Walking through the doors of our Early Childhood Center one feels as if they are entering the storybooks of Mother Goose, Walt Disney, and Sesame Street.  Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Dalmatian puppies, princesses, queens, bears, trolls, and dwarfs, to name a few, adorn the walls telling their stories.  The characters wear hearing aids and their hand shapes are in sign language.  A walk to the lunchroom, bus room, or gym is a stroll rich in language and vocabulary development.

Our children in the Preschool Program learn in a warm and caring atmosphere - one that is both nurturing and goal oriented.  Our program is staffed by certified teachers of the Deaf and serves children from three to five years of age. The program focuses on the development of the whole child. The curriculum includes a Montessori component, pre-academic and reading readiness skills, math, social studies, science, social skills, and practical life (self-help skills). The students also are exposed to the arts, literature and music. 

During the preschool years, children engage in the learning process and learn in different ways. Each child develops his/her own learning style. Our program enables each child to develop this unique learning style, and acquire the pre-academic skills necessary for learning success. These pre-academic skills include: Visual Memory, Visual Discrimination, Spatial Relations, Figure-Ground Discrimination, Visual Closure, Object Recognition, Visual Perception, and Whole/Part Recognition.

Our philosophy of Total Communication in instruction exposes our students to all aspects of learning through both the visual and auditory learning channels. The Speech and Language program includes: auditory training, speech reading, speech production, articulation, and communication skills.  Speech therapy is provided in both individual and group settings. The nursery school, through the KOALA KLUB, provides special programming to meet the needs of children with cochlear implants.

Our Preschool Program allows children to socialize and interact with Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing peers. The younger students have the opportunity to interact with the older students in the lunchroom and planned group activities.  This interaction provides the students exposure to age and level appropriate language models.  

Additional exposure to language modeling is provided by the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing staff members employed in the nursery and is a key component for language and communication skill development in the young child.

Parents are regularly informed of their child's progress and developmental milestones through the use of a communication book.  This book is a valuable source of information sharing between school and home.

The children end their stroll through our hallways armed with the skills that will enable them to be successful learners and prepared for the challenges of the Lower School.