During her time here, MOE brought her to visit the deaf schools in Singapore. These schools are very well-connected to community service organisations, she observed. She was also impressed at the amount of attention and resources the MOE administration spends on the deaf schools. However, there is room for improvement. Education also exists outside the classroom. Deaf people need access to mass media. In particular, children enjoy watching television programs. The lack of subtitles and sign language interpretor on television actually hinders deaf children from acquiring language. All prime time television in the USA is subtitled with English language and the American Sign Language (ASL). Having taught for thirty years, she concludes that a customised education for the deaf is probably the best approach. You dont force deaf children to fit into the education program. A one-size-fits-all program doesnt really benefit anybody. It is also important to start early, she says. Deaf screening of babies in the USA has a success rate of 95%. In the USA, the Home Intervention program under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides parents with free audiologist services to help deaf babies to quickly acquire association to language from their environment. The audiologists also help the parents to overcome their grief due to the discovery of their childs deafness. Furthermore, IDEA mandates every public school to create an Individualised Education Program (IEP) for each student who qualifies under both federal and state standards for disability. On top of that, IDEA provides the deaf students with the option of receiving education at home. Such flexibility allows deaf students to learn and integrate with society at their own pace. As a result, there are many deaf students in the USA who actually progressed to higher

education. There are many community colleges and universities that accept deaf students in the USA. In fact, Susan herself is a graduate of Gallaudet University. Access to higher education provides opportunities for deaf people to become gainfully employed as teachers, doctors, lawyers, bankers and other professions. Founded in 1864, Gallaudet University is the world leader in liberal education and career development for deaf and hard of hearing undergraduate students. The university is based in Washington DC. Her higher education qualified her to become a teacher at Highlands Ranch High School where she teaches English language and social studies. Highlands Ranch High School is a regular school where 1,600 students enrol. The ASL is offered as a foreign language credit there, so deaf and regular students can learn the ASL together. Moreover, there are ASL interpretors in the classroom to assist in the teaching of regular classes. In this way, deaf students are not socially isolated from the community at large. The key enabler is that there is no dearth of ASL interpretors because ASL interpretation is regarded as a profession and not a voluntary task in the USA. Moreover, there are laboratories and workshops at public schools such as Highlands Ranch High School to assist deaf students to identify their affinity for a particular trade skill. Not every deaf student is suited for university, says Susan. The diversity of vocational training programs ensures the needs of every deaf student are met.

Deaf cultureWhat is Deaf Culture? Deaf and hard of hearing people do not identify as having a disability or see themselves as experiencing a limitation. Instead, they identify as a member of a cultural and linguistic group. People who identify themselves as Deaf (note the capital D) belong to a proud

and distinctive culture group known as the Deaf culture. Through their collective efforts to meet their own needs, Deaf people have organised a network of social, religious, athletic, dramatic, scholarly and literary organisations serving local, national and international memberships. Deaf Culture is made up of: Language refers to the native visual cultural language of Deaf people, with its own syntax (grammar or form), semantics (vocabulary or content) and pragmatics (social rules of use). It is highly valued by the Deaf community because its visually accessible. Values in the Deaf community include the importance of clear communication for all both in terms of expression and comprehension. Deaf residential schools and Deaf clubs are important because of the natural social interaction they offer. Preserving national sign languages, heritage, Deaf literature and art are other examples of what we value. For example, in 1989 a group of American Deaf artists created the term DeVIA meaning art with a Deaf view. It is to entertain, share and educate in ways that express Deaf experience through their eyes. Traditions include the stories kept alive through Deaf generations, Deaf experiences and expected participation in Deaf cultural events. Norms refer to rules of behaviour in the deaf community. All cultures have their own set of behaviours that are deemed acceptable. For Deaf people, it includes getting someones attention appropriately, using direct eye contact and correct use of shoulder tapping. Identity is one of the key components of the whole person. Accepting that one is Deaf and is proud of his/her culture and heritage and a contributing member of that society is key to being a member of the cultural group. KEY FACTORS IN DEAF CULTURE: VISUAL

Sign language SOCIAL Powerful cultural bonding SPORTS Athletic organisations

Body Language

Facial Expressions

Deaflympics (World Games ofr the Deaf)

DEAF CLUBS/EVENTS For relaxation, socialising, information, news, dances, raffles, banquets, lectures, parties, gambling nights, anniversary celebrations and more. Is sign language the same all over the world? No. Each language is unique with distinct culture expressed by visible hand gestures. Just as spoken languages have evolved throughout the world, various signed languages have also emerged in different parts of the world. The languages may differ from region to region and country to country.

Deafness and hearing impairmentFact sheet N300 February 2012

Key factsIn 2004, over 275 million people globally had moderate-to-profound hearing impairment, 80% of them in low- and middle-income countries. Infectious diseases such as meningitis, measles, mumps and chronic ear infections can lead to hearing impairment. Other common causes include exposure to excessive noise, head and ear injury, ageing and the use of ototoxic drugs. Half of all cases of deafness and hearing impairment are avoidable through primary prevention. A large percentage can be treated through early diagnosis and suitable management. Depending on the cause of hearing loss, it may be treated medically,

surgically or through devices such as hearing aids and Cochlear Implants. Production of hearing aids meets less than 10% of global need. In developing countries, fewer than 1 out of 40 people who need a hearing aid have one. In 2004, over 275 million people globally had moderate-to-profound hearing impairment, 80% of them in low- and middle-income countries. Types of hearing impairment Deafness refers to the complete loss of hearing in one or both ears. Hearing impairment refers to both complete and partial loss of the ability to hear. There are two types of hearing impairment, according to which part of the ear is affected. Conductive hearing impairment is a problem in the outer or middle ear. It is often medically or surgically treatable. A common example is chronic middle ear infection. Sensorineural hearing impairment is a problem with the inner ear or the hearing nerve. It is mostly permanent and requires rehabilitation such as the use of a hearing aid. Causes of hearing impairment and deafnessCongenital causes which may lead to deafness present at or acquired soon after birth

Hereditary hearing loss where deafness is inherited from a parent. If one or both parents or a relative is deaf, there is a higher risk that a child could be born deaf. Hearing impairment may also be caused by problems during pregnancy and childbirth. These include: low birth weight: either due to premature birth or a 'small for date' baby; birth asphyxia or conditions during birth where a baby suffers lack of oxygen; rubella, syphilis or certain other infections in a woman during pregnancy; inappropriate use of ototoxic drugs (a group of more than 130 drugs, such as the antibiotic gentamicin) during pregnancy;

severe jaundice, which can damage the hearing nerve in a newborn baby.Acquired causes which can lead to hearing loss at any age

Infectious diseases such as meningitis, measles and mumps can lead to hearing impairment, mostly in childhood, but also later in life. Chronic ear infections, which commonly present as discharging ears can lead to hearing loss. In certain cases this condition can also lead to serious, life threatening complications, such as brain abscess, meningitis etc. Use of ototoxic drugs at any age, including some antibiotic and antimalarial drugs, can damage the inner ear. Head injury or injury to the ear can cause hearing impairment. Excessive noise, including working with noisy machinery, exposure to loud music or other loud noises, such as gunfire or explosions, can damage the inner ear and weaken hearing ability. Age related hearing loss (presbyacusis): As people age, there may be a deterioration in the levels of hearing due to ageing. Wax or foreign bodies blocking the ear canal can cause hearing loss at any age. Such hearing loss is usually mild and can be readily corrected. Social and economic burden Hearing impairment can impose a heavy social and economic burden on individuals, families, communities and countries. Hearing impairment in children may delay development of language and cognitive skills, which may hinder progress in school. The extent of delay depends on the degree of hearing loss. In adults, hearing impairment often makes it difficult to obtain, perform, and keep jobs. Hearing-impaired children and adults are often stigmatized and socially isolated. The poor suffer more from hearing impairment because they cannot afford the preventive and routine care to avoid hearing loss. They often do not have access to ear and hearing care services and are unable to obtain suitable hearing aids to make the disability manageable. Hearing impairment may also make it more difficult for them to escape poverty by hindering progress in school or in the workplace and by isolating them socially.

