Certified MOOG Center
Desert Voices is a Certified Moog Center Certified Moog Centers are private, not-for-profit schools that are committed to implementing the Moog Curriculum for teaching deaf children to talk. All teachers, staff and board members understand the underlying philosophy of the Moog Curriculum and are committed to implementing it to maximize student success.
In Certified Moog Centers, the goal is for children to become proficient enough in spoken language to use it as their means of communicating. Children talk all day long in all activities and are stimulated and encouraged by their teachers to do so.
The consortium of Certified Moog Centers works collaboratively to deliver and enrich the Moog Curriculum for teaching deaf children to talk, and plays a leadership role in oral education throughout the country.
We set a high standard of excellence in oral education nation-wide as demonstrated by the achievement of graduating students and alumni and the satisfaction of families of current students and alumni.
Other Certified Moog Centers:
Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center – Buffalo, NY
Child’s Voice –Wood Dale, IL
Colegio Las Lomas Oral – Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Moog Center for Deaf Education - St. Louis, MO
The Moog Center – Columbia - Columbia, MO
Northern Voices – Roseville, MN
Ohio Valley Voices - Cincinnati, OH
Presbyterian Ear Institute – Albuquerque, NM
Features of A Certified MOOG Center
- All board members, staff, families and teachers understand and believe in the Moog Curriculum and are committed to implementing it.
- The staff is committed to professional growth and collegiality.
- Teachers take responsibility for teaching every student.
- Students at Certified Moog Centers are deaf and hard-of-hearing, with no other identified
- educationally significant disability.
- Students demonstrate measurable progress toward specific objectives over their tenure at the
- school.
- Parents are partners in their child’s learning.
- Certified Moog Centers make every effort to accommodate children regardless of the family’s financial circumstances and to help families find sources for financial aid.
- An active Board of Trustees comprised of local community members, has legal and financial responsibility for the school.
Features of the MOOG Curriculum
- A focus on children talking and talking well.
The goal for children in Certified Moog Centers is for children to learn to talk well enough for talking to be their means of communicating. All instruction has, as its primary goal, improving the child’s ability to talk.
- A unique organizational structure that promotes individualization and learning to talk.
The schedule is designed for all spoken language and reading instruction to be in small groups of 2 or 3 so children have lots of opportunity to talk and teachers can truly individualize their teaching.
- Maximum access to sound through hearing aids and cochlear implants.
Teachers and parents carefully monitor hearing devices and ensure that they are in top working order. How well the child hears has an enormous impact on how well he talks.
- Objective-driven instruction
All instruction is designed to meet objectives set for each child in each area. Each child’s progress is evaluated regularly.
- A focus on reading and other academic subjects
When they are ready, children learn the subjects that all children learn in elementary school so that they will have the skills to compete academically with their age mates in the mainstream.