Student Life & Support Services

TLC Support Services includes speech-language services, occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), educational audiology, and library services.  Support services are provided through American Sign Language (ASL), written English, and/or spoken English. 

Support Services

Library

picture of library

Housed in the garden-level of the Early Childhood Center building, the Library serves all members of the TLC community. Students of all ages and from all programs, teachers, staff, and parents are welcome to use the library’s collection of books, DVDs, periodicals. Teachers are also encouraged to borrow materials from the Ben Hollingsworth Memorial STEAM Lending Library that are maintained in the library.

The mission of the library is to be an inviting place where all can come to enjoy stories and reading, as well as learn to find, evaluate and use information efficiently. All students in preschool through Elementary School attend weekly library sessions, and any class can also schedule additional time to work on special projects or use the library’s desktop computers. Students from our Secondary department as well as Walden School also use the library. A curtained-off storytelling area equipped with a white board is a popular feature of the library. It is used daily for storytelling, activities and instruction. Students are regularly introduced to new apps and other forms of educational technology as part of their weekly classes. New media resources related to literacy, ASL storytelling, Deaf culture and Deaf history are shared with students as well.

The library’s collection of materials is current and strives to reflect the diversity of our population of students, families and staff. Included in the collection is a significant number of books and media related to Deaf culture and history. Our catalog is fully automated and is available both on and off-campus via the internet.

We have access to a wide variety of Gale databases and online encyclopedias, made possible by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, the Massachusetts Library System, and state and federal Institute of Museum and Library funds.

Click here to start searching!

Nursing

TLC has two Nursing Offices located on campus designed to provide accessible care for pre-school, elementary, middle and high school students. Each office is staffed with Registered Nurses who work together under the leadership of the Health Services Director and in consultation with a pediatric physician and psychiatrist. Our Nurses take a positive, proactive approach in triaging health conditions.

Services include general assessments, medication management, coordination of critical care, preventive screenings and care for chronic conditions including asthma, diabetes and allergies.

School Clinical Team 

school counselor talking to a student.

The Marie Philip School Clinical Team provides proactive, comprehensive, and developmentally appropriate supports to address the emotional and social needs of the students. 

The MPS Clinical Team consists of School Counselors, Behavioral Analysts, School Psychologists, and a Clinical Social Worker. The team members empower all students to reach their maximum potential by promoting an environment to that encourages personal inquiry and growth, social responsibility, and academic excellence. The team believes that every student can succeed through the collaborative efforts of the school, home, and the community leading to responsible and productive citizenship in the 21st century.

Speech-Language Services

SLP teacher working with a student

Our certified and licensed Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) provide speech-language services in coordination with the student’s IEP team. This team includes the student, family, academic staff, ASL Specialists, school psychologists, educational audiologist, OT/PT, counselors, etc. SLPs address the individualized needs of students through 1:1 or group sessions for a variety of areas including:

  • Use of general communication strategies and communication breakdown repair strategies 
  • Receptive language (signed, written, and/or spoken) and expressive language (signed, written, and/or spoken)
  • Social language (pragmatics)
  • Aural habilitation 
  • Speech production and speechreading
  • Alternative-Augmentative Communication (AAC)

Educational Audiology

Student with cochlear implants watching teacher talking to him.

 Our educational audiology services are provided by a licensed audiologist who completes periodic audiologic evaluations for all students. Additionally, the educational audiologist provides comprehensive hearing aid and cochlear implant services as well as classroom recommendations and support as needed. The educational audiology program and the outpatient audiology program have received accreditation by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association.

Occupational and Physical Therapy

TLC student participating in Occupational Therapy

Our Occupational and Physical Therapists use a team-oriented approach to address limitations that prevent a student from accessing the school environment or from interacting with peers.  We accomplish this through individual, small group, classroom support and consultative services depending on the individual needs of the student. The OT/PT team works to improve each student's strength, balance, motor planning, visual perception, visual motor output, self-help skills, vestibular function, and sensory integration, in order to maximize gross and fine motor skills.  Our ultimate goal is to facilitate the students’ maximum potential within the school environment.

American Sign Language Services

Our highly qualified team of American Sign Language (ASL) Specialists provide targeted instruction for students who need more support than is already provided in their ASL classrooms.    Many of these students are new to learning ASL and need additional focused instruction.   Some of these students have also been identified as having additional language learning challenges.  ASL support is geared to the specific needs of the student as determined by the IEP team. 

This service can be provided in a one on one setting or in a small group. Areas addressed through ASL specialized instruction include the development of:

  • ASL foundational skills such as the formation of a sign including sign parameters (location, handshape, movement, palm orientation, non-manual markers).  
  • Functional and academic vocabulary
  • The use of classifiers
  • Pragmatic language skills
  • Age appropriate ASL grammar skills development.

Library

picture of library

Housed in the garden-level of the Early Childhood Center building, the Library serves all members of the TLC community. Students of all ages and from all programs, teachers, staff, and parents are welcome to use the library’s collection of books, DVDs, periodicals. Teachers are also encouraged to borrow materials from the Ben Hollingsworth Memorial STEAM Lending Library that are maintained in the library.

