Teacher for deaf and hard of hearing visits schools all across Yuma County

  Sylvia Ruiz-Montoya is also known as the teacher on wheels. Every day is unpredictable and there is no such thing as a typical day being an itinerant teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing, she said.

  Ruiz-Montoya, who works in the Yuma County area with the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind, is the link that connects families and schools with the deaf or hard of hearing individuals.

  "I want to help them be more successful and be less made fun of when they are in the classroom," said Ruiz-Montoya.

  Some of her responsibilities are making sure the students have their hearing aid equipment working properly, monitoring and helping with their language development and teaching them how to troubleshoot when they are facing problems with their hearing aid equipment.

  She visits up to 14 different schools in a week to check up on her students who are deaf or hard of hearing. They range in grades from kindergarten to high school. There are about 100 deaf and hard of hearing students that they work with.

  The statewide program offers a parent outreach program in which parents are taught sign language so they can communicate with their children. Ruiz-Montoya said that every newborn goes through a test to find out whether they are deaf or hard of hearing.

  "We know that early childhood intervention and infancy intervention is the best for our kids. The first three years of life are the most precious and if we don't intervene as soon as possible, so much is lost.

  "It scares me that there are so many (deaf or hard of hearing) babies out there that we don't know about," she added.

  Ruiz-Montoya encourages anyone who might need these services to contact the program at 317-0429.

  "We teach them (family members) sign language and if they want some signs printed and hung up around the house, we'll do that ... including the grandparents and the baby sitters, whoever wants to learn the language."

  Ruiz-Montoya said she knew she wanted to be a teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing when she was 5 years old.

  "Lucky me, my next-door neighbor was deaf. I didn't know sign language and she didn't know sign language. I just remember I was eager to learn because once she came home with a book of signs and I didn't know how to read it, so it encouraged me to learn."

  To Ruiz-Montoya, sign language is beautiful but can be hard to learn.

  "It's one of my favorite languages, it takes practice and perseverance. But the more languages you know, the more places you'll go."

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Stephanie Sanchez can be reached at ssanchez@yumasun.com or 539-6847.