I was in a meeting yesterday and the question of sound localization and street crossing came into play. As you know, sound localization is not a luxury most folks with hearing loss don't have, at least the ones with pre-lingual, or congenial, hearing loss.
Basically what you have to rely on are your eyes. If you can't localize which direction a car is coming from by sound, you'll have to use your vision to see. You might have heard the adage before, "look three times before you cross the street-left, right, and back to the left." Well-look 10 times before you cross the street!
Happy Halloween! Please shoot me an email and share a paranormal story with me if you have one. I love to collect these stories!
Friday, October 30, 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Optional Hearing Aids?
I run into it almost daily-folks who don't wear hearing aids by choice. "I can hear fine without them," they say. While I do agree that wearing hearing aids is a choice that is left best to the user, I always recommend wearing them during all waking hours. Children in 8th grade or below should be made to wear hearing aids by parents. That is my personal and professional opinion. I get the argument all the time, "I don't need to wear them, I can hear fine without them."
Students might can hear fine without them, but they can hear much better with them in. How to argue with the "it makes no difference" claim-let me give a basic scenario...
Say I have a personal calendar on my desk...Leaving it on the desk makes it useless. Using it makes life better. How do I know this? I only figure it out after using it. Now take the same principle and apply it to hearing aids. The only difference is, you MUST wear aids during all waking hours for at least a few months in order to notice a difference. Trust me-they will make the difference over time, once you learn to listen with your hearing aids.
That is my professional opinion, and my personal fact.
Students might can hear fine without them, but they can hear much better with them in. How to argue with the "it makes no difference" claim-let me give a basic scenario...
Say I have a personal calendar on my desk...Leaving it on the desk makes it useless. Using it makes life better. How do I know this? I only figure it out after using it. Now take the same principle and apply it to hearing aids. The only difference is, you MUST wear aids during all waking hours for at least a few months in order to notice a difference. Trust me-they will make the difference over time, once you learn to listen with your hearing aids.
That is my professional opinion, and my personal fact.
Friday, October 16, 2015
New Hearing Aids and Children Who Get Them
I received an email from a fellow teacher of DHH from all the way up in Ontario, sharing with me how much of a help I have been. And this was just before I was set up to write another blog entry. If you read my blog, or refer to my website regularly, please shoot me an email at kkeasler@oconee.k12.sc.us. I thoroughly enjoy reading the emails! This way I hope to be a little bit better about posting on topics more frequently. Let me know if you have questions, too, and I can post the question and my answer.
Kids and new hearing aids-not much can get a teacher more excited than knowing students who desperately need aids will soon be getting them. I am excited myself because I know better than anyone the impact they will have on the quality of the kids's lives. I also know the difficulties that come along with them, especially if they are first timers. Aids are not like glasses, which immediately correct vision. To sum up-you can count on anywhere from a few months to a year before progress is seen IF AND ONLY IF the students wear their aids during all waking hours. I can absolutely tell you a positive difference will be noted when they get the aids, but progress only comes later, depending on how much students wear their hearing aids faithfully, and, if you know the stats, it's a shame aids are not utilized like they should be.
What to do when they get the aids:
1) Be diligent in making younger students wear hearing aids all waking hours.'
2) Be patient with them. You still have to face them directly and give them an unobstructed view of your face if they already rely on speech reading.
3) BE PATIENT and UNDERSTAND hearing aids will not immediately correct the hearing loss.
If you are a parent/educator/aid user reading this blog and would like additional support from me, shoot me an email.
Kids and new hearing aids-not much can get a teacher more excited than knowing students who desperately need aids will soon be getting them. I am excited myself because I know better than anyone the impact they will have on the quality of the kids's lives. I also know the difficulties that come along with them, especially if they are first timers. Aids are not like glasses, which immediately correct vision. To sum up-you can count on anywhere from a few months to a year before progress is seen IF AND ONLY IF the students wear their aids during all waking hours. I can absolutely tell you a positive difference will be noted when they get the aids, but progress only comes later, depending on how much students wear their hearing aids faithfully, and, if you know the stats, it's a shame aids are not utilized like they should be.
What to do when they get the aids:
1) Be diligent in making younger students wear hearing aids all waking hours.'
2) Be patient with them. You still have to face them directly and give them an unobstructed view of your face if they already rely on speech reading.
3) BE PATIENT and UNDERSTAND hearing aids will not immediately correct the hearing loss.
If you are a parent/educator/aid user reading this blog and would like additional support from me, shoot me an email.
Friday, October 9, 2015
Motherese
While brushing up on my DHH textbook reading, I came across a passage on Motherese. Do you know what it is? Guess!
It's the mother's natural communication with their babies and toddlers. Have you ever noticed a mother naturally speaks to their young ones with a higher tone and exaggerated stress and intonation?? In fact, have you noticed that most all mature women use that language when communicating with a baby or toddler regardless of their relationship.
I think it's one pretty awesome example of how God takes care of HIS children.
It's the mother's natural communication with their babies and toddlers. Have you ever noticed a mother naturally speaks to their young ones with a higher tone and exaggerated stress and intonation?? In fact, have you noticed that most all mature women use that language when communicating with a baby or toddler regardless of their relationship.
I think it's one pretty awesome example of how God takes care of HIS children.
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