Section 49-50-1008 - Deaf mentor and parent advisor program(a)(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.Amended by 2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 327, s 1, eff. 7/1/2023.