For countries, the cost of special education and lost employment due to hearing impairment can burden the economy. Prevention Half of all cases of deafness and hearing impairment are avoidable through primary prevention. A large percentage can be treated through early diagnosis and suitable management. Solutions to hearing impairment focus on primary ear and hearing care in order to promote the concepts of prevention, early detection, management and rehabilitation. Some simple strategies for prevention include: immunizing children against childhood diseases, including measles, meningitis, rubella and mumps; immunizing of adolescent girls and women of child-bearing age against rubella before pregnancy; screening and treating syphilis and other infections in pregnant women; improving antenatal and perinatal care, including promotion of safe deliveries; avoiding the use of ototoxic drugs, unless prescribed by a qualified physician and properly monitored for correct dosage; referring high risk babies (such as those with family history of deafness, those born with low birth weight or suffering birth asphyxia, jaundice, meningitis etc) for assessment of hearing, diagnosis and treatment, where required; reducing exposure (both occupational and recreational) to loud noises by awareness creation, use of personal protective devices, and implementation of suitable legislation. Conductive hearing impairment can be prevented by healthy ear and hearing care practices. It can be suitably dealt with through early detection, followed by appropriate medical or surgical interventions. In babies and young children, early detection and treatment prevents problems with language development and progress in school.

Depending on the cause of hearing loss, it may be treated medically, surgically or through devices such as hearing aids and Cochlear Implants. Making affordable and properly fitted hearing aids and follow-up services available and accessible can benefit persons with hearing loss. Production of hearing aids meets less than 10% of global need. In developing countries, fewer than 1 out of 40 people who need a hearing aid have one.

IntroductionPeople who are deaf-blind have problems of communication, mobility and other daily living skills that are unique and make independent living more dificult to achieve. It can be a dark, silent and isolating world. The term "deaf-blind" doesn't necessarily mean total lack of hearing and vision. Some people who are deaf-blind are partially "hearing and visually impaired." They may have enough hearing to understand speech, especially when using a hearing aid, and may have some usable vision with or without corrective lenses. "Legal blindness" is defined as the ability to see at a distance of 20 feet what a normally sighted person can see at 200 feet , or to have peripheral vision that is restricted to 20 degrees or less (like tunnel vision). However deaf-blindness does mean that the combination of impairments of both senses interferes with the ability of a person to function effectively in the "hearing-sighted" world. (Facts about Deaf-Blindness, Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adult (HKNC).)

General StrategiesTechnology -- Access to word processing, portable note taking devices, and regular and labtop computer terminals is made possible by devices with magnified screen text and braille displays as well as speech output systems. Electronic braille embrossers produce high quality/high speed braille. Optical

character recognition scanners "read" standard print and convert it to voice or braille. Television closed captioned programs are accessible with braille displays. U.S. paper money can be identified with a portable device which "announces" the denomination by voice and vibration. Reading nd writing in BRAILLE and LARGE PRINT. PRINT-ON-PALM -- tracing capital block letters on another's palm, using the index finger. Fingerspelling -- a series of finger and knuckle positions, each representing a single letter, often referred to as the MANUAL ALPHABET. American Sign Language (ASL) -- the primary language of many people who are deaf-blind. ASL is visual, gestural and has no structural to English. The Tellatouch -- a portable machine that permits one person o type a message on a regular keyboard while the person who is deaf-blind receives the message on a braille cell on the back on this device. The Optacon -- a reading device which converts the image of a printed letter into a vibrating tactile form felt with one finger. The CCTV -- a closed circuit television which enlarges print in various sizes. HOW DO DEAF CHILDREN LEARN TO READ? By Preston Clark 4/29/03It has been said that reading requires two related capabilities, first you must be familiar with a language and second you must understand the mapping between that language and the printed word (Chamberlain & Mayberry, 2000). Deaf children are disadvantaged on both counts, but some deaf children do read fluently. Recent research has suggested that individuals with good signing skills are not worse readers than individuals with poor signing skills (c & m, 2000). Skill in signing does not guarantee skill in reading, reading must be taught. Lets ask ourselves, how do we see the deaf child?

Ben Bahan (1998) has suggested changing deaf person with seeing person so that the emphasis shifts away from the negative toward the positive way deaf people relate to the world, through their eyes. According to Carol Erting understanding this difference is fundamental to conceptualizing our role as educators and parents of deaf children. It is the task of educators to create a linguistic and learning environment that is fully accessible to the child, rather that expect the child to communicate in ways that are impossible for him/her. Understanding how deaf children learn to read is important so that we can improve that process in the deaf population. Roughly 1 in 1000 children in the U.S. are born with severe to profoundly hearing loss. A child with a profound hearing loss may hear loud sounds perceived as vibrations. Learning to read the child must learn the mapping between the spoken language and the printed words, for the deaf child this is not easy. The deaf child does not have access to phonological code and many do not know any language well. Roland Tharp and Ronald Gallimore (Rousing Minds to Life), explain literacy as patterns of language and cognitive development that can develop through teaching and schooling. They also say that a literate person is one capable of reading, writhing, speaking, computing, reasoning, and manipulation visual as well as verbal symbols and concepts. This means that speech is not the only way to

language. Language can be learned through the eye rather than the ear. Deaf children can learn sign rather than spoken language. Erting says that we need to view the deaf child as whole, as a competent learner but one who requires a visual environment in order to thrive and that the problem does not reside in the child but in the environment. We need to meet the children in the visual world where they are and help them understand our world, which takes hearing for granted. Children are active and creative learners, but they need to be provided with social interactions frameworks if they are to learn (Bruner 1977). Before 1960, the only education that was available to a deaf child in a classroom was oral instruction. In 1960 Stokoe published the first linguistic analysis of ASL. Teachers of deaf thought that learning to sign English ought to be better to learn to read English than learning ASL, so they invented different systems (Signing Essential English, Seeing Essential English, Signing Exact English, Signed English; Lou, 1988) they referred to this group and Manually Coded English (MCE). The goal is for the child to learn through lip-reading and signs. MCE is signed while speaking, but most teachers find it hard to sign and speak at the same time. Also, some aspects of MCE are not easy to learn and the children distort these difficult aspects and change them to resemble signs in ASL. Studies by Mayberry & Eichen show that children who are

