Formerly it was a state-supported school located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that provided services to meet the educational needs of children who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or have cochlear implants.

This combined with the prevailing attitude of the Regents towards deafness led to the establishment of the current auditory / oral (cochlear implant) program and later, the transfer of both this and the original sign language-based program to neighboring school districts, leading to the closure of the main campus in 2011.

The campus was sold, the remaining functions (administration and outreach) relocated to a building in a commercial area adjacent to a strip joint.

Shelly Conlon of The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls stated that the decline and closure of SDSD and the placement of the burden on local school districts to educate deaf children reflected a negligence of deaf children from South Dakota state legislators.

[3] Disability Rights Services South Dakota legal director John Hamilton stated that the closure of dormitories caused the school to go into decline as students in many parts of the state could no longer attend the school.