MORE Classroom Modifications for Students with Hearing Impairments
 |
STRATEGY # 3 TEACH TO INCREASE GENERAL KNOWLEDGE Learning to read, students with hearing impairments run into difficulty because they often have less general knowledge. Information that is picked up by hearing it is missed by deaf children. If Grand Forks is flooded, New Orleans is destroyed by a hurricane, a classmate's grandmother is elected chair of the Tribal Council, the Twins win the World Series or war breaks out in Iraq (again), children who are hearing impaired may not know about it. This places the child at a disadvantage both socially and educationally. When reading about topics, even if they know the vocabulary, their lack of knowledge may cause problems in reading comprehension. |
- Use cultural, social, and political subjects in your teachings so that the student can keep in touch with the surrounding world while making relationships with their classmates. For example, have students research current events and present them in groups.
- Regular book reports are also good assignments, especially if they are presented in class. This type of assignment both increases general knowledge and gives experience communicating with hearing students.
STRATEGY # 4: INCREASING KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
The following activities are recommended:
- Students can keep a journal where they write their experiences and frustrations with getting used to using ASL and English.
- Students can write down words and/or phrases they don’t understand and ask for explanations from teachers or other students in the class.
- Assign a tutor who also has a hearing impairments to allow the student to get help from someone who understands their irritation.
STRATEGY # 5: EMPHASIZE VISUAL CUES
This is the opposite of the recommendation given for students with visual impairments. In teaching about text, emphasize what students can visualize - the place the action takes place, the characters, the time period in history. This gives the student a good context in which to think about the reading. Younger students may draw cues such as the location or people in a book and then begin writing their assignment with this visual cue as an outline.