exposed to sign language late in childhood turn out to be less proficient and may never catch up in adulthood than those in early childhood. Findings suggest that deaf children read by using a code that is not based on sound and that deaf children of deaf parents are better readers than deaf children of hearing parents. One reason for this is that deaf children of deaf parents are more likely to have their hearing loss identified earlier and get the appropriate educational needs and they are fluent in ASL or other sign language. A study showed that knowing ASL does not interfere with learning to read in fact it may help to learn. Knowing a language is better for learning to read than not knowing one at all. The goal here is for the child to learn to map between the sign and the print. Padden and Ramsey (2000) call this technique chaining. The teacher fingerspells a word, then points to the word written on the blackboard and finally the teacher uses an initialized sign for the word. Currently there are several programs in use for educators and deaf children. The teacher and the child must establish a dialogue to communicate but the problem is that they begin in different places. Very few teachers are deaf and / or fluent in sign language. Teachers and parents of deaf children need to work together to create solutions. The deaf community- comprised of people who share a common visual orientation to the world- is the most important

resource we have, and it remains untapped (Erting). The bottom line is that children need to be taught to read both hearing and deaf. Learning to read is totally different then learning to speak. Children will learn the language of their community just by living there. Reading does not come naturally to all children or all individuals, it must be taught. Deaf and hearing must work together to understand how to instruct and turn signers into readers. There is a lot to learn on this subject and together hearing and deaf can teach and learn together.

References Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 16(4), 222229 Copyright 2001, The Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children How Do Profoundly Deaf Children Learn to Read? Susan GoldinMeadow (University of Chicago) ; Rachel I. Mayberry (McGill University) Sign Language Studies n75 p97-112 sum 1992 Deafness & Literacy: Why Cant Sam Read? ; Erting, Carol J HOW DO DEAF CHILDREN LEARN TO READ? By Preston Clark 4/29/03It has been said that reading requires two related capabilities, first you must be familiar with a language and second you must understand the mapping between that language and the printed word (Chamberlain & Mayberry, 2000). Deaf children are disadvantaged on both counts, but some deaf children do read fluently. Recent research has suggested that individuals with good signing skills are not worse readers than individuals with poor signing skills (c & m, 2000). Skill in signing does not guarantee skill in reading, reading must be taught. Lets ask ourselves, how do we see the deaf child? Ben Bahan (1998) has suggested changing deaf person with seeing person so that the emphasis shifts away from the

negative toward the positive way deaf people relate to the world, through their eyes. According to Carol Erting understanding this difference is fundamental to conceptualizing our role as educators and parents of deaf children. It is the task of educators to create a linguistic and learning environment that is fully accessible to the child, rather that expect the child to communicate in ways that are impossible for him/her. Understanding how deaf children learn to read is important so that we can improve that process in the deaf population. Roughly 1 in 1000 children in the U.S. are born with severe to profoundly hearing loss. A child with a profound hearing loss may hear loud sounds perceived as vibrations. Learning to read the child must learn the mapping between the spoken language and the printed words, for the deaf child this is not easy. The deaf child does not have access to phonological code and many do not know any language well. Roland Tharp and Ronald Gallimore (Rousing Minds to Life), explain literacy as patterns of language and cognitive development that can develop through teaching and schooling. They also say that a literate person is one capable of reading, writhing, speaking, computing, reasoning, and manipulation visual as well as verbal symbols and concepts. This means that speech is not the only way to language. Language can be learned through the eye rather than the ear. Deaf children can learn sign rather than spoken

language. Erting says that we need to view the deaf child as whole, as a competent learner but one who requires a visual environment in order to thrive and that the problem does not reside in the child but in the environment. We need to meet the children in the visual world where they are and help them understand our world, which takes hearing for granted. Children are active and creative learners, but they need to be provided with social interactions frameworks if they are to learn (Bruner 1977). Before 1960, the only education that was available to a deaf child in a classroom was oral instruction. In 1960 Stokoe published the first linguistic analysis of ASL. Teachers of deaf thought that learning to sign English ought to be better to learn to read English than learning ASL, so they invented different systems (Signing Essential English, Seeing Essential English, Signing Exact English, Signed English; Lou, 1988) they referred to this group and Manually Coded English (MCE). The goal is for the child to learn through lip-reading and signs. MCE is signed while speaking, but most teachers find it hard to sign and speak at the same time. Also, some aspects of MCE are not easy to learn and the children distort these difficult aspects and change them to resemble signs in ASL. Studies by Mayberry & Eichen show that children who are exposed to sign language late in childhood turn out to be less proficient and may never catch up in adulthood than those in

early childhood. Findings suggest that deaf children read by using a code that is not based on sound and that deaf children of deaf parents are better readers than deaf children of hearing parents. One reason for this is that deaf children of deaf parents are more likely to have their hearing loss identified earlier and get the appropriate educational needs and they are fluent in ASL or other sign language. A study showed that knowing ASL does not interfere with learning to read in fact it may help to learn. Knowing a language is better for learning to read than not knowing one at all. The goal here is for the child to learn to map between the sign and the print. Padden and Ramsey (2000) call this technique chaining. The teacher fingerspells a word, then points to the word written on the blackboard and finally the teacher uses an initialized sign for the word. Currently there are several programs in use for educators and deaf children. The teacher and the child must establish a dialogue to communicate but the problem is that they begin in different places. Very few teachers are deaf and / or fluent in sign language. Teachers and parents of deaf children need to work together to create solutions. The deaf community- comprised of people who share a common visual orientation to the world- is the most important resource we have, and it remains untapped (Erting). The bottom line is that children need to be taught to read

both hearing and deaf. Learning to read is totally different then learning to speak. Children will learn the language of their community just by living there. Reading does not come naturally to all children or all individuals, it must be taught. Deaf and hearing must work together to understand how to instruct and turn signers into readers. There is a lot to learn on this subject and together hearing and deaf can teach and learn together.

References Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 16(4), 222229 Copyright 2001, The Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children How Do Profoundly Deaf Children Learn to Read? Susan GoldinMeadow (University of Chicago) ; Rachel I. Mayberry (McGill University) Sign Language Studies n75 p97-112 sum 1992 Deafness & Literacy: Why Cant Sam Read? ; Erting, Carol JAn interview with Marc Marschark, PhD., Director of the Center for Education Research Partnerships at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at RIT, Rochester, New York. By Leeanne Seaver

Marschark Citings

The first time I ever heard of Marc Marschark, he was the bearer of bad news. His was the name (complete with a second syllable that sounds like the voracious ocean predator) that I'd associated with the statistic that froze my blood: deaf students graduating from high school with a third grade reading level. The news was so bad I wanted to cross myself, and I wanted to confront this man to see if he had it wrong. Could he recalculate? Maybe deaf third graders had the

