When you hear the word “deaf”, you may immediately think of someone who uses sign language; however, many students with hearing loss communicate by listening, speaking, speechreading and using residual hearing or technology — either hearing aids or a cochlear implant.
- In order for a child to have a successful mainstream experience, the whole school – from the principal and gym teacher to the bus drivers, cafeteria workers and students – needs to be involved. The entire staff should be well informed of the child’s needs even though they may interact only on a limited basis. It is vital that the staff promote an atmosphere of encouragement, acceptance and respect in which all students can thrive.
- If your school has not had a student with hearing loss before, contact other schools that have students with hearing loss in order to learn from their experiences. A teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing can help you modify classroom materials and assist in planning lessons.
- If you have not had a child with hearing loss in your classroom, it is vital for the school system to provide you with in-service training on the special needs your student may have before school begins. Through involvement with key professionals, you should know the student’s degree of hearing loss and its implication and effect on the child’s language, speech and general academic ability.
- Hearing aids and cochlear implants amplify all sounds, including background noise. Therefore, noises such as heating and ventilation clicks and whirs, moving furniture, chairs scraping against tile, shuffling feet and noise “bleed” from busy roads outside should be eliminated or reduced as much as possible. Minimizing noise in the classroom can be accomplished by making relatively minor acoustical modifications, such as:
- Putting pads on chair, table and desk legs to reduce noise
- Installing carpeting in the classroom
- Installing double-paned windows
- Installing the highest-rated acoustical ceiling tile
- Ensuring that heating/ventilation systems are operating properly
- Avoiding noisy elements, such as fish tank filters or noisy classroom pets.
- Outline the day’s work on the blackboard.
Students with hearing loss should be offered a wide variety of support services, including but not limited to: a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing, an oral interpreter, captioning, tutoring, speech therapy and/or notetakers. Decisions about services will have taken place in your student’s IEP discussion and should be clearly communicated to you.
Create an atmosphere conducive to mainstreaming by working together with speech-language pathologists, educational psychologists, resource teachers and parents to create a practical system of classroom organization and management. Ideas to consider include developing a lesson on hearing loss to educate and prepare students and establishing a “secret signal” the child with hearing loss can use to indicate he or she does not understand something you’ve said.
Before the student starts school, try to meet and work with him or her a few times in order to identify social and academic strengths and weaknesses. This will also give you an opportunity to get comfortable with one another.
Additionally, good lighting is essential for speechreading. Natural light is best. Stand where light is good but not too strong.
The student should be seated near the front and side of the classroom so that s/he can easily see you, but also see the other students.
Encourage the student to discreetly relocate to a better listening/speechreading location when necessary.
All students should speak one at a time and wait to be called upon. It’s helpful for the teacher to point to the child who is about to speak, allowing the student with hearing loss to make visual contact.
Organize seating in a semi-circle works if the class is small. If the class is mostly lecture, arrange for your student to sit close to the place where you are located. If there is a lot of group discussion, the student should be seated in the middle.
Work hard to avoid speaking while you’re writing on the blackboard. Students with hearing loss can’t read your lips with your back turned!
Most critically, be prepared to partner closely with the student’s parents. |