1. Read the Chapter in the textbook.
2. Review the Essential Concepts below.
3. Answer and submit the Chapter Outline and Objectives
Remember to include the assignment or question statement before you write your answer.
Essential Concepts
Hearing impairments are usually viewed as one of the more significant disabilities, perhaps because so much of our learning comes to us through the sense of hearing. Yet, many people with hearing impairments or who are deaf view hearing loss not as a disability, but as a linguistic difference. In addition, most people who are hearing impaired have typical cognitive abilities and can and often do vociferously advocate for their own rights.
As with other disabilities, there is no absolute determination of what constitutes impaired hearing. Although children who are deaf are not able to use their hearing to understand speech, they may perceive some sounds. Children who are hard-of-hearing also have a significant hearing loss, but, unlike deaf children, they can respond to speech and other auditory stimuli.
For many years educators have debated the most appropriate instructional methods for these children.. Educational programs with an oral emphasis view speech as essential for integration into the hearing world. Much attention is given to amplification, auditory training, speechreading, and the use of technological aids. Other educators utilize a total communication approach with students with impaired hearing. This approach uses a variety of methods to assist the child in expressing, receiving, and developing language. While still others believe that deafness merely reflects a linguistic difference, not a disability, and therefore advocate for the exclusive use of ASL as the method of instruction.
Many children with hearing impairments lag far behind their hearing peers in academic achievement and, the achievement gap usually widens as they get older. This suggests that more effort needs to be made in enhancing the curriculum and instructions for students with hearing impairments.
The debate over communication and instructional methods for students with impaired hearing is likely to continue for research has yet to provide a definitive answer to the question of which communication method is best. Fortunately, technological advances are improving the communication abilities of many individuals with hearing impairments, and future technological advances may enable educators to analyze and track their language development with much greater precision. This information could be used to design more appropriate language instruction.
Chapter Outline and Objectives
DEFINITIONS
1. Define deaf.
2. Define hard of hearing.
3. Describe how humans hear.
4. Discuss why some individuals who are hard of hearing or deaf believe that deafness is a cultural phenomenon and not a disability.
CHARACTERISTICS
1. Identify the three qualifications that need to be made when attempting to describe this population.
2. Describe academic outcomes and behavioral characteristics of many children with hearing impairments.
PREVALENCE
1. List the prevalence figures for hard of hearing and deafness.
TYPES AND CAUSES OF HEARING LOSS
1. Identify the two main types of hearing loss.
2. Discuss why degree and age of onset of hearing loss are important.
3. List the causes of hearing loss.
IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT
1. Describe the process for determining if a person is heard of hearing or deaf.
TECHNOLOGIES AND SUPPORTS TO AMPLIFY, PROVIDE, ENHANCE, OR REPLACE SOUND
1. List the types of supports that amplify or provide sound.
2. List the types of supports that supplement or replace sound.
EDUCATIONAL APPROACHES
1. Define and describe the oral/aural approach.
2. Define and describe the total communication approach.
3. Define and describe the bilingual-bicultural approach.
4. Compare and contrast the three approaches.
EDUCATIONAL PLACEMENT ALTERNATIVES
1. Describe the continuum of educational placements for students with hearing impairments.