It's a new day of one of our young students. This student just received the Oticon Amigo Arc (OAA) system, and what a difference it has already made! The teacher and student began wearing the system this morning and the teacher already notes an improvement in the student's listening and following directions. It would be wonderful if all students with hearing loss had access to a personal FM system all day. The OAA helps by taking the voice of the person wearing the microphone right to the student using it. While we can expect improvement to take some time, we can expect a difference to be noticed right away. Two questions I wanted to address...
Why can it take time to see improvement? Doesn't the OAA fix the hearing loss? It does NOT fix it, and it takes a while to see improvement because it takes a length of time for a user to re-learn how to listen. I could type on and on about personal FM systems, but I'll keep it brief and let you know you can ask me any questions about the educational benefits of using the OAA or any other personal FM system by emailing me at kkeasler@oconee.k12.sc.us.
If you get a chance to own an OAA system, you won't be disappointed! Click here to check out Oticon products.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
MAP testing and DHH
I just received a report today from a general education teacher that her student received a score of 152 for her math MAP (Measures of Academic Performance) test this week, up from 115 in the fall. She just began receiving speech and DHH services this school year and her IEP team made an accommodation to allow her teacher to read the test to her.
If you are involved in the testing world, you may get the gist that "oral administration" is not a good accommodation for any test. You can't do it for reading because you are measuring reading ability. Anyway-when a student with hearing loss receives oral administration accommodations-they should not be given headphones and expected to listen to the computer speech. All students are individual, and some are okay to receive headphones, but most are not. Students with HL need a face so they can read the lips and listen to the voice at the same time-this is the best setting for them. This does not give them an advantage over other students, this simply levels the playing field.
If you are involved in the testing world, you may get the gist that "oral administration" is not a good accommodation for any test. You can't do it for reading because you are measuring reading ability. Anyway-when a student with hearing loss receives oral administration accommodations-they should not be given headphones and expected to listen to the computer speech. All students are individual, and some are okay to receive headphones, but most are not. Students with HL need a face so they can read the lips and listen to the voice at the same time-this is the best setting for them. This does not give them an advantage over other students, this simply levels the playing field.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
Conversations and DHH
A big con to being DHH is not being able to fully participate in conversations. That really stinks when you figure up the total percentage of your day you spend in a conversation with someone or a group of people. I'm talking about the good ol' fashioned oral conversations...Texting, FaceBook, none of that stuff counts.
It's my own personal and professional opinion that students with HL simply not knowing how to listen is a huge barrier to having conversations with folks when you consider that part of "knowing how to listen" includes self-advocacy. If you don't understand what is said, ask for a repetition until you do know what is said. Tell folks to look at you directly and keep their facial view unobstructed. Tell them they must get your full attention before speaking.
It's my own personal and professional opinion that students with HL simply not knowing how to listen is a huge barrier to having conversations with folks when you consider that part of "knowing how to listen" includes self-advocacy. If you don't understand what is said, ask for a repetition until you do know what is said. Tell folks to look at you directly and keep their facial view unobstructed. Tell them they must get your full attention before speaking.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Why DHH is different from any other disability category
I had this question asked recently. It's a good question, too. If you are familiar with working with DHH students, you'll know each student is totally different from the next one; no two are alike in any way...like fingerprints. Consider DHH and Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD). A student might be diagnosed with a SLD in math, English, or writing whereas a student may be diagnosed as DHH in a multitude of ways. This is what sets DHH apart from any other disability category. Here are some ways a student can be identified as DHH:
*Bilateral sloping mild to profound
*Unilateral rising moderate to mild
*Bilateral sensorineural moderate to severe
*Bilateral mixed hearing loss
*Bilaterally profound
There are quite literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different ways a child can be diagnosed as DHH. I've included a link to a speech banana. You can access it by clicking here. You'll see the dB and Hz headings. Each one can combine to form a different diagnosis of a hearing loss.
I've attached another link you access by clicking here. You'll see the challenges each of the listed hearing losses bring with them in the classroom.
Check the links out. They'll help you understand your DHH kids better. You'll have a deeper understanding of the struggles they face in the classroom.
As always, contact me if you have any more questions or want more info about DHH.
*Bilateral sloping mild to profound
*Unilateral rising moderate to mild
*Bilateral sensorineural moderate to severe
*Bilateral mixed hearing loss
*Bilaterally profound
There are quite literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different ways a child can be diagnosed as DHH. I've included a link to a speech banana. You can access it by clicking here. You'll see the dB and Hz headings. Each one can combine to form a different diagnosis of a hearing loss.
I've attached another link you access by clicking here. You'll see the challenges each of the listed hearing losses bring with them in the classroom.
Check the links out. They'll help you understand your DHH kids better. You'll have a deeper understanding of the struggles they face in the classroom.
As always, contact me if you have any more questions or want more info about DHH.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Seating Placement for a Student with Hearing Aids
I've probably written this before, but avoid seating a student with hearing aids next to the classroom door, HVAC unit, pencil sharpener. Hearing aids amplify all sounds! This means, while you are teaching, the student likely won't hear you due to these extra noises that won't be as obvious to hearing folks. Us DHH folks can't tune out background noise.
Monday, April 6, 2015
Getting Tired Easy
DHH Tip-When delivering verbal instruction, always back it up with visuals, and remember that students with hearing loss always tire more easily than hearing peers when attending to the instruction. Imagine attending a conference and the keynote speaker speaks with a very low tone or unintelligible speech (both volume and clarity difficulties apply to folks with hearing loss). You would get tired from straining to listen, too.
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