Christian School For Deaf Children Expands To Offer More Grade Levels

Oklahoma's only Christian school for deaf and hard-of-hearing children is expanding.

Enrollment is now open for students in 1st through 3rd grade to attend Deaf Christian Academy at Happy Hands Education Center in the fall.   

Executive Director Jan Pride said Happy Hands has been empowering children who are deaf or hard of hearing as well as their families for 29 years. However, until now, its school has only served children from birth through Kindergarten.

Pride said more than 60 children are currently enrolled at Happy Hands, including deaf or hard-of-hearing students and children with deaf parents or siblings. The school teaches ASL and English reading and writing, with a focus on knowing and serving Christ.

She said after Kindergarten, the students would transition into public school or another deaf school, but many parents expressed interest in continuing their child's Christian education which is why they decided to launch Deaf Christian Academy at Happy Hands.

"We have some really good deaf education programs in the state of Oklahoma, but it is not enough," Pride continued saying, "It does not give parents some options that they are looking for, so we want to be able to provide that."

She said as far as they know, Happy Hands is the only deaf Christian school in the country. Pride said the program helps both hearing and deaf parents communicate and share their faith with their children.

"The deaf population worldwide is the second most unreached population for Christ, and we know that 90% or higher of children that are born deaf are born into hearing families, so immediately that family has a communication issue," said Pride. 

In its first year, Deaf Christian Academy will only be accepting deaf or hard-of-hearing students into the program but hope to expand that to family members in the future. Anyone interested in enrolling should contact Pride at jan@happyhands.org.

Pride said there are also scholarship opportunities available. For more information Click Here.

Happy Hands Education Center is located at 8801 S Garnett Rd. in Broken Arrow.