BOISE, Idaho — For Jody Hamilton, helping students with hearing loss means making sure they have more than access to the classroom. It also means giving them opportunities to learn, explore and build skills outside of it.
Hamilton is the October recipient of the Shine a Light Award, presented through a partnership between Idaho News 6 and Diamond Heating, Cooling, Plumbing, and Electric.
Watch to see how Jody Hamilton and the Idaho Association for the Deaf and Blind are making a difference.
Hamilton said her work reaches students with hearing loss across Idaho.
“Any student with hearing loss in the state is served by us one way or the other,” Hamilton said.
She visits schools to make sure students have the accommodations and access they need. She also works with teachers who may be welcoming a student with hearing loss into their classroom for the first time.
Part of that work includes Adventure Club, a program for second- through fifth-grade students at the School for the Deaf and the Blind. While people may associate the club with activities such as skiing, Hamilton said its purpose goes beyond recreation.
The activities give students a chance to develop skills they may not pick up incidentally through everyday conversations around them.
“All of it is about doing that with language access,” Hamilton said. “So we want to provide a language-rich environment so that they can thrive and they can have those opportunities, be exposed to different activities with that communication there as a part of it.”
Hamilton’s work supporting students and educators earned her recognition as October’s Shine a Light Award winner.
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