“Students with hearing impairments” is a phrase that covers a wide range of  grade levels and an equally wide range of needs. In elementary school, the major task children must accomplish is learning to become good readers. Teachers must keep in mind that learning to read is more of a challenge for deaf children. Hearing children learn language through 'auditory bombardment', that is, they hear the words all around them and learn, for example, that 'bombard' means to have a lot of things thrown at you quickly.

STRATEGY #1 - AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
American Sign Language (ASL) is a language for the deaf which uses hand gestures. Students have more success in school when both ASL and English are used in the classroom. It is important that the student and the teacher are able to practice both ASL and English well, especially if the student wants to be put in other classes with his/her peers in the future.  Students should grasp ASL and English at an early age so its easier for them in the future.  This seems self-evident - it is like saying that we should teach young children to talk and understand language. However, we have seen children placed in regular classrooms with only a few hours a week of interpreter services or instruction in ASL. Their inability to communicate with those around them causes children to fall behind in school, become frustrated and decreases the chance of the healthy self-esteem that gives children the confidence to participate in classroom activities.  Children with communication difficulties also have more behavior problems. We strongly recommend that staff members working with children with hearing impairments learn as much ASL as possible.

STRATEGY #2 - TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
English is a second language for deaf children who use American Sign Language to communicate. ESL (English as a Second Language) programs can provide some good resources on teaching when students have limited ability to understand spoken language. Of course, these programs cannot always just use an ESL program without changes, for example, activities related to the student’s “home country” have nothing to do with students who have hearing impairments.

Amazingly great site - American Sign Language Dictionary On-line. You can look up words and find not only a description of how to make the sign, but also, if you click on the word, it will show a QuickTime movie of someone signing that word. Everything ESL site gives numerous tips on teaching English as a second language.

More strategies for hearing impaired students