technology for students with hearing disabilities chapter seven

Technology for Students with

Hearing Disabilities

ChapterSeven

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Overview

• Types of Hearing Disabilities

• Meeting Students’ Learning Needs

• Assistive Technologies

• Communication Devices and Software Tools

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Hearing Disabilities

• The term hard of hearing includes those with the ability to receive some auditory stimuli

• The term deaf refers to those who cannot hear most sounds with or without amplification

• It is important to use terminology that the student finds acceptable

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Effect of Hearing Loss on Development

• Student is unlikely to use speech if hearing loss is– Pre-linguistic: before the development of language– Congenital: genetic or at birth

• Student is more likely to use speech and to speech-read if hearing loss is– Post-linguistic: after the development of language– Adventitious: caused by accident or illness

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Meeting Learning Needs

• Make classroom visually friendly– Don’t speak with your back to students– Make sure everyone can see everyone else’s face

when students are speaking

• Include many visuals in lessons

• Encourage interaction among all students

• Understand that the sign-language interpreter is there for the student, not as a classroom aide

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Assistive Technologies

• Hearing aids

• Radio transmitters

• Cochlear implants

• Flashing lights and vibrating alarms

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Communication Devices

• TTY: teletypewriter

• TDD: telecommunication device for the deaf

• Both allow communication over telephone networks

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A Teletypewriter

The Q90, a portable TTY produced by Ameriphone

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Other Communication Tools

• Email

• Fax machines

• Instant messaging– ICQ– AOL’s Instant Messenger– Handheld computers

• Videoconferencing via the internet

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Videoconferencing in action

Videoconferencing

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Software Applications

• Automatic speech recognition– Allows for speech-to-text conversion and

vice versa

• Aesop in ASL (Texas School for the Deaf)

• Other traditional software– Example: The Logical Journey of

the Zoombinis

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Summary

• Classrooms should be visually friendly

• Assistive technologies can help students in both school and home settings

• Electronic communication such as email and instant messaging can support interactions between hearing and non-hearing students

• Traditional software applications may also be beneficial