Understanding Sensory Disability - Hearing Impairment Part - 3 Teaching Strategies

 

              Understanding Sensory Disability – Hearing Impairment Part - 3 

                                           Teaching Strategies to be followed

              Deafness impacts language learning which in turn restricts the interactions with others. Children born with profound hearing loss like other typical normal hearing children observe and try to imitate adults for language acquisition.  However, this process  remains a challenge as majority of children with hearing impairment who are born to hearing parents who use oral language and children with hearing impairment finds it harder to imitate it.

              According to Kapp (1991) – ‘deafness’ involves not only the loss or impairment of  hearing but the loss or limitation of the ability to acquire language and speech naturally or spontaneously which is the major source of learning.

         According to WHO (2020) 'Hard of hearing' refers to people with hearing loss ranging from mild to severe. People who are hard of hearing usually communicate through spoken language. They can benefit from hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other assistive devices as well as captioning. There are a number of strategies which can be used by teaching staff / teachers which will help enormously. The simple tactics are outlined below -

Teaching Strategies / Educational strategies

   To effectively meet the communication needs of the children with hearing impairment following educational strategies needs to be incorporated:

1.                      Lip reading:

       •  It is one of the strategies used with individuals with hearing Impairment.

    • It requires great concentration, clear speech and contextual clues that are very important for understanding   communication.

2.                    Speech:

•         Speak clearly and at a reasonable pace.

•         Try to keep the rhythm of speech as natural as possible.

•         Break information into small steps while instructing on new tasks.

3.                  Visibility:

• To make lip reading of the teacher easy and visible, the children with hearing impairment needs to be able to see the face of teacher.

• While speaking make sure that mouth is not covered in any way

            •  Ensure that teacher should face the person to whom he/she is speaking.

           • Careful about not to nod your head too much or speak while writing on the board or walking around                  the room as this creates lipreading conditions nearly impossible.

• Ensure that the light is on the face of the teacher and never from behind.

4.                       Face:

• Try to maintain eye contact when talking to a deaf student one to one.

• Try to use expression in your face as well as gesture as this helps to convey the sense of your words to a lip reader. Make use of natural gesture and facial expression as a clue to meaning.

• Speak clearly; but avoid speaking artificially slowly, exaggerating your lips, or shouting as this affects the natural rhythm of speech.

• Check comprehension; encourage and direct questions.

5.                        Position:

• The deaf person should be seated to best advantage. This will usually be a seat near the front, slightly to one side of the speaker (the optimum distance for lip-reading is about 6 feet).

• Allow the student to position themselves so that he/she can lip-read the speaker easily and see the projector or board and as much of the class as possible if there is to be a group discussion.

6.                    Avoid  Distractions:

• Try to keep light reflecting or bright jewellery to a minimum, and wear plain clothes.   

• Bright clothes, especially checks, stripes or dots can make concentration difficult.

7.                     Gaining Attention:

• Be aware to attract the deaf person's attention before you start speaking.

•   Firstly try to get into their line of sight and if that is not effective consider touching the person gently on the arm, bearing in mind it may startle them.

•    It may be useful to agree a “signal” with the student for when you are about to start. This could be a wave of your hand at the student, flashing the lights on and off or, if necessary, asking the person who is sitting next to hearing impaired individual or  neighbour to tap a shoulder or arm to alert him or her.

8.                       Amplification Device / Equipment:

                 • Children with hearing impairment in the lectures may be using one of the following amplification                             devices:

• Hearing aids

• Cochlear implant

None of these devices replaces hearing but all will benefit the student in some way. To make best utilisation of amplification hearing device the teacher may minimise the classroom / environmental noise

9.                        Working with interpreters:

• Make sure that the interpreter is within hearing distance and ready before the teacher start talking.

• Speak directly to the student not the interpreter.

• The interpreter always lags a little behind the speaker. Be aware of this.

• The speaker may have to pause or speak more slowly to ensure the pace of an interpreter.