The mission of the library is to be an inviting place where all can come to enjoy stories and reading, as well as learn to find, evaluate and use information efficiently. All students in preschool through Elementary School attend weekly library sessions, and any class can also schedule additional time to work on special projects or use the library’s desktop computers. Students from our Secondary department as well as Walden School also use the library. A curtained-off storytelling area equipped with a white board is a popular feature of the library. It is used daily for storytelling, activities and instruction. Students are regularly introduced to new apps and other forms of educational technology as part of their weekly classes. New media resources related to literacy, ASL storytelling, Deaf culture and Deaf history are shared with students as well.

The library’s collection of materials is current and strives to reflect the diversity of our population of students, families and staff. Included in the collection is a significant number of books and media related to Deaf culture and history. Our catalog is fully automated and is available both on and off-campus via the internet.

We have access to a wide variety of Gale databases and online encyclopedias, made possible by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, the Massachusetts Library System, and state and federal Institute of Museum and Library funds.

Click here to start searching!

Nursing

TLC has two Nursing Offices located on campus designed to provide accessible care for pre-school, elementary, middle and high school students. Each office is staffed with Registered Nurses who work together under the leadership of the Health Services Director and in consultation with a pediatric physician and psychiatrist. Our Nurses take a positive, proactive approach in triaging health conditions.

Services include general assessments, medication management, coordination of critical care, preventive screenings and care for chronic conditions including asthma, diabetes and allergies.

School Clinical Team 

school counselor talking to a student.

The Marie Philip School Clinical Team provides proactive, comprehensive, and developmentally appropriate supports to address the emotional and social needs of the students. 

The MPS Clinical Team consists of School Counselors, Behavioral Analysts, School Psychologists, and a Clinical Social Worker. The team members empower all students to reach their maximum potential by promoting an environment to that encourages personal inquiry and growth, social responsibility, and academic excellence. The team believes that every student can succeed through the collaborative efforts of the school, home, and the community leading to responsible and productive citizenship in the 21st century.

Speech-Language Services

SLP teacher working with a student

Our certified and licensed Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) provide speech-language services in coordination with the student’s IEP team. This team includes the student, family, academic staff, ASL Specialists, school psychologists, educational audiologist, OT/PT, counselors, etc. SLPs address the individualized needs of students through 1:1 or group sessions for a variety of areas including:

  • Use of general communication strategies and communication breakdown repair strategies 
  • Receptive language (signed, written, and/or spoken) and expressive language (signed, written, and/or spoken)
  • Social language (pragmatics)
  • Aural habilitation 
  • Speech production and speechreading
  • Alternative-Augmentative Communication (AAC)

Educational Audiology

Student with cochlear implants watching teacher talking to him.

 Our educational audiology services are provided by a licensed audiologist who completes periodic audiologic evaluations for all students. Additionally, the educational audiologist provides comprehensive hearing aid and cochlear implant services as well as classroom recommendations and support as needed. The educational audiology program and the outpatient audiology program have received accreditation by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association.

Occupational and Physical Therapy

TLC student participating in Occupational Therapy

Our Occupational and Physical Therapists use a team-oriented approach to address limitations that prevent a student from accessing the school environment or from interacting with peers.  We accomplish this through individual, small group, classroom support and consultative services depending on the individual needs of the student. The OT/PT team works to improve each student's strength, balance, motor planning, visual perception, visual motor output, self-help skills, vestibular function, and sensory integration, in order to maximize gross and fine motor skills.  Our ultimate goal is to facilitate the students’ maximum potential within the school environment.

American Sign Language Services

Our highly qualified team of American Sign Language (ASL) Specialists provide targeted instruction for students who need more support than is already provided in their ASL classrooms.    Many of these students are new to learning ASL and need additional focused instruction.   Some of these students have also been identified as having additional language learning challenges.  ASL support is geared to the specific needs of the student as determined by the IEP team. 

This service can be provided in a one on one setting or in a small group. Areas addressed through ASL specialized instruction include the development of:

  • ASL foundational skills such as the formation of a sign including sign parameters (location, handshape, movement, palm orientation, non-manual markers).  
  • Functional and academic vocabulary
  • The use of classifiers
  • Pragmatic language skills
  • Age appropriate ASL grammar skills development.

Our Beliefs

  • All children are unique and should be treated with respect and dignity. 
  • Every student can succeed. 
  • Learning is a lifelong process. 
  • Fostering a positive self-image is the collaborative effort of the school, home, and community, which leads to responsible and productive citizenship. 
  • The diverse needs of all students are to be addressed through the school clinical team. 
  • Every student needs appropriate personal and social skills to achieve optimum benefits from the educational program. 
  • A comprehensive, developmental school clinical team is an integral part of the total education program. 
  • A developmentally appropriate school clinical team provides important benefits to individual students by addressing their intellectual, emotional, social, behavioral and psychological needs within the school setting.