Marschark Attack

reading level of a high school graduate? Turns out I was the one who had it wrong, as you'll read in the interview below. But I'm not alone. There's always been a feeding frenzy when it comes to deaf education research-every body ripping off the piece that best represents their school of thought. So how do we know what's spin from reel? (Ok, real, but I'm having fun with this metaphor.) I decided to follow my initial instincts and talk directly to the man himself. I tracked Marc Marschark all the way to the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (ICED) 2005 in Europe this past July. His powerful keynote, "Literacy of Deaf Children: About More than Literacy?" ought to be delivered everywhere deaf educators convene. I caught him again recently on campus at NTID/RIT. Marschark invited me to his office, brewed me a coffee, (from a special blend of Kenyan AA and Sumatran that he roasts himself), and he indulged every baited question I could pose. I liked him a lot; enough to forgive him for publishing his vanguard, Raising and Educating a Deaf Child , without virtue of having performed this feat himself. Snaps for nerve. In all fairness, the book appears comprehensive, highly recommended, and I haven't read it yet. The second edition will be published in late 2006 and available from Oxford University Press (www.oup.com). It's probably brilliant, and I'll be schooling around it with everyone else.citing anything that slides out of his mouth. Seaver : As the evil reporter of nasty statistics like "the average reading level of deaf high school graduates is grade level 3.9," you want to tell us the rest of the story? Marschark: First let's be little more specific: it's true that people say "deaf high school graduates are reading at a third to fourth grade level, that comes

Setting the Record Straight

from an article by Carol Bloomquist Traxler (2000) where she reported the norming of the SAT 9 Reading Comprehension subtest. In fact, what she showed was that the median (meaning 50% above, 50% below) was essentially the fourth-grade level or 3.9. Thus when people say "the average deaf student," that's not exactly true, nor is it true that "deaf students are graduating" at that level. That's a convenient way to say it, but it's really an oversimplification because part of the story is that 50% of deaf high school graduates read above the fourth-grade level. The way that you phrased it emphasizes everybody who's below the fourth-grade level. That brings us to the second part in which you are looking for the good news about this. Since about two years ago when I went to an ethics and deafness conference in Australia , I decided that I'm not going to "spin" anymore. You can't start spinning in one direction (I'm looking for a metaphor here) without sometimes bumping into something that's going to send you in the other direction. Eventually, you're going to get dizzy. In other words, you can't complain about one side not giving the whole truth and nothing but the truth if you're not willing to do it yourself. The other issue about the median reading level being the fourth grade is that we have done and continue to do a lousy job of teaching deaf kids to read. Notice that not much has changed since 1974. Whatever else you might want to say about mainstreaming, it didn't exactly raise reading levels. Whatever else you might want to say about Englishbased signing like SEE, it didn't raise reading levels! Research has never shown that kids raised with SEE read better than kids raised with ASL (but that opens another can of worms).

The Problem of Misunderstood Research

Marschark: My current soapbox is that if we haven't made any progress in teaching deaf children to read over the last hundred years, maybe we've been looking in the wrong place. And one of my major points at ICED was that some very well-intentioned misunderstandings and oversimplifications of research related to literacy have misdirected us to look in the wrong place. That's the fault of no one except the researchers and people who don't bother reading original sources (in part because often we don't write them in a way that people can read them). Instead, we end up playing "telephone" and the message gets lost. There is no good spin to reading at the fourth-grade level (except for the fact that 50% of kids are reading above that level). For me the good news is that--and you are really going to hate this because it sounds like the bad news--we have found that deaf students, regardless of parental hearing status, have exactly the same challenges in understanding sign language as they do in reading. In other words, it's not about reading English; that's just convenient for people to point to and say 'oh yes, well that has to do with spoken language.' Rather, this has to do with, at a minimum, K-12 education and the fact that deaf kids (regardless of school placement) are not getting the cognitive tools necessary to benefit from either the written word or the signed word (let alone the spoken word that they don't get with good fidelity). The reason why I think that's good news is that together with research on problem solving (where you see exactly the same challenges as in reading, understanding sign language, and language comprehension in general), I think everything is pointing in the same direction and we are now getting a handle on the cognitive underpinnings of comprehension and language to the point where I think we are about ready to make significant strides across all of these domains.

Seaver: So what do we really know about the kids who are reading at grade level compared to those above or below? Marschark: That reminds me of a question that a teacher asked me last week when I was doing a presentation at a school for the deaf. She asked whether it was "realistic" for us to expect deaf children to be reading on grade level. At that point, I gave up on my PowerPoint presentation and pulled up some data from a school I'm working with (another school for the deaf) that has focused on reading comprehension (and language at large) over the past four years. At this school, the classes of 2008 and 2009 are now reading on grade level. I'm talking about SAT9 reading comprehension scores being on grade level. It's not the case that they simply had two years of "star" students coming into the program, because their SAT mathematics scores are around the national median. So I know it's possible for deaf children to read on grade level -- I know it's realistic! What makes the kids at or above grade level different from those, let's say, below grade level? The answer to that will make some people crabby. First, in contrast to the mantra that we often hear, there is no evidence that deaf children of deaf parents read significantly better than deaf children of hearing parents simply because of that parental hearing status. Deaf children who are exposed to both sign language early and spoken language (and/or print) read better than deaf children who are exposed to only one or the other. The key is early language--not early sign language, or early spoken language, or parents who are deaf or parents who can stand on their heads. It's early effective access to language. Marschark: I know of only one study that tried to isolate what's different about the "good readers" from everybody else. It was a study done here at NTID a few

The Parent Factor

years ago. Although it was only a preliminary study, my own observations and the data available convinced me that it is 100% correct. What they did was to take the top 10-20 deaf readers/writers on campus, interview them, throw test batteries at them, and try to answer essentially your question. There were three key variables that distinguished the good reader/writers from everybody else: #1 Parents, #2 Parents, and #3 Parents. We know from research involving hearing children that parent involvement in both curricular and co-curricular school activities is associated with higher academic achievement. (And, interestingly, we also know that deaf and hearing parents participate very differently in those kinds of activities... but that's not the question.) Just as I mentioned that parents who expose their children to both early sign language and spoken language/print have kids who read the best, the point is that parents who are most involved in their children's early education--both formally and informally--are likely to have the children who have the best outcomes. To be fair, I fully recognize that not all parents have the same levels of motivation, not all are equally "able" to give the time and energy that other parents can give, and the psychological adjustment that parents have to do after discovering that their child is deaf is not as simple as I might make it seem here. I may be a non-parent, (hopefully tempering the extent to which parents actually believe what I'm saying) and I'm not picking on hearing parents. Nobody ever said having a deaf child was going to be easy. Most parents did not plan on or bargain for a deaf child with the responsibilities and challenges that child would entail. But both children and parents are remarkably resilient, and, as I said ICED, "We can do this!" Seaver: So it's boiling down to parents doing the right thing for their deaf child based on misunderstood research and a host of complex, unknown factors.

