An Educator's Guide to Hearing Disabilities

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Approximately 5,000 children are born every year in the United States who will be found to have a significant hearing impairment. The hearing loss may be secondary to congenital or postnatally acquired conditions. Congenital hearing loss is attributed to a defect that the child is born with, either an inherited genetic defect or the result of a prenatally acquired condition. The important non-hereditary causes of congenital hearing loss include drug exposure, prenatal infections (TORCH) and erythroblastosis fetalis.

Three-quarters of childhood hearing impairment is postnatally acquired. Infections, drugs, hyperbilirubinemia, noise exposure, and trauma have all been implicated in contributing to postnatally acquired hearing loss. In addition to meningitis and sepsis, the important infectious diseases associated with postnatally acquired hearing loss include adenovirus, mumps, chicken pox, hepatitis, EBV, and influenza.

Although there is a broad spectrum in the area of hearing disabilities, great strides are continually taken to improve educational resources for students with hearing disabilities and the teachers that teach them. Legislation and government support for these resources shows both the need and the desire to accommodate those students needing accommodation in the classroom. However, there is still cause for concern. The Federal Department of Education reports: "The status of children with disabilities still falls short of our expectations for them":

• Twice as many children with disabilities drop out of school.
• Drop outs do not return to school, have difficulty finding jobs and often end up in the criminal justice system.
• Girls who drop out often become young unwed mothers-at a much higher rate than their nondisabled peers.
• Many children with disabilities are excluded from the curriculum and assessments used with their nondisabled classmates, limiting their possibilities of performing to higher standards of performance.

Given these statistics, it is important for educators to take advantage of the resources available to advance the education of these students, as provided under The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). For more information on IDEA, statistics and legislative updates, visit the IDEA Website.

There are a variety of assistive technologies available for those with hearing disabilities. "Assistive Technologies" according to the IDEA, are defined as any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of the child with a disability. This includes FM Systems, Sound Fields, closed captioning, TTY, visual fire alarms, and visual prompts on computer programs instead of audio.

In addition, the term "assistive technology service" means any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device. Such terms include evaluation of the needs of the child, purchasing, leasing, or otherwise providing for the acquisition of the device, selecting, fitting, designing, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, repairing, or replacing of devices training or technical assistance of the child, the family, and training of professionals, employers, or others providing services to the child.

There are many avenues for assistance for those with hearing disabilities. The following are a few possibilities out of many available. Although most information found on the web is pointed more towards parents and their children with hearing disabilities, they can still be useful and informative for educators.

Communication Options:

Auditory-Verbal International This organization works with the use of residual hearing, which is amplified with hearing aids, or cochlear implants, to teach children how to listen and talk.

Natural Communication, Inc. NCI endorses teaching and learning philosophies for children who are deaf or hard of hearing that maximize their potential to develop amplified hearing and spoken language.

Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing · Serves as an information and support center for pediatric hearing loss and the auditory approach, educate parents, professionals, and the general public about auditory approaches for children with a hearing loss, and assists parents and professionals to ensure that children with hearing loss receive a free and appropriate education that meets their communication and academic needs.

Gallaudet University Gallaudet is a publicly funded secondary school for the deaf and hard of hearing. There are many publications/information available from them on communication options, education, outreach, and support.

Harris Communications A large variety of assistive technology products, including ADA Compliance Products, Assistive Listening Devices, Books, Cochlear Implant Products, Computer Software/Hardware, Hearing Aid Products, Notification Systems, Speech Assistance, Telephone Products, Television Products, Text Telephones, Videotapes and Visual Alert Signalers

Other Considerations:

IEPs are an important part of the educational system for students with any disability, including those with hearing loss. For sample IEPs of students at different levels of education, visit IEP Ideas for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

Provisions of Special Interest to Teachers from the Department of Education regarding assessment, IEPs, and related issues.

General tips and guidelines for teachers with hearing disabled students:

The major challenge for the deaf student is communication. Speech reading (lip reading) is a partial solution but most speech readers can comprehend at best 60 percent of spoken English.

Many deaf and hearing impaired students use American Sign Language, assisted by an interpreter in the classroom. The interpreter is aware of public curiosity but is trained to help the class and the professor adapt easily to their presence. Interpreters who are certified by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf subscribe to a strict code of ethics that requires confidentially of private communications and honesty in interpretation or translation. In class, due to the time lag with interpreting, a deaf or hard of hearing student's contribution to the lecture or discussion may be slightly delayed.

Deaf students usually use notetakers because it is difficult to follow an interpreter or speech reader and take notes simultaneously. Some hearing impaired students may use audio amplifications such as hearing aids, public address systems, or a teacher/ student Transmitter/Receiver system to participate in class.

