The Madison High School (MHS) Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program serves students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) for the entire San Diego Unified School District. Additional students who are D/HH come from the neighboring Sweetwater Union, Coronado, and Poway Unified School Districts. Students can attend the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program until their 22nd birthday. The staff includes: six separate class D/HH teachers, and one D/HH itinerant teacher. Support staff include one D/HH Speech Language Pathologist, a Vocational Rehabilitation counselor, District (personal) counselors, an Audiologist, a Psychologist (one day a week), and six Signing (ASL) Instructional Aides who offer expertise in Special Education. Additionally, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) D/HH Interpreting and Transcribing departments are located at MHS.
The MHS D/HH Department offers educational curricula to fit the needs of all our students. We are a part of the larger Specialized Academic Instruction (SAI) Department at Madison High School. We offer four basic types of curricula, with any combination, to match the needs and abilities of our individual students. Students who are D/HH are mainstreamed in classes according to their goals and capabilities. We have students mainstreamed in the full range of general education classes, from electives to core academics to Advanced Placement (AP) classes. We have itinerant students who are mainstreamed for all their classes and receive consultation services from a site-based D/HH itinerant teacher. Some of these itinerant students take a separate Reading Development class to receive extra support. Students in these classes have the option of taking general education, co-teaching, applied or functional classes contingent on their Individualized Education Program (IEP) team recommendations. Students in general education are mainstreamed with an interpreter, transcriber and/or student note taking support, and a D/HH co-teacher, as specified by their IEP.
Elective and applied classes are taught by D/HH teachers in separate small group settings with instruction given in the students' mode of communication. Applied classes are taught in separate small group settings with an emphasis on Community Based Instruction (CBI), vocational and independent living skills. Functional classes are offered for students with D/HH special needs with a focus on academic, social and vocational skills. Students who are deaf or hard of hearing also participate in extra-curricular activities such as football, baseball, Link Crew, and much more, with the support of interpreters. The D/HH department sponsors Junior National Association of the Deaf (Jr. NAD) club and Deaf Academic Bowl (DAB) to give students opportunities to meet, compete and/or socialize with other students who are deaf. Students who are D/HH at Madison (as well as all students) benefit from American Sign Language (ASL) classes offered for world language credit on campus. Many MHS students are able to communicate with students who are deaf or hard of hearing using