Welcome to my world! Marschark : My point is only that we have learned a lot in 100 years, and yet many professionals continue to only cite literature that meets their own philosophical inclinations. Whether they are people on the "right" or "left," they continue to be selective in both what they are willing to read, and in what they tell parents who are in a very vulnerable position. As long as we are unwilling to give parents "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," we are doing them and their children a great disservice. I fully understand that people have the best intentions and really believe that they are doing what's best for deaf children. But too many of the claims and counterclaims are based on what we know here [pointing to his gut] rather than what we know here, [pointing to his head]. A lot of the data out there are 100% clear, but many people are not willing to accept it. From deaf parents not really having children who read better, to sign language not really interfering with spoken language for children with implants, the facts make a lot of people very nervous. Seaver: If you became the parent of a deaf child, what would you do? Marschark: Interestingly, my view on that has changed quite a bit since 1997 when I wrote the first edition of Raising and Educating a Deaf Child. At that point, there were no data indicating that cochlear implants were of significant benefit to children with early or congenital hearing losses, and in my view, the possible benefits did not outweigh the risks. Since the second half of 2000, however, a wealth of evidence has clearly shown that most deaf children will benefit from cochlear implants, even if many of them will not benefit specifically with regard to spoken language (hearing environmental sounds can have important cognitive and social implications that should not be dismissed). So, now that I've seen the evidence, I would seriously

consider a cochlear implant for my child, even if, at the same time, I would push for the acquisition of ASL as a first language and use some English-based signing as a bridge to English print. At the same time, I used to be a radical advocate of mainstream education for young deaf children. Having done the research that I have over the past 12 years since I came to NTID, my view on that has changed as well. I believe it is now clear that deaf children do not learn the same way as hearing children, and education in a mainstream classroom by a hearing teacher with material structured (created and delivered) in a form intended for hearing students seems unlikely to optimize learning and match the strengths and needs of deaf children. Although I might like to change a lot about the way many schools for the deaf work, my own pendulum has now swung back to programs that take into account what we know about how deaf children learn, modifying instruction and instructional materials to match the way they think. I honestly believe that for many, if not most deaf children, this would be a way to allow them to reach their full potential. Yet, I realize that the social/economic/legislative pendulum is not likely to swing back this way in the near future. Marschark : The evidence has convinced me, more than ever, that there is never going to be a "one size fits all" solution for deaf children either educationally or in language. That's why I think Hands & Voices is so important: it emphasizes to parents that deaf children have to be seen as individuals, and we have to do what works . I would love to see a day when all deaf children are bilingual. I recognize that this is not likely to happen anytime soon, but as I have said, I think we could be doing a much better job of it than we have. It all starts with parents, and Hands & Voices seems to advocate

Solutions

the kind of flexibility that deaf children (and their families) really need while being willing to tell parents that it really is complicated... that there are not very many simple answers. Honestly, I am not saying that because this interview may go into The Communicator. The 2006 edition of Raising and Educating a Deaf Child says that more clearly than I have here... I have learned a lot in the last 10 years.

Quick FactsDid you know:1 in every 1000 children are born with a severe to profound hearing loss and about 5 in every 1000 children with a lesser degree hearing loss. This makes deafness the most common congenital birth defect. In Singapore around 160 children are born with hearing loss every year. This figure excludes many more with acquired hearing loss. 1 out of 11 people in the general Singapore population are hearingimpaired and age-related hearing loss is so common that about 50% of the population is expected to have significant hearing loss by 80 years of age (Universal Newborn Hearing Screening in

Singapore: The Need, Implementation and Challenges WK Low et al, Annals Academy of Medicine 2005).The auditory (hearing) system is mature at birth. Children with typical hearing begin to learn language as soon as they are born and are most receptive to learning language during the first 12 to 18 months of life. 90% of babies who are born with atypical hearing have parents with typical hearing. Infants with atypical hearing that are enrolled in appropriate early intervention services by 6 months of age are likely to have normal language and cognitive development.

Communication OptionsHere are some options to consider: Learn to use the childs hearing and speak. This is the auditory-oral method and it helps the child to listen, read lips and speak. The Canossian School in Singapore supports this method Learn to listen using the childs residual hearing to listen and speak. This is called auditory-verbal therapy. This method does not encourage lip reading. Each of the three hospital centres listed above support this method. Learn to use sign language. The Singapore Association for the Deaf supports this method Learn to use hand shapes that stand for sounds. This is called cued speech. It uses hand shapes to show the sounds you cant see by reading lips. Learn to use some of these methods together. This is called total communication. The Singapore School for the Deaf supports this method

Special Education Hard of Hearing and Deaf Students: A Resource Guide to Support Classroom TeachersTip Sheet for Classroom AdaptationStudents with hearing loss need to see your face all the time to speechread and get meaning clues. Your non-verbal communication is crucial. Use your smiles to encourage, invite, and include. Optimum natural lighting is important. Try not to stand in front of lights or windows as they cause your face to go in shadow. Speaking naturally is the most help to your student with hearing loss. Talking very loudly or over-enunciating does not help your student, in fact it makes it harder for him/her. You will need to discuss the best seating arrangement in the

room with the student. Consideration must be given to the best place for receiving maximum information within the normal flow of classroom activities. Vocabulary lists with definitions of new terms and concepts to be used during the day help the student to develop a personal dictionary of words learned. An outline of the class agenda--just 3 or 4 points jotted on the board really helps the student get a sense of purpose, direction, and timing for short term work which fits into the longer range planning. Course or grade outline of the topics and kind of work to be done may be useful. Provide an outline of a typical school day with the student's own timetable. Include room numbers and a list of people who can assist (e.g. counsellor, school secretary). If there is class discussion or group work, it is useful to summarize on the board or have the groups report their work on large paper that can be read as a group. Use of overheads, visuals, handouts and outlines may be helpful. Other students in the class may be asked to volunteer as a buddy to take notes and help you watch for the need for more clarification.

Special Education Hard of Hearing and Deaf Students: A Resource Guide to Support Classroom TeachersCommunication Tip SheetOne-to-One:

Get the student's attention with a soft touch or visual sign and keep eye contact. Speak naturally without overemphasizing. Short sentences are best. Keep mouth visible. (Don't turn away, cover your mouth, etc.) Facilitate speech reading by not standing in front of windows or

other light sources. Use the words "I" and "you" and keep direct eye contact, even when using an interpreter. Remember you are communicating directly with the student. Use gestures, body language, and facial expressions to support communication. Use open-ended questions that invite interaction and wait. This prevents the student from nodding without really comprehending. Check comprehension of instructions or content of lessons. A direct question such as ' tell me what you need to do ' is better than 'do you understand'. Repeat, and then rephrase if you have problems being understood. Use pencil and paper if necessary since some combinations of consonants and vowels are difficult to speech read. Getting the message across is most important.In Groups:

Identify the speaker. Identify the topic, repeat questions asked, and summarize whenever possible. Insist on one speaker at a time and reduced general noise. Provide new vocabulary ahead of time or write on board or on chart paper. Make sure the student who is hard of hearing or deaf gets all the vital information. You may need to repeat answers given by students seated behind the student with a hearing loss. Seat the student where he/she can see the speaker and classmates, and receive the clearest possible audio signal (round table or semi-circle arrangements are best). Usually the student will know where to sit. Remain in one position as much as possible when speaking. Walking up and down in front of the class makes speech reading difficult. Invite full participation from the student who is hard of hearing or deaf and ensure that turn-taking occurs. Interpreters (oral and signing) can assist in group situations and will need a bit more time to finish transferring the speaker's message. Use a note taker where possible to record information. This

allows the student to fully attend to the conversation. (It's impossible to speech read and take notes at the same time.)Through an Interpreter:

