(a)

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 49-50-1008

  • signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) The Tennessee School for the Deaf, together with the West Tennessee School for the Deaf, shall maintain a deaf mentor and parent advisor program to assist families in implementing bilingual and bicultural home-based programming for young children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind.
(2) The program must be available at:

(A) The West Tennessee School for the Deaf in Jackson;
(B) The Tennessee School for the Deaf, Knoxville campus; and
(C) The Tennessee School for the Deaf, Nashville campus.
(3) The program must focus on:

(A) Preventing language deprivation or gaps through insufficient language access;
(B) Providing a positive impact on a child’s social and emotional development through a deaf role model and on a parent’s emotional journey of having a deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind child through a parent advisor; and
(C) Ensuring that children who are deaf have equal access to learning opportunities at home and in the community.
(4) The program must use a deaf mentor curriculum.
(5) The program must provide hearing parents of children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind with the option of using a deaf mentor to expose the parents’ children to American Sign Language and deaf culture and the option of using a parent advisor to expose the parents’ children to listening and spoken English strategies and accessibility, allowing the children to grow and learn in a bilingual and bicultural milieu of hearing and deaf cultures instead of limiting the children’s exposure to a signed or spoken English-only environment and the hearing culture of the children’s families.
(b) Deaf mentors and parent advisors shall:

(1) Make regular visits to the homes of young children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind;
(2) Interact with the children and their families using American Sign Language and spoken English;
(3) Demonstrate American Sign Language and listening and spoken English techniques to family members; and
(4) Help families understand and appreciate deafness and deaf culture, as well as support them in understanding how to provide accommodations and access to communication.
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