Teaching Strategies for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Students who are Deaf or hard of hearing face difficulties unfamiliar to the hearing population. They may use and require a wide range of support services depending on the language or communication system they use.
Culturally, people who are Deaf are members of a distinct linguistic and cultural minority. The members of this cultural group use Sign Language as their first language. Therefore, members of this cultural group are bi-lingual and English is their second language. As with any cultural group, people who are Deaf have their own values, social norms, and traditions. Because of this, sensitivity and attention to culturally based information in the course is important. Students who are Deaf may require a Sign Language interpreter during lectures.

The term hard of hearing refers to those individuals who may use lip reading and hearing aids to enhance oral communication. Hearing aids or amplification systems may include public address systems, induction loops and transmitter/receiver systems with a clip-on microphone for the lecturer. For those who use lip reading only 30-40% of spoken English is comprehensible even for those who are highly skilled. Indications that a student has a hearing loss may include a student's straining to hear, use of loud or distorted speech and consistent failure to respond.

For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing and who choose to speak, feedback mechanisms are limited; therefore, vocal control, volume and articulation may be affected. These secondary effects are purely physical, but are often misinterpreted as intellectual weakness, which they emphatically are not.

Below are several suggestions for teaching strategies for use with students who are Deaf or hard of hearing. The appropriate strategy will depend on the teaching situation and the needs of the individual student.

It is therefore vital to check with students, well in advance, as to which strategies may be appropriate and what support services or equipment are required.

Much of what follows is taken from a booklet prepared by the National Association forJune 13, 2005

· Lip-reading
Lip-reading is a demanding activity requiring great concentration. Three quarters of it is guesswork, and thus clear speech and contextual clues are vital. The following practices facilitate the lip-reading student.

· Clear speech at a reasonable, natural pace
Speaking too slowly, over-enunciation and shouting distort sounds and lip patterns for a lip-reading student.

· Clear view of lips and face
Poorly trimmed beards and moustaches, obscuring the mouth with hands, cigarettes and coffee cups frustrate the lip-reader. Disciplining yourself not to speak while facing away from the student (e.g. while writing on the board) also helps. Remembering to avoid nodding too much and walking around the room also cause difficulties. Front lighting of your face aids the lip-reader while back lighting produces a silhouette which makes it almost impossible to lipread.

· Communicative facial expression
Maintaining eye contact when conversing with a Deaf student and use of facial expression and gestures during a lecture all produce extra contextual information to reduce guesswork for the lip-reader.

· Good seating
The optimum distance for lip-reading is about two meters, so front row seating, usually to one side of the speaker, is often an optimum position.
However, the student will know best.

· Visual distractions disrupt concentration
Wearing plain clothes, avoiding checks, stripes or dots and bright or reflecting jewellery reduce visual distractions.

· Gaining attention
It is important to gain the Deaf student's attention (without startling him/her) before speaking. Waving your hand, tapping a lapel microphone, requesting help from a neighbour are common techniques.

· Presentation
It is important to remember that a lip-reading student, or one using an interpreter (see below), can only access a fraction of your speech. Therefore all other context information and structure cues are vital.

· Context cues
Writing the title of a discussion or a new subject on the board helps a student to minimise the guesswork involved in lip-reading or may help an interpreter.

· Logical structure
Following a logical structure in a lecture or argument helps lip-readers, as does a periodic review or summary. A copy of written notes before the lecture provides similar support.

· Pauses
Lip-reading and interpreting are strenuous activities, therefore periodic pauses are important to permit quick personal reviews for assimilation purposes. They also facilitate the very human need for a rest. Pauses need not interrupt the natural flow or structure of a lecture since looking at a detailed slide while you are not speaking or the distribution of handouts provide some opportunities.

· Repeating questions
Comments or questions from behind the student will be missed if you do not repeat them. Without the question, the answer loses its context.

· Visual aids
Visual aids are usually a great help to students who are Deaf or hard of hearing, but they can also be used or neglected so that valuable information is not conveyed.

· Vital Information
Changes of meeting times or venues can be written on the board or overhead projector (OHP) so that the Deaf student is always included.

· New Vocabulary
Unknown words or acronyms are impossible to lipread so making them available in advance or writing them on the board or the OHP is vital.

· Reading Time
It is impossible to read and lipread at the same time, so allowing the student time to read OHP slides or flipcharts is also vital.

· Using the OHP
An OHP is helpful since it permits the lecturer to face the class while writing. However, reading and lip-reading cannot be done simultaneously. A noisy fan in an OHP can make it difficult to hear. It is important to remember to keep the lecturer's face well lit especially if the room has been darkened to facilitate projection.