Speak directly to the student who is hard of hearing or deaf, not the interpreter. The interpreter is not part of the conversation and relays everything you say. Allow some extra time for the interpreter to transfer your complete message and for the student to form thoughtful questions and responses. Speak clearly in normal tones at a well-paced rate and volume. Provide good lighting for the student and interpreter, especially during slides, films, videos. An outline of main points ahead of time is helpful. In classes, outlines of the materials to be studied, new vocabulary, and lots of visual aids assist the student and the interpreter. During a normal class day, the interpreter will need regular breaks. The student needs breaks as well, because reading sign is an intensive kind of work. It is helpful to spend a few minutes ahead of class with the interpreter to briefly review the topics, agenda, and information.Hints for Note takers:

Arriving a few minutes early to talk with the teacher really helps. Leaving wide margins makes it easy for later notes and questions. Each page should be dated and numbered. Highlighting the main points helps organize the notes and emphasize topics. Ask the speaker to check your notes for accuracy at the end of class

ACADEMICS- Literacy and Numeracy & Handwriting Skills

Literacy & Educational TherapyWe provide literacy, educational therapy and learning support services. Our educational therapists work with children in pre-primary up to those in secondary schools requiring educational remedial sessions, such as reading, mathematics, coping strategies, organizational skills, focus / attention issues, handwriting, visual-tracking and memory issues. Sessions are structured to meet the needs of the child and are conducted either on (a) One-to-one basis or (b) Group basis, limited up to 3 students. Our therapists tailor programmes to the needs of the student and are trained in a variety of approaches including:a) Orton-Gillingham Approach The Orton-Gilingham approach is language-based, multi-sensory, structured, sequential, cumulative, cognitive and flexible. It is an intensive, sequential phonics-based system teaches the basics of word formation before whole meanings. The method accommodates and utilizes the three learning modalities, or pathways, through which people learnvisual, auditory and kinesthetic.

Literacy and Language Skills

Orton-Gillingham Approach The Orton-Gilingham approach is used to remediate Phonics to children who require an intensive, sequential phonics-based system of learning the basics of word formation before whole meanings. The method accommodates and utilizes the four learning modalities, mainlyvisual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile. The Literacy and Language component covers the Writing portion where it focuses on teaching reading and spelling skills using the Orton Gillingham approach, which involves direct, systematic and cumulative instruction, incorporating multi-sensory elements. It taps on the child's strengths and interests, moving in a spiral progression by building on previously learnt skills. The Comprehension portion takes on from writing where it goes further into learning comprehension skills like inference, contextual clues, prediction and other vital skills needed to approach a passage. The Literacy and Language component also covers sthe Oracy component where it provides structure opportunities for speaking, listenng and vocabulary development. It involves ranging from simple tasks to more challenging ones requiring higher level thinking and speaking

skills. Numeracy The Numeracy programe attempts to deal with areas like basic numeracy, sequencing, visual - spatial awareness and information processing. It uses multisensory methods to help learners with the basics nuneracy, understand mathematical symbols, briding and seeing links between topics and to come out with strategies for learning and coping. The programe targets at K2 P3 children, the U graders (under the current MOE system grading scale) and those who are studying in the Foundation Level (under the Singapore MOE system)

ABSTRACT The use or non-use of music in classrooms with deaf students was investigated in this study. Using information from a questionnaire distributed to elementary and middle school teachers at a state school for the deaf in the southeastern region on their use or nonuse of music and analyzed thematically, the researchers found that music is used to a limited extent in classrooms for the deaf. The findings and implications are discussed. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this research is two-fold: to identify if music is used in classrooms for the deaf and to identify ways music is incorporated in classrooms with deaf students.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE Although music has been used in educating persons who are deaf for at least 150 years, many people view the idea of using music in the classroom with deaf children as a strange and somewhat futile idea (Darrow & Heller, 1985). Research on music education for the deaf is limited to a few researchers. The focus of their research has been mainly on music for speech training . However, the research

has shown that many deaf students have been denied the opportunity to experience any kind of music education in either residential or mainstream settings. A survey published in 1932 found that music was used in 91% of special education classes (Solomon, 1980). However, in a more recent study, only a little over half of the residential and day schools for students who are deaf surveyed offered music as a part of the curriculum. For those students in public schools, 47% of schools do not offer selfcontained music classes for deaf students who are not mainstreamed (Darrow & Gfeller, 1991). Therefore, many deaf children are not provided with music classes and have limited exposure to music and its history. There are many reasons for the lack of music in the curriculum. As stated earlier, however, the primary reason appears to be the belief that any attempt to educate the deaf in the area of music is futile. This appears to stem from the idea that the ear is the sense organ that provides the pathway through which music appreciation occurs. Thus, there is a conclusion that someone who cannot hear cannot appreciate music. Recent research offers a different conclusion. It suggests that music is a language that speaks to all people (Darrow, 1991). Therefore, one does not have to hear music to internalize the meaning of music. Furthermore, different meanings can be derived from music depending on the past experiences of the individual and how he or she relates to the music. According to Darrow, "The satisfaction derived from music is a matter of preference not handicap" (1985, p. 35). There are other senses through which d deaf individuals can understand and appreciate music. For example, a deaf individual can enjoy music through tactile and visual stimulation. Moreover, deaf individuals may also be able to hear tones that occur within their range of residual hearing. These data suggest that "because of the wide range of frequencies and usual intensity, the perception of music is generally more accessible to the hearing impaired student than the complexities of speech" (Darrow, 1985, p. 49). The hearing range of deaf children

is highly variable and individualized. Often it is difficult to know exactly what the child is able to receive both in daily life and in auditory training. Music could benefit a child in many areas of his/her life. Music is a part of cultural identity. Without exposure to music, its history, and its composers, deaf children are missing a valuable piece of the collective society 's cultural education. As Tracy states, "It [music] can express emotional experiences and mirror cultural heritage regardless of handicap" (1980, p. 744). Music can also be used as a relaxation tool for children who are tense or hyperactive. Related music objectives could include improving certain aspects of speech; improving bodily control and coordination; encouraging self-expression, imagination, and creativity; developing an awareness of the rhythm in the child 's environment; and promoting socialization by encouraging conventional behaviors (Fahey & Birkenshaw, 1972). All of this might be accomplished by focusing on rhythm, movement, and the prosodic elements of music.

PROBLEM If music education is an important part of any educational curriculum, how can teachers expose deaf children to music? Although use of music to support the development of speech and auditory training or more specifically of rhythms, constitutes a notable part of the literature in deaf education, it is not the focus of this study. The study also does not focus on the development of music classes for deaf children. Rather, we suggest that music can be used as a medium to enrich classroom content as it does for hearing students. Darrow and Gfeller state, "Research in perception and performance of music indicates that the skills of hearing impaired students are not significantly different from their

hearing peers if appropriate and/or supplementary procedures are utilized " (1991, p. 36). For example, the violin and viola provide supplementary vibratory stimulation because of their placement on the shoulder. Also, cymbals provide vibratory stimulus and chromatic bells offer a wide range of pitches (Darrow, 1985, p. 5556; Darrow, 1991, p. 34). The addition of music to a class could provide an additional layer of education, expression, and motivation for the students. For the purpose of our study, music is defined as including music theory (the elements of music which are sound, performing media: voices and instruments, rhythm, music notation, melody, harmony, key, musical texture, musical form, performance, and musical style), music history (the study of the changing musical styles that occur at certain time periods which are the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Classical, the Romantic, and the Twentieth Century), and music appreciation (listening or performing music for enjoyment and recreational purposes).

