Regina mother ‘thrilled’ about preschool for kids with hearing challenges
With specialized staff now hired, classes will begin within weeks
REGINA Melanie Hack has spent the past two months waiting and wondering when her three-yearold son Gideon might be able to attend preschool. Now she has an answer.
A pilot program offered by the Regina Public School Division — Children Communicating, Connecting and in Community — is scheduled to open within three weeks.
“Very, very excited to hear that they’ve got the staff and it’s moving ahead. We’re just thrilled,” said Hack. Classes are scheduled to begin on Dec. 3.
Gideon has hearing loss and various other challenges due to Sotos syndrome. The wait has been “frustrating for us for sure,” said Hack. “I’ve kind of been told ‘no’ everywhere we go and it was kind of our only option for him, and we just feel like his communication is delayed further every month that we have to wait.”
According to Regina Public Schools spokesman Terry Lazarou, the delays were related to hiring and facilities schedules, which are set in the spring. The division learned it would be running the program in July.
Further, this program requires staff with skills not typical to other programs.
The division required at least one staff member to be fluent in American Sign Language, while the lead educator would have early childhood training with a specialization in working with deaf and hard of hearing children.
Another new pilot-project preschool, offered by the Saskatchewan Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, opened in late September in Saskatoon.
Like Hack, Jessica Tiefenbach was awaiting the call for her threeyear-old son, Logan, to attend the preschool.
Logan’s older sister Emily has hearing loss.
“We want him to continue with his signing so that he can communicate with his sister,” said Tiefenbach, who also wants to support “a program that we need.”
Emily attended the previous communication preschool at Henry Janzen School, which the school board decided in April 2017 to close, due to budget shortfall and a lack of Ministry of Education funding.
The current preschool exists thanks to a provincial government pilot project, with funding from the federal government.
“The reality is, if they hadn’t shut down all the special needs preschools in the first place, we wouldn’t even be in this situation, right?” Hack said. “It’s frustrating when you see special-needs kids kind of get lost in the cracks and they’re the ones that need it the most.”
The older Gideon gets, the more frustrated he gets in his lack of communication ability, Hack said. She is optimistic that the new preschool will help her son.
“I think if he’s there four mornings a week, three hours at a time, that’s 12 hours a week where he’s with professionals and they’re observing him and they’re teaching him and they can give us some feedback as to what should we be doing with him at home,” said Hack.