Originally published in TEACH Magazine, November/December 2008 Issue
By Ron Doorn
Hearing is what keeps us in touch with our world. It plays a significant role in expressing and receiving language. Hearing loss creates problems in how an individual expresses and receives language in turn causing social, communication, and educational problems (Hall, Oyer, & Haas, 2001). Educators therefore need to seriously consider the short and long term affects of how hearing loss impairs a person’s ability to understand spoken language when developing their programs.
Educational Adaptations and Strategies
Teachers need to make special considerations when teaching hearing-impaired children. Much of the consideration involves common sense that sharpens through close collaboration with the student, the student’s family, and the speech language pathologist (SLP). The student and student’s family can certainly offer the teacher support on a daily basis through constructive criticism of what is or isn’t working for the child in the classroom. The following are suggestions by Hall, Oyer, & Haas (2001) for teaching hearing-impaired children:
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