METHOD 1. The researchers obtained a list of the teachers in the elementary and middle school departments from a list of teachers' names provided in the school's handbook. There were twenty elementary and middle school classroom teachers, with half being elementary and half being middle school. 2. The researchers sent a questionnaire to the teachers within each department. Our rationale for using this approach was that it will allow for greater anonymity since the participant does not meet the researchers, as in an interview. Also, a questionnaire is not as time consuming for the subject as is an interview. The last question on the questionnaire was open-ended: How do you use music in your classroom? By providing multiple choice answers or a checklist,

the teachers were free to list anything they felt was a method for using music in the classroom. One risk involved was that the researcher could inadvertently identify a participant. A limitation of the method is that the teacher responses cannot completely convey what occurs in the classroom. 3. The researchers analyzed the data using a thematic approach. Although twenty questionnaires were sent, only sixteen were returned. Eight questionnaires were from elementary school and eight were from middle school. Analyzing the data using a thematic approach enabled the researchers to determine the similar and different ways music was used or if music was used, within and between the two departments.

FINDINGS The questionnaires were evenly divided in their responses. Eight of the questionnaires were from elementary. Four stated that they did not use music in their classrooms, and four did use music in their classrooms. Likewise, of the eight responses from middle school, four did not use music in the classroom, and four stated that they did use music in their classroom. It should be noted that those teachers who used music in their classrooms listed various methods by which it was used. The total responses regarding the use of music in the classroom were grouped thematically into four different areas: (1) music using voice or instruments; (2) music for speech training; (3) music related to subject areas; and (4) music as enrichment in order to enhance classroom learning. Music using voice or instruments Responses in this group included singing songs with sign, teaching students to play the handbells, individual listening activities, and a free exploration center using a keyboard.

"I have also used the handbells at Christmas--the children have learned two or three songs." "I set up a small electronic keyboard and allowed the students to 'play' the piano. Some of the students with residual hearing really enjoyed it!" Music for speech training Responses in this group included teaching about voice--intonation, tone, pitch, on/off, and recognizing the presence of sound. '' 'Listening time-body movement' I encourage the children to listen to the music even when they are...focusing on body movement to see if they could stop when [the music is] off." Music related to subject areas Responses in this group included music when studying about science and other cultures in social studies. 'Music was used during two lessons on sound waves, dB, and frequency." "We study cultures in the older grades and always seem to get into [the cultural dances--[this] leaves a strong impression on the kids." Music for enrichment to enhance classroom learning Responses in this category included using rhythm to aid memorization, using music as a relaxation tool in order to provide a positive classroom climate by providing for the teacher's comfort, and using music as a learning tool in student initiated activities. "Basically, I use music in the classroom for my peace of mind.

Although I don't have a specific purpose for the students, I feel the music allows [me] to maintain a calm demeanor with the students (even during [those] more turbulent times)." "I have had children bring me a tape and ask me to listen to it and write down the words for them." DISCUSSION The responses to the questionnaire were evenly distributed among elementary school and middle school teachers. It should be noted that elementary school at this residential school for the deaf includes preschool through fourth grade, and middle school includes fifth through eighth grade. Half of the sixteen responses indicated that the teachers did not use music in their classrooms. Those who did use music in the classroom listed a variety of ways in which music was incorporated in their classrooms for the deaf. There was no significant difference in the way music was used in elementary school as compared to that of middle school. However, it should be noted that one teacher indicated that he/she had been informed that teaching music to deaf children was inappropriate. Therefore, they may be a stigma attached to efforts to use music in the classroom with deaf students.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The data from this research suggest that music is used in four different ways in classrooms with deaf students: music using voice or instruments, music for speech training, music related to subject areas, and music to enhance classroom learning. These themes and the additional comments on the questionnaires underscore the research, which suggests that music is used to a limited extent in classrooms for the deaf. Although some of the respondents indicated the use of music to some extent in their classrooms, half

of the teachers did not use music. Music is a way to enrich the classroom by providing memory aids, information about other cultures, and to provide experience with music and musical instruments. Therefore, additional research needs to be done to determine specific ways music has successfully been used in classrooms for the deaf. Also, this argues for research and change within teacher education programs. A teacher with training in music education may be more likely to incorporate elements of music within his/her classroom. Music provides an additional way for students, both deaf and hearing, to experience and learn about the world around them. All students deserve this opportunity and should not be denied the opportunity based on a "disability." REFERENCES

Darrow, A. (1991). An assessment and comparison of hearing impaired children's preference for timbre and musical instruments. Journal of Music Therapy, 28(1), 48-59. Darrow, A. (1985). Music for the deaf. Music Educators Journal, 17(6), 33-35. Darrow, A., & Gfeller K. (1991). A study of public school music programs mainstreaming hearing impaired students. Journal of Music Therapy, 28(1), 23-39. Darrow, A, & Heller, G. H. (1985). Early advocates of music education for the hearing impaired: William Wolcott Turner and David Ely Bartlett. Journal of Research in Music Education, 33(4), 269-279. Fahey, J., & Birkenshaw, L. (1972). Bypassing the ear: The perception of music by feeling and touch. Music Educators Journal, 58(8), 44-49.

Solomon, A. (1980). Music in special education before 1930: Hearing and speech development. Journal of Research in Music Education, 28 ,236-242. Tracy, S. D. (1980, September). The human body: A unique media experience. American Annals of the Deaf, pp. 743-745. Uploaded By: Jessica Soltesz/KSU/Deaf Education Major

Music & Deafness Page

The Role of Music Instruction in the Education of Children Who Are DeafDarrow, A. A. (1993). The role of music in deaf culture: Implications for music education. Journal of Research in Music Education, 41(2), 93-110. The results of a survey of 300 TDD users indicated that respondents who attended music classes while in school were more involved in musical activities than respondents who did not attend music classes. Results also indicated that respondents who were mainstreamed were more likely to have received music instruction than respondents who were educated in self-contained classrooms were. Another strong factor in predicting involvement in musical activities was the degree of identification with Deaf culture. Singing and/or signing songs was the most preferred musical activity among the respondents. Ritual uses of music and music

preferences were also examined.

Gouge, P. (1990). Music and profoundly deaf students. British Journal of Music Education, 7(3), 279-281. Gouge urges British music educators to include students who are deaf in their music classes as he shares his experiences with the Music Club, a group of 15-year-old students who are deaf. Gouge examines the ways that students who are deaf relate to music and questions the assumptions made by music educators, which keep them from including students who, are deaf from their classes.

Darrow, A. A., & Starmer, G.J. (1986). The effect of vocal training on the intonation and rate of hearing impaired childrens speech: A pilot study. Journal of Music Therapy, 23(4), 194-201. The effect of vocal training on the fundamental frequency, frequency range, and speech rate of children who are deaf, was examined through analysis of their speech before and after receiving 8 weeks of vocal music instruction. Results of this analysis revealed significant changes in fundamental frequency and frequency range. The researchers concluded that vocal music training should be a part of the education of children who are deaf for its benefits to speech training.

