Gateway School, Baltimore

Clear and effective communication is a necessity; there is a compelling need to understand and to be understood. HASA supports and facilitates individual choice in how to communicate. Our audiology, education, interpreting and speech-language services enable effective communication for individuals and families. Gateway School's other preschool program is for children with communication disorders that include speech and language delays, developmental delays, autism, and other conditions that may include hearing loss. Like all Gateway School programs, classes for your child are small, with a low student-teacher ratio of 3:1 or less. Our preschool students often face challenges of multiple and sometimes medically complicated conditions, but our teachers make their preschool experience nurturing and educational. They provide your child with the attention he or she needs. Our kindergarten and elementary classes emphasize strengthening your child's language skills that support academic skills, social development, and personal independence. Specialized instructional strategies are used to develop reading, spelling, written language, and mathematics skills. Instruction in the areas of science and social studies is hands-on, multi-sensory, and emphasizes the development of language concepts. Instruction in social skills and adaptive/life skills is an important part of your child's educational program and is integrated throughout the school day. Children who develop spoken language have the option to participate fully in the mainstream community. “Oral children” (children who are deaf or who have severe to profound hearing loss but can understand and use spoken language) can successfully learn to read and write through conventional methods. Children in Gateway’s Listening and Spoken Language Preschool receive comprehensive audiological management on-site. Teachers and professionals collaborate to meet the individual needs of every child and staff are experts in deafness, technology, acoustics, and speech and language development. We have created an environment that nurtures self-esteem, independence, creativity, and problem solving, as the children develop listening and speech skills. Spoken English is the only language used by children at “Little Ears, Big Voices.” Our rigorous academics, which follow the Maryland State Curriculum, prepare children for mainstream kindergartens/elementary schools. Must have a referral from a outside professional, or local school system.