Chapter 15 Hearing Loss Chapter 15: Hearing Loss Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today’s Schools (4 th ed.)

Defining Hearing Loss How Do You Recognize Students with Hearing Loss? Describe the characteristics of students with a hearing loss. How Do You Recognize Students with Hearing Loss? Hearing involves the gathering and interpreting of sounds. The ear and its functions –Three parts: outer, middle, and inner ear (look on page 426) The inner ear links the fluid filled outer ear with the fluid filled inner ear) –Sound waves are vibrations in the air that are translated into meaningful information. Sound is measured in units that describe the frequency and intensity of these vibrations: –Intensity (loudness): measured in decibels (dB) Pressure of the sound (loudness) –Frequency (pitch): measured in hertz (Hz) Number of sound waves that occur in one second –Results are charted on audiograms Terminology –Disability-first approach or people-first approach –Hearing loss is used infrequently (implies a “loss” has been suffered) –Deaf (with an uppercase D) refers to culturally Deaf people. –Authors use deaf and hard of hearing

Describing the Characteristics Language and communication (for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing) –Single greatest challenge for children who are deaf or hard of hearing –Acquire language largely through their eyes (because aural language is often incomplete) – Three typical forms of communication: Oral/aural: speech, speech reading, residual hearing, and amplification of sound American Sign Language (ASL): language structure distinct from other languagesAmerican Sign Language (ASL) –Fingerspelling: spelling words and proper nouns that have no known sign Simultaneous communication: method of communication that involves the use of sign language (manually coded English and Pidgin sign language) and spoken English. Four Factors that Affect Psychosocial Development: –Parent-child interactions: communicate values and beliefs and nurture positive self-concept –Peers and teacher communication: communicate social norms, rules of conversation, appropriate ways of responding, and how to develop close friendships –Overheard social cues: may notice visual cues-they miss spoken ones –Language competence: a key component to social and emotional development since we interact with the world through language Children who identify with others who are deaf or heard of hearing have higher self-esteem than do children who identify only with hearing individuals How Do You Recognize Students with Hearing Loss? Describe the characteristics of students with a hearing loss.

Education –Relatively low academic achievement of many students appears to be a result of their reading ability One-third of a grade equivalent for each year in school –Students in general education classrooms seem to demonstrate higher academic achievement than do students in self-contained classrooms –Educators of children who are deaf or heard of hearing are liesslikely than other educators to acknowledge the different educational experiences of children from minority backgrounds although African-American Students as well as Hispanic students perform ower of measures of achievement Causes –Conductive hearing loss: outer or middle ear (sound conduction) –Sensorineural hearing loss: inner ear or along the nerve pathway (sound perception) –Loss present at birth is congenital; after birth is adventitious How Do You Recognize Students with Hearing Loss? Describing the Characteristics Describe the characteristics of students with a hearing loss; recall the major causes of hearing loss.

Identifying the Causes Recall the major causes of hearing loss. Hearing loss that is present at birth or occurs before the child learns language is prelingual. (95%) (occurs before age 2) –Premature birth or birth complications due to hemorrhage in the brain or reduced oxygen to the inner ear –Heredity –Maternal rubella: virus attacks the developing fetus Hearing loss after the child has developed spoken language is postlingual. –Meningitis: viral or bacterial infection of the central nervous system which can extend to other organs (brain and ear) –Otitis media (ear infections): inflammation of the middle ear How Do You Recognize Students with Hearing Loss?

Determining the Presence How Do You Evaluate Students with Hearing Loss? Understand the curricular and instructional needs of students with hearing loss. How Do You Evaluate Students with Hearing Loss? Early intervention is important but many infants go undetected Behavioral audiological evaluation –Conducted by an audiologist using an audiometer and is based on conclusions drawn from students’ behaviors Six features to consider in determining services: –Communication: evaluation of child’s hearing loss, spoken or sign language development, speech intelligibility, speech reading ability, and signing proficiency –Academic achievement: includes standardized tests and curriculum-based assessments –Socialization: –Motivation: –Parent expectations and preference: –Presence of other disabilities:

How Do You Evaluate Students with Hearing Loss? Determining the Presence Understand the curricular and instructional needs of students with hearing loss. Figure 15-7

Hearing Enhancement Devices Hearing Aids: make sounds louder but do not correct hearing Cochlear Implants: an electronic device that compensates for the damaged or absent hair cells in the cochlea by stimulating the auditory nerve fibers Assistive Listening Devices: –FM systems-teacher wears a microphone-student with hearing aid picks up sound only from microphone

Including Students How Do You Assure Progress in the General Curriculum? Understand the curricular and instructional needs of students with hearing loss. Figure 15-8

Planning Universally Designed Learning Describe instructional strategies that lead to successful progression in the general curriculum for students with hearing loss. Altering curriculum –Oral/aural Speech reading (lip reading) Speech language pathologists are typically responsible for carrying out instruction in speech –Bilingual/bicultural: Most programs in deaf education are based on English as a second language Augmenting instruction –Instructional conversationsInstructional conversations Teacher restates, clarifies, and extends what the child has expressed Augmenting curriculum –Deaf culture: to have students gain an understanding of the culture so they participate in the Deaf community and to transmit the culture to the next generation How Do You Assure Progress in the General Curriculum?

Collaborating to Meet Students’ Needs Collaboration with all professionals, including interpreters and parents Communication can be a barrier to collaboration Interpreters –May be certified Special telephones –TTs: Text Telephones (previously known as TDDs)TTs: Text Telephones Captioning and real-time display The Internet Alerting devices How Do You Assure Progress in the General Curriculum? Describe instructional strategies that lead to successful progression in the general curriculum for students with hearing loss.