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Home > Clarke Preschool > Northampton Preschool
Northampton Preschool
Welcomed by the big blue door at the Harriette Smith Short Center for Parents and Young Children, deaf and hard-of-hearing children, ages three to five, play and learn together in an integrated preschool setting with their hearing peers. In addition to group learning settings, each child receives individual attention from teachers and speech-language pathologists. Preschoolers also receive benefit from on-site pediatric audiological management.
 Clarke offers a supportive network of families and professionals with whom parents can share and learn. Parents are encouraged to visit weekly and to watch their children interact in the classroom. Support groups meet regularly to discuss topics of concern to parents. Home-school notebooks go home every day with the children, so that parents can stay in touch with teachers and specialists on a daily basis. A weekly newsletter keeps parents informed about the curriculum.
Through stimulating classes, children with hearing loss learn about themselves as they experience the ever-changing world around them along side children with and without hearing loss. Our curricula enhances children's listening, speech and language skills while fostering their social, emotional, cognitive, physical and creative development. Preschool teachers fuel children's minds with ideas and concepts through creative problem solving, discovery, exploration, reasoning and hands-on activities.
- Children come to our preschool five days a week to learn together in small class sizes.
- Classrooms are designed for the unique acoustical needs of children with hearing loss and feature wall-to-wall carpeting, acoustic ceiling tiles, wall coverings and ceiling mounted soundfield and FM systems.
- In addition to their classroom experiences, children have speech and language therapy each day provided by a speech-language pathologist.
- Thematic units include: math, pre-reading, writing, science, dramatic play, music and arts, fine/gross motor activities, and free choice. Theme-based vocabulary used throughout the children's school day, and carried into the home, provide an intense approach to acquiring and using new words. Specialized activities address the individual needs of every child and family.
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