The document reports the major problems faced by school administrators in dealing with the handicap of hearing impairment in children, with the intent to stimulate improvements in methods of assessing the needs of this population and in systems of delivery of services. The first section on the problem of misunderstanding hearing impairment in children, covers the importance of language acquisition, severity of the language learning problem, differences in behavioral characteristics of hearing impaired children, and audiological terminology in relation to educational needs of children. Presented in the second section on identification services are statistical information on the magnitude of hearing impairment problems (including numbers and needs of the population by state) and descriptions of some current programs. The third section covers the problem of educational evaluation services and reports some model programs in evaluation and services as well as the role of the regional resource centers. Additional areas discussed are the training of needed personnel and the need for educational reform, with examples of regional programing and a description of the components necessary in a regional program. (IM)