· Videotape
Obtaining subtitled videos where possible, or a transcript, or even a brief outline helps the student to follow the session.

· Handouts and Notes
Well prepared handouts or copies of lecture notes or OHP slides in advance will increase what the student gains from your lecture, by giving advance notice of the structure of the lecture and new vocabulary. Sometimes a note-taker may be appropriate, or help obtaining a photocopy of a good set of classmate's notes. However, it usually is best to give as much help in advance as possible.

· Booklists
A Deaf student may rely more heavily on textbooks than other students, so advance notice of booklists is very helpful.

· Seminars and tutorials
It is important to consider the needs of the Deaf or hearing-impaired student in the management of tutorials or seminars which involve a lot of student participation. The following suggestions may help.

· Group size
Large groups make it unlikely that everyone will be near enough for lip-reading. The optimum group size is between six and ten. Deaf students find it easier to lipread if the group is smaller.

· Seating plan
A circular or near-circular seating plan allows a lip-reading student to see everyone. Silhouetting speakers makes it difficult to lip-read. Seating a Deaf student next to the chairperson may facilitate lip-reading too.

· Chairing
If chairing a discussion is part of an exercise, the Deaf student should play his/her full part in it. A hearing chairperson should ensure that the Deaf student can see everyone, that mumblers speak up and that interruptions are not allowed. Contributors should take turns speaking so that the Deaf student has time to switch focus without missing any dialogue. If a microphone is being used, the chairperson should ensure that it is used correctly.

· Laboratory work
Laboratory work and demonstrations are a little easier for deaf students. Nevertheless similar strategies help.

Demonstrations should be done so that the student can see what is being done and lip-read. He/she should not have to do both simultaneously.
Stand where the student can see you when you are speaking.
Attract the Deaf student's attention before explaining a teaching point which rises during the laboratory session. Facilitating a Deaf student engaged in fieldwork or on placement may present special problems. Flexibility and advance planning with the student are the key to success here.

· Timetabling
Lip-reading and interpreting are demanding activities and a few hours per day is often all that is sensible. Timetables should take this into account by avoiding full days of contact teaching, tutorials or laboratory sessions. An interpreter may be involved, so that cancellation or rescheduling at short notice may be impossible. If a lecture is long, two interpreters taking turns may be required.

· Choice of room
An often overlooked consideration is the decor and fitting out of lecture rooms. The following all help the Deaf or hearing-impaired student to gain the maximum from your lecture

Lighting should be adequate for lip-reading and speakers should be lit from the front and never silhouetted (back lit).

Background noise should be minimised as this makes it extremely difficult for the hearing-impaired student to decipher what is going on. Small discussion groups with a hearing-impaired student are best in a room of their own so as to minimise the background noise from other groups. Acoustic treatment of the room (carpet, soft furnishings and ceiling tiles to absorb sounds) make it easier to hear.

Amplification. The system already installed may need to be used with a portable induction loop, radio microphone or other hearing aid.

Decoration. Patterned wallpaper or other visual distractions behind the lecturer make it difficult to concentrate on lip-reading.

· Using an interpreter
Interpreting (translation into Sign Language) is a demanding task and most interpreters need a break after half an hour of continuous interpreting. The interpreter's role is to facilitate communication, not to participate, so all remarks should be addressed to the communicating parties and not the interpreter. Interpreters have a code of confidentiality and will not comment on any situation in which they have been working. The following points should be borne in mind when working with an interpreter

· A break during a long lecture may be necessary since interpreting is such demanding work.

· Advance information helps the interpreter. An idea of how the session will be used, new vocabulary, copies of prepared text and advance viewing of video material will help the interpreter prepare his/her signing.

· Position. The interpreter should stand close to the speaker and to any visual display being used to minimise viewing changes for the deaf student.

· Lighting. Good overhead lighting and a plain background help the student to see the interpreter without distraction. Silhouetting should be avoided.

· Time Lag. One should expect a time lag while the interpreter translates. Thus a student should not be expected to respond immediately.

· Pace. Speak at your normal rate. An interpreter will tell you to slow down if that is necessary. Pause or repeat a sentence if you are going too fast.

· Questions and Discussion. The lecturer or chairperson is responsible for controlling discussion as usual. However, an interpreter may point to the contributor to indicate who is speaking. As with lip-readers, it is important to ensure that there are no interruptions and contributions are properly serialised as the interpreter can only translate for one contributor at a time. Time-lags should be borne in mind when expecting a deaf student to respond.

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