Transcript 10 Things You Should Know about the Language/Communication Needs of Students with Hearing Loss Dr.

10 Things You Should Know about the
Language/Communication Needs of Students
with Hearing Loss
Dr. Susan Easterbrooks
Professor, GSU
Dr. Nanci Scheetz
Professor, VSU
Helen Keller, who was both deaf and blind, was once
asked which was her more challenging handicap. She
replied that deafness was a greater challenge because,
while blindness separated her from things, deafness
separated her from people.
The reason deafness separates someone from other is that
it is primarily a challenge of communication.
I. A hearing loss is a challenge to one’s
ability to communicate.
• Without the ability to communicate freely and easily, an individual
finds challenges in:
– Learning basic world knowledge
• (No Honey, that’s not a jumping dog. It’s a kangaroo!)
– Learning the social expectations of the world
• (Say “thank you” to the nice grocery store man.)
– Learning vocabulary
• (Put your shoes on. Turn on the light. Hold on.)
– Learning to read
• (Circle the one that sounds like “bear.” pear
– Taking part in classroom activities
shoe
best
II. The teacher’s job is to make sure that the
student has communication access.
• There are 3 ways a child with a hearing loss can have
access to classroom information if he or she has limited
communication skills.
– Provide the information through use of an interpreter who
can put the information in the child’s language.
– Provide the information in a visual manner that makes the
concepts obvious.
– Provide an accessible form of communication himself or
herself.
III. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is very
clear about what teachers have to do regarding
communication access.
• IDEA - Section 300.46(a)(2)(iv)
The IEP (Individual Education Program) Team shall consider the
communication needs of the child, and in the case of a child who
is deaf or hard of hearing, consider the child’s language and
communication needs, opportunities for direct
communications with peers and professional personnel in
the child’s language and communication mode, academic
level, and full range of needs, including opportunities for direct
instruction in the child’s language and communication
mode.
• This means that the team must know what the child’s
communication mode, language, and academic level
are.
• Mode refers to language in visual form or spoken form.
• Language refers to the language of the school, the
language of the home, and/or American Sign Language.
• Academic level refers to the difference between Basic
Interpersonal Communication Skills and CognitiveAcademic Language Proficiency.
IV. Language may be imparted via two modes:
visual and spoken.
• We can represent English in spoken form
– “The Three Bears”
• We can also represent English in visual
form.
Source: www.lifeprint.com
www.masterstech-home.com
V. We are dealing with two or more languages
when working with a child who is deaf.
• The language of the school
– In the U.S. and Canada, this is usually English
• American Sign Language
– This is a unique language that is very different from
English in its grammatical structure
• The language of the home
– Any of the spoken or signed languages of the world
– OR
– Home signs
• Understanding which language the child needs
(English or ASL) in which mode (spoken or
visual) will help you determine if you need an
interpreter in your classroom.
• This will allow you to “provide the information
through use of an interpreter who can put the
information in the child’s language.”
VI. The demands of academic level language are
much greater than the demands for
interpersonal/social language.
• “Hey man, how’s it going” is a whole lot easier to learn
and understand than “Summarize and then critique the
first five elements of Hiram’s postulations.”
• It takes only a couple of years to learn Basic
Interpersonal Communication Skills. Many children with
hearing loss are severely lacking in Cognitive-Academic
Language Proficiency.
• What does this mean for the teacher who has a child with a hearing
loss in his or her classroom?
•
Source http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/
•
support/cummin.htm
It means that until the student has age- and
placement-appropriate language, the
teacher must provide cognitively
undemanding tasks OR context-embedded
tasks if she or he expects the child to master
the information. A student whose language
Skills are at the BICS level cannot process
cognitively demanding, decontextualized
Information easily. This will allow you to
“Provide an accessible form of
communication yourself.”
VII. When an interpreter is not appropriate, and when you
are unable to communicate in the child’s mode, language, or
level yourself, then you must provide the information in a
visual manner that makes the concepts obvious.
There are many ways to enhance your
communication so that information is
comprehensible to the student.
VIII. Demonstrate as much as possible.
• When giving oral directions, demonstrate what you are
asking the student to do. DHH children often miss the
key points of oral directions.
– Provide actual examples of what the end product of an activity
would look like.
– Work through an example with the student.
• When teaching, use experiments, demonstrations, and
simulations, or role play to explain information.
– Use science experiments where possible.
– Act out events in history
IX. Use visual organizers to help show the
relationships among concepts.
Examples of organizers include but are not limited to:
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Cell charts
Thematic maps
Decision trees
Human interaction
outlines
– Hierarchical or sorting
trees
– Telescoping circles
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Venn diagrams
Compare contrast maps
Concept maps
Feedback loops
Bubble maps
Brace maps
Flow charts
X. Take all aspects of communication into
consideration in the classroom.
•
Be sure to signal topic changes. Deaf students often lose what you are
saying when you change the subject or move on to a tangential subject.
•
Provide a listing of all key concepts.
•
Work with the teacher of the deaf to understand the individual student’s
communication challenges and needs.
•
Work with the teacher to implement testing accommodations identified in the
student’s IEP.
•
Preteach key vocabulary, and agree upon signs for words that have no
signs.
•
Make sure the student learns reading comprehension strategies to apply to
the textbook in your class.
•
Reword, rephrase, or paraphrase what you have said when the student
appears lost.
•
Provide a notetaker.
•
Remember that it is hard for the student who has communication challenges
to keep up with everything going on in the classroom. Alternate tasks to give
the student a break from having to focus so intently.
•
These are just a few. Work with the teacher of the deaf to develop a list of
additional considerations tailored specifically to the student in your class.
References and Resources
• Bullard, C.(2003). The itinerant teacher’s handbook.
Hillsboro, OR: Butte Publications, Inc.
• Easterbrooks, S., & Baker, S. (2004). Language learning
in children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Boston:
Allyn & Bacon.
• Luetke-Stahlman, B. (1999). Language across the
curriculum: When students are deaf and hard of hearing.
Hillsboro, OR: Butte Publications, Inc.