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Children with impaired hearing listen with their eyes as well
as their ears. Therefore, assign such a child a seat no more than
5 or 10 feet from the teacher. They can speechread best from this
distance as well as make better use of their residual hearing.
Flexibility in seating arrangements, along with movable desks and
tables in group arrangements, enable a child to observe and actively
participate in classroom activities.
Ask them an occasional question related to the subject and to the
discussion to make certain they are following the discussion and
understand it.
Encourage them to ask to have statements repeated when they do
not understand what has been said. If they fail to understand what
has been repeated, rephrase the question or statement. Certain
words are not easily recognizable by speechreading. By using a
substitute word, the intended meaning can be more readily conveyed.
It is desirable to have them read ahead on a subject to be discussed
in class so they can be familiar with the vocabulary and thus more
easily follow and participate in the discussion.
Before discussing new material, it is extremely helpful to place
a list of words comprising the key vocabulary of the material on
the black board. Try to build the discussion around this key vocabulary.
To help them follow instructions accurately, assignments should
be written on the board so they can copy them in a notebook used
for this purpose. Give responsibility to a classmate who would
make certain that each child is acquainted with all assignments
made during the day.
Encourage active interest and participation in expressional activities
such as reading, conversation, story telling, and creative dramatics.
Reading is especially important, since information and knowledge
gained through reading help children compensate for what they may
miss because of the hearing deficit.
Teachers should remember that children with impaired hearing can
fatigue more readily than other children because of the continuous
strain resulting from efforts to keep up with and compete in classroom
activities. However, they should be expected to complete regular
classroom assignments.
As with other children who have sensory deficits, the child with
impaired hearing needs individual attention. The teacher should
be alert to every opportunity to provide individual help in order
to fill gaps resulting from the child's hearing deficit.
Visual aids help hearing impaired children by providing the association
necessary for learning new things.
Credit to : Audiology, Education and the Hearing Impaired Child
by Bess and McConnel.
Suggestions for Visual Communication
- The following suggestions should be kept in
mind so that the child with hearing impairments can see lips
and hand movements:
- Do not stand in front of windows while talking.
- Take a position
where the light falls on your face and not in the pupils eyes.
- Keep you hands away from your face while speaking so that your
speech and facial expressions may be more easily interpreted by
the child.
- Face the class while talking or explaining material that is
on the blackboard.
A- mustache on a mans upper lip makes speechreading difficult,
while light application of lipstick on a woman's lips aids in
this art.
- Remember that many words look alike on the lips
and many sound the same. Examples are "bye"" and "pie".
If the child appears confused by any such word, use it in a sentence
to give some clue concerning its identity and meaning. We must
realize that the child is handicapped by the speed of natural speech
and invisibility of many sounds.
- Look directly at the child and speak naturally,
not too slowly and not with excessive mouthing. Use natural gestures
when they
compliment, not substitute speech.
- When necessary "cue" the child into
the conversation with a written or spoken word or phrase so that
he/she does not
lose contact with the group.
Credit to: Audiology, Education,
and Hearing Impaired Child by Bess and McConnel
Teachers Kit for Hearing Aid Management
The following items are essential for proper hearing aid management
and should be available to the teacher at all times.
- Listening stethoscope for listening to hearing aids.
- A battery tester for checking batteries.
- Pipe cleaners for cleaning earmolds.
- An air blower for drying earmolds.
- Spare batteries (and cords and receivers if appropriate).
- Scissors and double sided adhesive tape (for example, tape)
for anchoring behind-the-ear hearing aids.
Helping Children with Personal Hearing Aids
- Children with individual aids should be expected to wear them
at all times unless there is a discharging or injured ear. The
aids may also need to be removed while on the playground or during
physical activity.
- The teacher must understand what the hearing aid can and can
not do for the child. The hearing aid only makes sounds louder.
Through the hearing aid, much like over the telephone, sounds seem "different".
The aid does not hear for the child nor does it correct defective
speech.
- The hearing aid has its limitations. Therefore, the wearer
should be close to the sound source. Allow them a position in the
room that enables them to derive maximum benefit from their hearing
aids.
- Be patient with the hearing aid. It has become "part of
the child", something that is frequently achieved only after
a long adjustment period.
- Make certain that children wearing aids have extra batteries
on hand in school. They should be allowed to leave the classroom
as soon as the aid fails in order to change the battery. Teachers
of very young children should acquire information to enable them
to change batteries, insert cords, and perform other minor services
to the hearing aid. A special skills teacher or audiologist can
provide this information.
- Accept children with hearing aids and help others to do so.
In this way we can help them overcome whatever feelings they may
have (based on an impression as being "different" from
other children) against accepting the hearing aid. This may be
accomplished by asking them to demonstrate the use of the aid to
their classmates early in the school year. They can point out how
the aid is turned on and off, how the volume and tone controls
are adjusted, the function of both the microphone and the receiver,
and how batteries are replaced. The hearing aid can be compared
to a radio. In class groups beyond the primary grades, such a demonstration
can be part of a science unit dealing with electronics. Participation
in the demonstration by hearing impaired children helps them achieve
status within the group.
- The teacher should understand the affect that background noise
in the classroom may have on the child wearing a hearing aid. Classroom
sounds such as pounding a desk, slamming a door or desk top, and
dropping books frequently startles a child wearing a hearing aid
and makes it difficult to concentrate on and interpret speech.
- Although children using hearing aids should know how to manage
them, they may not in some cases. If the hearing aid starts whistling
or squealing (due to feedback), a child may not hear it but it
will likely annoy others in the classroom. Feedback which results
from sound leaking from around the earmold and coming in contact
with a sound reflecting surface, can usually be corrected by adjusting
the earmold so that it is properly positioned and fits more firmly
in the ear or by turning down the volume control slightly. If these
fail, the parent and child should visit their audiologist to solve
the feedback problem.
- Parents with children using hearing aids should not hesitate
to call on an audiologist for needed service. If the child's hearing
seems poor or appears to be deteriorating with the use of the aid,
the parent should be encouraged to call on the dealer to have the
instrument checked. The audiologist will check for possible poor
contacts, dirty pins, weak microphones, broken cords, or weak batteries.
Credit to: Audiology, Education, and Hearing Impaired Child by
Bess and McConnel.
For more information, see the following hsdc.org articles:
Types of Hearing Loss in Children
Identifying Hearing Loss in Children
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