, blind students need state funding help, too
My Turn: Deaf and blind children don't learn like other infants. That's why early intervention is so critical - and why we need the state's help to provide it.
The Arizona Legislature is deliberating the state budget – including how much is to be allocated to support public education.
I support Gov. Doug Ducey’s well-thought-out education budget proposals. If enacted, they will go a long way to help schools recruit and retain quality teachers and improve student learning. That would be a huge win for Arizona families.
One critical proposal that is up for consideration is the governor’s plan to allocate $800,000 to Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind’s birth to age 3 Early Childhood and Family Education Program (ECFE).
Needs have grown. Funding? Not at all
From 2011 to 2017, the number of children and families served by ECFE has increased by nearly 60 percent, from 257 families to 441. During this period, the average number of visits to these families declined from four times a month to 1.5 times a month, as no additional funding was allocated by the Legislature.
This is why Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind is requesting $800,000. The additional funds would enable us to hire eight more credentialed teachers to meet this large increase in early childhood enrollment and to restore education and intervention services to adequate levels.
What this means: $7 of $8 from this request would go directly to hiring more teachers.
It pays to help deaf, blind students
Economic studies show that the estimated return on investment in early childhood education and intervention services is $7 for every $1 invested (Economics Professor James J. Heckman, “The Heckman Equation,” National Institute for Early Childhood Education Research).
The return on investment is even higher for children who are deaf or blind:
- Substantially decreased need for costly and less effective interventions later in life.
- Reduced need for social welfare services.
- Lower criminal justice costs.
- Increased quality of life, economic well-being and self-sufficiency for deaf and blind individuals.
In the world of deaf education and blind education, in particular, reaching these kids early in life is paramount to their future livelihoods.
Program provides critical support to parents
In typical families, parents have an innate understanding of how to teach and best raise children before their school-age years. This is critical, as 90 percent of a child’s brain development occurs from birth to age 5. Unfortunately, most parents do not have an innate understanding of how to successfully teach a child who is born deaf or blind.
Early childhood intervention service providers, like the Early Childhood and Family Education Program, are needed to help teach both child and parents meet the learning and social growth of a child born deaf, blind or both.
A child born deaf cannot learn foundational language-acquisition skills through spoken language. The infant must either learn sign language, or receive hearing aids or cochlear implants to access and acquire listening and spoken language, or both.
Families must be taught how to communicate with their children using these methods and languages.
Help maximize life outcomes for these children
A child born blind must be taught how to interact with their environment, such as how to play and the concept of play. Most kids learn such behaviors through visual mimicry – do what you see Dad, Mom and sister do.
These examples only scratch the surface of what parents and their deaf, blind or deaf/blind infants must learn and learn quickly during their most critical developmental years – from birth to age 3.
Please join me in supporting the governor’s proposal to provide ASDB’s Early Childhood and Family Education program with the critical resources it needs to maximize life outcomes for infants and toddlers who are deaf, blind or deaf/blind.
Annette Reichman is the first deaf superintendent and first superintendent with vision limitations in ASDB’s 105-year history. Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind serves more than 2,000 children. Email her at Annette.reichman@asdb.az.gov. Twitter, @asdbazgov.