The Orange County Department of Education's Regional Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program for students in grades six though 12 is held at the campuses of Venado Middle School and University High School both in Irvine. This program utilizes the resources, specialized staff and equipment of all 27 of the county's school districts. Students spend time in special day class with other deaf and hard-of-hearing students and in general education classes. The program provides a variety of services, including speech and language therapy, audiological services, adapted physical education services and health services. Sign language interpreters facilitate communication in both academic and nonacademic classes.
Certified by the California Department of Education, the Speech and Language Development Center was founded in 1955 and is a nonprofit school and therapy center located in Buena Park. Serving special-needs students ages 6 months to 21 years of age in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties, the SLDC offers an array of services to the general public and private clients. All services are provided on campus, where students may attend school full time or take advantage of therapy services. Services include speech and language evaluation, speech and language therapy, augmentative and alternative communication evaluation and physical therapy.
Orange County's Regionalized Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program for children from age 3 through the sixth grade is held on the campus of Los Alamitos Elementary School. The program's methods of teaching communication include the development of listening skills, lipreading, receptive language skills and speech. The curriculum largely follows that of the Los Alamitos School District, although the reading program is different. The program's specialized staff includes a full-time speech therapist, a part-time audiologist and six aides.
Taft Elementary School, which is part of the Santa Ana Unified School District, has an on-site regionalized program for deaf and hard-of-hearing students from birth to sixth grade. The program serves the needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in eight school districts in Orange County, including Capistrano Unified, Garden Grove Unified, Irvine Unified, Newport Mesa Unified, Orange, Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified, Saddleback Unified and Tustin Unified. The program has two components, one for students who use sign language and an one that employs spoken language.