Advocating for Appropriate Educational Services & Supports

Dr. Thomas Horejes with Michelle Andros

IEP teams are tasked with determining the appropriate educational placements for students with disabilities. However, determining placements for students with hearing loss isn't always cut and dry! Even when data is available to help make informed recommendations, there are many outlying factors that contribute to placement determination. Creating placement opportunities which are “appropriate” and Least Restrictive can be a daunting task. Join Thomas Horejas, as he discusses the legal obligations for school districts, as placement decisions are made. Being able to articulate reasons for placement decisions based on the needs of a student with hearing loss is a critical part of Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing’s role as a professional.
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Course curriculum

    1. Advocating for Appropriate Educational Services & Supports

    2. Advocating for Appropriate Educational Services & Supports - Full Interview - 1 hour

    3. Quiz- Advocating for Appropriate Educational Services & Supports

    4. Course Evaluation - Advocating for Appropriate Educational Services

    5. ASHA-Directions on How to Use the ASHA Form

    6. ASHA Verification Form - Advocating for Appropriate Educational Services & Supports

    7. LSLS CEU Letter - Advocating for Appropriate Educational Services and Supports

    8. ISBE Evaluation Form

    9. ISBE Professional Development Hours

    10. Completion of Approved Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) Hour(s) Certificate

    11. RID Professional Development Hours

Learner Objectives

  • 1. Participants will be able to identify disability law that delineates and sets parameters for placement decisions.
  • 2. Participants will learn the differences between disability law and when the laws are applicable to students with a disability.
  • 3. Participants will develop skills to advocate for appropriate services and supports for their students depending on the type of support the local education agency provides to the student with hearing loss.

Meet your Instructor

Thomas Horejes

Thomas “Tommy” Horejes, Ph.D. has decades of academic and professional experience in legal policy & advocacy. His training in both the academic and professional canon is a multi/inter/trans disciplinary focus on law, advocacy, social justice & impact, policy studies, communication accessibility, and public administration. He takes great passion doing research & development on law, data, policy trends, education, consumer service, and innovation with the denominating factor in making a positive social impact to and for all. Academically, Dr. Horejes has 15+ years of teaching disability policy, law, and sociology in higher education, 13+ peer-reviewed published articles including (Re)conceptualizing Disability Policy Frameworks for the Journal of Policy Practice, and presented 70+ scholarly works on legal policy, accessibility, education, and justice studies for industry conferences, including the International Sociological Association and the American Educational Research Association. Professionally, he is current Director for Legal Compliance & Advocacy for Convo Communications and former Director of Policy & Advocacy for Telecommunications for the Deaf/HH (TDI) as a national leader in policy advocacy, education, and innovation to foster full accessibility, equity, and inclusion in Information and Communications Technology. Prior to TDI, Thomas was Associate Provost for Gallaudet University; and Executive Director of Deaf Empowerment Awareness Foundation (DEAF, Inc.), a non-profit organization dedicated to empower, raise Awareness, and bridge a sustainable Foundation of advocacy, communication and accessibility for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind, and the Hearing communities. He was also a former advocate for the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (GLAD), the largest deaf-run non-profit organization that provided legal advocacy and empowerment to deaf and hard of hearing consumers. Tommy currently serves on the Board for Deaf Youth Sports Foundation (dysf.org) and member of Maryland Department of Health’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Advisory Council. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri where he attended Central Institute for the Deaf (CID), he currently lives in rural Maryland with his wife and blended family of very active children. When he is not busy with legal policy advocacy work, he enjoys watching his kids play baseball, soccer, basketball, and volleyball along with road biking, cooking, and tending to his small farm and animals.

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