Helpful hints for those with hearing impaired students in class:

1. Speak naturally and clearly. Don't exaggerate.

2. Avoid standing in front of windows or other sources of light, since the glare obstructs vision.

3. Don't smoke, chew gum, or otherwise block the area around your mouth when speaking.

4. Avoid speaking with your back to the deaf person such as when using a chalkboard. Deaf or hearing-disabled students who read lips cannot follow the lecture or conversation when your back or head is turned. If you are writing on the board or narrating a desktop demonstration, try to avoid talking when facing the board or the desktop. Overhead and opaque projectors are often a good substitute and allow you to face the class while writing.

5. When using an interpreter, direct your conversation to the deaf individual. In talking to deaf or hearing-disabled students, acknowledge the interpreter's presence but look at and address the student.

6. Repeat questions or comments during discussions and indicate who is speaking (by motioning) to further assist understanding.

7. An advance copy of visual media (slides or videotaped materials) may be helpful since the alteration in classroom lighting may interfere with the deaf student's communication mode.

8. When new materials will be covered that involve technical terminology, supply a list of these words or terms in advance to the deaf 9. student for the interpreter.

9. Write on a chalk board important dates and information, to ensure understanding. Establish a system for getting messages to the deaf student and the interpreter outside of the classroom.

10.Emphasize new or technical vocabulary by presenting it visually (on the chalkboard, an overhead slide, or a handout) as well as orally.

11. Be aware of students' cassette recorders. Students who cannot take notes in class may routinely record lectures. For their benefit, speak clearly and position yourself close enough to the microphone. Explain what you are writing on the board or what you are demonstrating. Students with hearing disabilities may ask you to wear a lapel microphone, linked to a headset that amplifies your voice.

12.Arrange for classroom participation or an alternative activity. Students who are too uncomfortable to raise their hand to answer or ask questions may feel isolated or ignored in class. During your first private meeting with such a student, ask how he or she wishes to be recognized in the classroom. Some students will want to be called on; others may prefer to meet periodically with you before or after class to ask questions about course content.

13. Listen attentively when a student with a speech disability is speaking. Do not finish a student's sentences or interrupt. Never pretend to understand if you are having difficulty doing so. Instead, repeat what you have understood and allow the student to respond.

14. Give options for oral presentations, if needed. Oral presentations may pose difficulties for students who have speech disabilities. Students who wish to give their presentation without assistance should be encouraged to do so. But some students will want to give the presentation with the help of an interpreter, and others may want to write out their presentation and ask an interpreter or another student to read it to the class.

15. Ensure that students get the academic help they need to succeed in your class. Although a student may have an in-class aide (a note taker, sign- language interpreter, amanuensis), these aides are not academic tutors. Students with learning disabilities can often benefit from ongoing tutorial assistance .

16. Find out what technological aids your institution makes available for students with disabilities. For example, some campuses have talking calculators, speech-activated computers, Braille workstations, and reading machines for use by students who are blind or visually disabled. One university has even experimented with "stenocaptioning," a stenography machine hooked up to a computer for helping students with hearing disabilities read from the computer as the lecturer speaks.

17. If you assign films or videos, make sure they are close captioned. Check with your media center about the Captioned Films Program, which distributes captioned theatrical, short subject, documentary, and educational films.

Recommended Sites:

Itsy Bitsy Web: Who Will Teach My Child?

IDEA Website

No Child Left Behind

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

About: Deaf Children with Learning Disabilities

National Association of the Deaf

The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities

The Bobby R. Alford Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Communitive Sciences (March 1993). CONSIDERATIONS IN THE EVALUATION OF THE HEARING IMPAIRED CHILD. Retrieved July 28, 2002 from http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/oto/grand/31193.html

Instructional Resources Center. Teaching Resources Guide. Retrieved July 28, 2002 from http://www.irc.uci.edu/trg/159.html

Itsy Bitsy Webs (June 2002). Hearing Resources. Retrieved July 27, 2002 from http://www.ibwebs.com/hearing.htm

The Listen-Up Web. Educational Evaluation of Deaf Children. Retrieved July 25, 2002 from http://www.listen-up.org/rights/evals.htm

The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities Website. Retrieved July 27, 2002 from http://www.nichcy.org

OSERS IDEA '97: United States Department of Education (Sept 2001). Topic Brief 13: Provisions of Special Interest to Teachers. Retrieved July 26, 2002 from http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/Policy/IDEA/Brief-13.html

Tools for Teaching: Berkeley University (April 2002). Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities. Retrieved July 27, 2002, from http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/disabilities.htm

United States Department of Education Home Page. Retrieved July 20, 2002 from http://www.ed.gov/index.html

This page was completed as a course project for:

EPS 304
CTER Online
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Last updated:  08/05/02