Deaf and Hard of Hearing

• Prelingually Deaf those who are deaf before they learn to speak and understand language. Apprx. 95% of all deaf children are prelingually deaf. These people may be capable of oral communication, but if so, usually develop oral language skills much later than they developmentally should
• Heredity and Genetics can be congenital and sensorineural. Most children whose deafness is hereditary are less likely to have multiple disabilities
• Total Communication Approach – employing any and all methods of communication (72% of the hearing impaired are taught using this method)
• Deaf a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplication, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance
• In the U.S. the primary language for the deaf and the hard of hearing is ASL
• Real Time Captioning – practically instantaneous translations of speech into print; an accommodation for students who are deaf and attending lectures
• Ponce de Leon, a Spanish monk from the 1500s, is credited as the first teacher of deaf students
• Mild Hearing Loss (21-40 dB): only speech that is soft or is produced at a distance is difficult to hear
• Hearing Aids assistive listening devices that amplify sounds but are not surgically implanted.
• The Deaf (minority group) community strongly advocates for residential schools
• Strongly opposed all of Bell’s positions

  Galludet believed
• Hearing loss is the #1 birth defect in the U.S., but it is still low incidence affecting only 0.13% of students. 1 in 1,000 babies is born profoundly deaf and 2-3 have less severe hearing loss
• Instead of a black/whiteboard, use an overhead projector etc. so that the speaker can face the class when presenting material
• The cause most often associated with hearing loss in children is unknown, but it is suspected that 50% of children born with deaf do so due to genetics
• Hard of Hearing – those with hearing losses that impair their understanding of sounds, including communication
• Conductive Hearing Loss blockage to the outer or middle ear.
• Surgically implanted devices that use a small speech processor and microphone to detect sound and then send electrical signals to the implanted receive/stimulator, which ultimately passes this information to the brain.

  Cochlear Implants
• Occurs when the hearing mechanism is damaged or obstructed in such a way that sounds cannot be perceived or understood.

  Hearing Loss
• Assistive devices for people who are deaf to make them aware of events in their environment through a loud sound or other means (ex, the bird “chirping” on many new crosswalks)

  Alerting  Devices
• Speech-to-Text Translations

  1. Real Time Captioning
  2. Automatic Speech Recognition
• Universal Newborn Hearing Screening – in 41 states (text from 2007) and Washington DC is now required
• Bilingual-bicultural approach – combines practices of ESL and bilingual education; ASL is the native language and reading and writing in English are taught as a second language (the newest method)
• Preschool programs allow students with hearing losses to develop language at the righ developmental period in their lives
• Profound Hearing Loss (91 dB+): considered “deaf,” assistive listening devices alone enable the individual to understand information presented orally
• Validated Educational Practices

  1. Oral Only Approach
  2. Total Communication Approach
  3. Cued Speech
  4. Bilingual-bicultural approach
• Digital Hearing Aids automatically adjust the volume by amplifying sounds only to the degree necessary to compensate for loss
• Congenital - present at birth
• Otis Media infections of the middle ear that result in an accumulation of fluid behind the eardrum that interrupt the process of hearing. Can be corrected with antibiotics. Depending on the frequency and duration of infection, it can affect speech development and can result in a language impairment that affects future learning. Chronic, untreated Otis Media can cause a permanent conductive hearing loss
• At first were only used for adults who experienced severe hearing loss later in life

  Cochlear Implants
• IDEA ’04 mandates that school placements and methods of instruction be given individually determined for every student with a disability
• Since the birth rate for deafness is low incidence this means that often deaf children are the only deaf person in their school or even community which leads to isolation and estrangement. Residential schools aid in their feeling more accepted
• Hard of Hearing an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness
• The most common causes of hearing loss in children in order of prevalence:

  • Heredity and Genetics
  • Meningitis
  • Otis Media
  • Noise
• Residential schools and sign language caused segregation

  Bell believed
• Post-lingual deafness – after basic language/speech skills acquired
• Automatic Speech Recognition – technology that converts speech into text almost instantaneously
• Some argue that children with severe hearing loss should learn ASL as their primary language, but this is discouraged as it may alienate/isolate them from their family and culture
• Sensorineural Hearing Loss damage to the inner ear or the auditory nerve
• Deaf – those with profound hearing loss who cannot understand sounds with or without hearing aids
• Analog Hearing Aids amplify all sounds equally, making it impossible to discriminate speech from background noise