HEAR - Help, Explanations And Real advice
for mainstream teachers teaching students who are deaf and hard of hearing
Introduction
This book was a combination of love, sweat, and hope from families and a culmination of advice from professionals. Its intention is not to fully prepare you to teach a child with hearing loss, but instead to help prepare you to understand the educational needs of the deaf or hard of hearing child in your classroom. It is important to use your resources in your school system and get further training or have meetings with teachers who are specifically trained in dealing with students who have hearing loss. But, this book will give you a good start and a source of reference for everyday needs and challenges that you might not be aware of for the student with hearing loss.
As a parent, when my child was first diagnosed as being deaf, a kindly friend offered up that she would rather be deaf than blind. Fortunately for her she didn’t have to make such a choice, but I can tell you that the impact on learning is significant and extremely significant if the hearing loss precedes language acquisition. In addition, communication is part of being human and relating to each other can only come from communication. Therefore hearing loss can be very isolating. So hearing can impact the whole child – socially, emotionally, and educationally.
I am forever grateful to the intelligent and caring professionals that my daughter has had the pleasure of knowing. As a teacher, I am acutely aware of the demands on the classroom teacher. It is not the intention of this book to add to your load, but instead to help lift the burden and help you to have a successful year with the child with hearing loss that is sitting in your front row.
An open heart and mind is all you need to teach these students. The rest will come as you work with the student, parents, and other professionals available. Smile, relax and enjoy what the deaf or hard of hearing student will teach you. They are true gifts as all children are.
Special thanks to:
Wendy Furrow
Beth Hoffman
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Below are some pages from the Manual: