3 Essential Questions for Students with Hearing Loss to Ask Themselves

Here is a short reference guide I made. Feel free to use it with your students and/or teachers. You may also email me with additional questions.

3 Essential questions for students with hearing loss to ask 

1) What can I do to better my learning in the classroom?

-Study

-Pay attention to the teacher

-Take advantage of extra help offered by the teacher

-Complete all assignments

2) How can I ensure that I am getting the best education I can get in the classroom?

-What are my IEP/504 accommodations?

-Where is the best place for me to sit in the classroom?

-Is there a responsible student in the classroom with whom I can pair myself with?

3) What does my teacher need to know about me?

                -IEP/504 accommodations

                -best seating placement

                -best strategies for teaching students with hearing loss

Including DHH Children in Classroom Discussions

I had a teacher ask me what could be done to better include the student with hearing loss into the classroom discussions. After observing the classroom I was able to give a good answer with very little modifications needed to be made...

The class sat on a large square rug during the lesson. The students were sitting in rows, and it was difficult for the DHH student to participate in classroom discussion because she sat in the front row and could not understand the students speaking behind her. Maybe you've experienced that in with your DHH students in your own classroom discussions. Fortunately, there is a simple fix.
I let the teacher know the students should sit outside the rug along the perimeter. The student will have an unobstructed view of each student's face. The teacher can sit beside her and facilitate the discussion in near proximity to the student. It's important that the student has enough time in order to search out the speaker before he/she begins speaking. I let the teacher know it can easily be fixed with a beach ball. The teacher can toss the beach ball to a student and have the student wait 3 seconds before speaking.

Doing the above will include the student in discussions. The teacher can even take it further by repeating every question then answering it, ensuring the student's comprehension of what is said.

*Have students sit in a circle, semi-circle, or square/rectangle fashion...Just make sure each student has an unobstructed view of every other student.
*Institute a 3 second waiting period before students can speak.
*Require all students to raise their hand, or initiate their desire to speak, with a visual cue.

There's always more you can do, and many ways you can adapt your classroom to be conducive to the learning of DHH students! For more info, contact me at kkeasler@oconee.k12.sc.us

Frozen and Hearing Loss

Received a copy of Hearing Our Way magazine for kids and teens with hearing loss. Click here to check out their website, get your own copy, and see how they compare Frozen with hearing loss. Great read!

Hearing Loss and Misbehavior

How does misbehavior and HL connect? HL does not directly cause behavior problems, but "behavior problems" could manifest as a symptom of HL. I hope that makes sense. Allow me to explain...

Say a child demonstrates misbehavior in the classroom and he also has a HL. Does this mean his HL is causing him to misbehave? First, we must define misbehave...Is it punching another kid? Is it not paying attention to the teacher???

Punching another kid=not caused by HL at all! He made his own choice.

Not paying attention=could be seen as a behavior problem and could be contributed to HL
 
If a student seems to be inattentive in the classroom, make sure he knows what is going on around him. A lot of noises at once can be very distracting to a student, especially if he doesn't know what sounds he is hearing and he wears hearing aids.

If this is a problem in your classroom, constantly monitor the student and check for understanding. That will eliminate most of the problem.

Hope this helps and makes sense to you! 

Why do I still have to repeat myself even when I'm looking straight at him!?

Why do I still have to repeat myself even when I'm looking straight at him!?

Great question! Simple answer-

If you begin speaking to a child with hearing loss before you have his/her full attention, then the child will not get everything you said. Even if you only say 3 words before you get full attention, those three words snowball into an entire missed sentence. Case in point...


If you are standing beside a student or anywhere that is not directly in front of the student and begin speaking, the student will turn to face you and listen to you. In that time it takes for a student to turn his/her head, depending on how fast you talk, you can have said a dozen words by the time the student looks you straight in the face. When you do that, most likely you'll have to repeat yourself. I say all this because most repetitions can be avoided with one simple action-wait until you have complete attention of student before speaking.