The Troup County School System - Exceptional Education Department provides hearing evaluations for students whose IEP teams have determined this is needed for diagnostic or IEP planning purposes and for FAPE. The following steps should be followed by IEP teams in order to access these services.
New Evaluations For all new referrals, an IEP meeting must be held to recommend a student for an audiological evaluation.
Permission must be obtained from the parent or guardian for the initial audiological evaluation.
Results of any previous hearing screenings or tests should be attached to the referral form and permission form. Please send the entire packet to Kellie Jeffries at EEC.
Kellie will schedule the evaluation with our audiologist, who will come to the school to perform the assessment. The case manager will be informed of the date of the evaluation.
Once the audiological evaluation has been completed the case manager will receive a report that summarizes the findings. A copy of the report will also be sent to the parents.
The IEP team should meet with the parent to review the results of the audiological evaluation. It is acceptable to conduct this meeting via telephone, with the parent’s permission. At the meeting, the audiologist’s findings and recommendations must be used to determine accommodations/modifications/A.T. as needed.
If additional audiological services are recommended in the report (including annual evaluation), address this service on the IEP. If the audiologist recommended a personal listening device, please contact Cacky McKenzie via email.
**New referrals should be made for Exceptional Education students who have failed at least two hearing tests and are being reevaluated for services. If the contact person believes there are other reasons that an audiological evaluation is needed, he/she should contact the coordinator of audiological services, Laura Nichols, to discuss these concerns prior to holding an IEP meeting.
Annual Audiological Evaluationsmust be documented in the IEP under “Related Services”. At the beginning of each school year the coordinator of audiological services will obtain the names of the students for whom you are the contact, who require annual audiological evaluations. It is your responsibility to assure that this is communicated with the coordinator so that the evaluation may be scheduled during the school year. Since the parent participates in the development of the IEP and is aware of the contents of the IEP, and as long as the annual audiological is documented on the IEP, parent permission is considered to be received. In this case, Alfreda will schedule the annual audiologicals at each school and school personnel/parents will be informed as of the pending dates.
If you have questions about Audiological services please contact Jessica Morman at EEC (706) 812-7939.