AEHI, Alternatives in Education for the Hearing Impaired, fosters literacy and empowers people with hearing loss to achieve their full potential through unique educational options. AEHI’s primary goals are to ensure that parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing are fully aware of all the issues and options in making educated choices regarding the mode of communication and educational settings appropriate for their children; to foster parent’s rights to choose and children’s access to programs using Cued Speech; to explore and develop other promising innovations leading to improved literacy for children who are deaf; to ensure that educators in the Chicago, Illinois area and the Midwest learn and utilize successful approaches and techniques to improve literacy rates for all children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
We want to help deaf and hard-of-hearing children achieve their full potential. In order to do this, it’s critical to master both the spoken and written English language, in order that these children have equal access to the same opportunities as their hearing peers. No child should be left behind, yet, many children ARE left behind because parents and professionals are not aware of all of their available educational options.