Teachers
Teachers
Deaf children need teamwork with their teachers to ensure all topics are clearly followed in all classes. Visual cues and practical adaptation of routines will be essential to include all students in class at the same time.
Positive First Impressions For Teachers
Teachers make assumptions about children with hearing issues, but tips are available for new teachers of young deaf children, including a CI School Toolkit for pupils who wear cochlear implants. Schools should contact the visiting teacher service for home-school liaison to arrange soundfields, FM systems and advice on school acoustics.
Training Videos
True Life: Deaf Kids Shining Bright In High School
Trailer for “Teaching Mainstreamed Students With Hearing Loss”
Full video for “Teaching Mainstreamed Students With Hearing Loss”
Hearing Impairment in Mainstream (Emily)
Education Policy And Preparation For School
Policy for Ireland is defined in the 2011 NCSE report, “The Education of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children”, while IEP advice and insights to technology disrupting deaf education are described on this site.
Families can prepare kids for mainstream settings by practising spoken language at home, complemented by early learning with smartphones and tablet PCs.
Children aged four to eight can read the “A Birthday For Ben” storybook to teach children about hearing. Some great classroom technology exists today, with iPads used for simultaneous reading and listening.
Accessing The Curriculum
For children in mainstream classrooms without acoustic treatment, fatigue is a challenge when listening during long school days.
Classroom captions in the form of realtime transcribed, video based or podcast transcripts – are a lifeline for pupils and students in mainstream classrooms.
Australia provides classroom captions at federal level, to support all children with severe to profound hearing issues.
South Africa’s Eduplex school offers a solid model for inclusive education, wwith guidance on classroom layout and acoustic treatment for buildings.
In the United States and in Qatar, school teachers are also trained to teach deaf children to listen and speak.
Some tips for including a deaf child in a mainstream classroom:
- Write specific task and any page numbers on a white/ black board
- Display any impending class tests, assignments or homework where it’s seen
- Share key words, lesson outlines, new concepts etc, in a visible place
- Ensure the child has a clear view of yourself at all times
- Avoid turning your back to the class or walking around while talking
- If the class is reviewing work, give the child a handout with the answers
- When speaking at the board, face the class sideways to assist lip-reading
- Use subtitled videos in class, or give a copy of the script to the child
- The child will benefit if a class buddy can fill in any missed instructions
- Be practical about communication, but don’t treat the child differently
- Show an older child samples of how work / essays can be structured
- Minimise ambient classroom noise when possible
- If you have a moustache or beard, consider trimming it for lip-readers
- Re-state or rephrase what you say to the child if one repetition is missed
- When classmates are answering questions, continually recap what is said
Teaching support at schools in Ireland is provided by
The Visiting Teacher Service | information form |
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE)
