Deaf / Hard of Hearing Programs

Tacoma School District provides educational services and accommodations to children and families from birth through 21, in a variety of programs and settings.  Students in our program come from Tacoma as well as the surrounding area.  Many hard of hearing children attend their neighborhood schools and receive speech and audiology support services.

Tacoma School District also offers magnet program sites for students that need to access language visually.

These sites are located at:

Tacoma graduate Jason Cox talks about his favorite teacher Rudy Flores.​


We offer a range of instructional environments from fully visual to primarily auditory depending on student need.  Our "Total Communication" philosophy guides each team as they work with parents optimizing a variety of communication tools while developing skills that give each student communication fluency in interpersonal language and academic success.  

The students in this program follow the general education curriculum.  Learning focuses on all subject areas, i.e. math, reading, writing, science, social studies, history.  Teachers utilize current research based approaches and adhere to the Washington State Standards.  Students participate in all state mandated standardized testing.  

Children are educated in a range of environments that best meet individual needs from self-contained classrooms to mainstream settings with hearing peers with or without interpreter support.  Most students have some blend of educational settings.  The self-contained class offers all grade level subjects, as well as provides academic support for students who are mainstreamed.  Decisions regarding student placement includes input from parents/guardians and the deaf education team during the IEP meeting.  Each classroom has a certified teacher of the deaf and a para educator.  Members of our interpreting staff are all working toward certification or accreditation.  

Contact Us

Preschool & Child Find
253-571-2610

Elementary (Grades K-5)
253-571-1086

Secondary (Grades 6-12)
253-571-1224

Address
Tacoma Public Schools
Special Education Department
601 S. 8th Street
Tacoma, WA 98401

Meet Our Team

Deaf Students gather for annual gingerbread making

Birney student Mason's communication and learning ignited by the use of a Smart Table.