Darrow, A. A. & Heller, G.N. (1985). Early advocates of music education for the hearing impaired: William Wolcott Turner and David Ely. Journal of Research in Music Education, 33(4), 269279. A look at music education in the early history of the education of the deaf in the United States and discussion of the arguments for music education for children who are deaf put forth by Turner and Ely in their 1848 article which appeared in the American Annals of the Deaf.

Darrow, A. A. (1985). Music for the Deaf. Music Educators Journal, 71(6), 33-35. Stating that hearing impairment does not eliminate the music responsiveness of children who are deaf, Darrow describes adaptation of music activities for children who are deaf. Darrow also discusses music instruction as a tool of speech therapy in the development of good listening habits, auditory skills, figureground discrimination, sequential memory, and rhythm of speech.

Atkins, W. & Donovan, M. (1984). A workable music education program for the hearing impaired. Volta Review, 86(1), 41-44. A description of the music classes at an elementary school, which contains a program for students who have hearing impairments.

The application of the Kodaly method of music instruction in a multi-sensory approach is described. The authors advocate music instruction for musics sake.

Spitzer, M. (1984). A survey of the use of music in schools for the hearing impaired. Volta Review, 86(7), 362-363. A brief report of a nation-wide survey of 91 schools for children who are hearing impaired found that 57% of these schools included music in their programs. The survey also asked schools about their view of the purpose of music instruction in their curricula. For most of these schools (65%) improving speech was the goal of music instruction and 91% of the schools including music in their curriculum reported improvements in their students' speech. Musically trained teachers were reported to be more successful in achieving this goal.

Solomon, A. L (1980). Music in special education before 1930: Hearing and speech development. Journal of Research in Music Education, 28, 236-242. In supporting his contention that music was an important part of early special education, Solomon presents historical evidence of music education at schools for the deaf. In examining this evidence he finds that not only was singing taught to improve speech, music was also used as a diagnostic tool before the invention of audiology equipment.

Hummel C. J. M. (1971). The value of music in teaching deaf students. Volta Review, 73(4), 224-228,243-245. After a brief review of the history of music education for the deaf, Hummel examines the use of music instruction with children who are deaf. She concludes that music is an effective teaching tool because it is fun to do and that music is useful in teaching rhythm and sound perception as well as aiding children's speech development. A bibliography listing more than 100 books and articles about the education of and music instruction for children who are deaf is included in this article.

Sandberg, M. W. (1954). Rhythms and music for the deaf and hard of hearing. Volta Review, 56(6), 255-256. This article examines the ways music is used to teach a sense of rhythm, establish a sense of confidence and poise, encourage selfexpression, develop neuromuscular skills, encourage social development and adjustment, improve awareness of pitch and meter, practice lipreading, develop breath control, and relieve the tension of the constant struggle of language training in the education of children who are deaf. Examples of specific teaching techniques and activities are included.

Music & Deafness Page

Methods Used in Music

Instruction of Children who are DeafDarrow, A. A. (1992). The effect of vibrotactile stimuli via the SOMATRON (tm) on the identification of pitch change by hearing impaired children. Journal of Music Therapy, 29(2), 103-112. Ten out 17 children who had severe and profound hearing loss were able to identify change in pitch more accurately when the sounds were supplemented with vibrotactile stimulation.

Darrow, A. A. (1990). The effect of frequency adjustment on the vocal reproduction accuracy of hearing impaired children. The Journal of Music Therapy, 27(1), 24-33. Eight students with severe to profound hearing loss were found to reproduce pitches more accurately when the graphic equalizer of the sound system on which the stimulus pitches were played was adjusted to complement their audiological response curve, than when a flat frequency adjustment was used.

Darrow, A. A., & Goll, H. (1989). The effect of vibrotactile stimuli via the SOMATRON (tm) on the identification of rhythmic concepts by hearing impaired children. Journal of Music Therapy, 26(3), 115-124.

Twenty-nine students who had severe to profound hearing losses were found to be better at identifying change in rhythm when the auditory stimulus was supplemented with vibrotactile stimulation.

Darrow, A. A. (1987). The art of sign and song. Music Educators Journal, 74(1), 32-35. The use of signed songs is examined. The issues discussed include: choosing a sign language system, accuracy in sign language translation, reflection of volume, pitch and mood in sign language, and synchronization of sign language. The benefits of song-signing are seen as improvement in language learning and improvement in communication between children who are deaf and their nondisabled peers.

Birkenshaw, L. (1965). Teaching music to deaf children. Volta Review, 67(5), 352-358, 387. In this description of an Orff-based music program at a school for the deaf which used the oral method, the goal of music instruction is seen to be speech development. Specific techniques and activities for music instruction are described.

Edwards, E. M. (1974). Music Education for the Deaf. South Waterford, ME: Merriam-Eddy Company. After tracing the history of music education for children who are deaf, Edwards discusses a rationale for it. A curriculum for the general music education of children who are deaf is presented with goals, objectives, and suggested classroom activities.

List of methodsAuditory/oral (old kinds, touch vs. no touch, many methods) Auditory/verbal (known also as the "listen-no-peeking" method--CI uses this) Cued Speech Brief description: It is a manual augment to auditory/oral/speechreading. As such, it is really closer to an oral than manual approach. It is a set of handshapes made at various locations around the face. It is used to help distinguish between different sounds that look similar on the lips and to make speechreading easier. It is popular in Australia and Canada, apparently, with some use in the US. In some programs it is used only by the teacher; in other programs, the children are encouraged to use it, also (expressive cuing). Some parents learn it, and some cued-speech kids are mainstreamed with help from Cued Speech transliterators (interpreters). SEE-1 - Seeing Essential English This method was developed by David Anthony. It is based upon signing in morphemes or units of meaning. It is known also as MSS. SEEING ESSENTIAL ENGLISH (SEE I) and SIGNED EXACT ENGLISH (SEE II) - The idea behind these systems is that Deaf children will learn English better if they are exposed, visually through signs, to the grammatical features of English. the base signs are borrowed from ASL,

but the various inflections are not used. A lot of inialitization is used. Additionally, a lot of "grammatical markers" for number, person, tense, etc. are added and strict English word order is used. Every article, conjunction, auxillary verb, etc. is signed. Also, English homophones are represented by identical signs (i.e. the same sign is used for the noun fish and the verb fish, which have different ASL signs). The difference between the two is minor - the principle one being that in SEE II ASL signs for compound words (like butterfly) are used, where the two signs representing the separate English words are used in SEE I. SEE-1 and SEE-2 are signing systems rather than languages on their own. Therefore some people claim that exposure to them does not provide children with the complete linguistic access, which is needed to internalize whole language. SEE-2 - Signing Exact English This method was developed by Gerilee Gustason. It uses lots of initialized/ASL signs + endings, and is very literal. See above for more information. L.O.V.E. - Linguistics of Visual English This method was developed by Dennis Wampler. It has similarities to SEE2 and Bornstein's Signed English method. It is a signing system rather than language on its own. Therefore some people claim that exposure to L.O.V.E. does not provide children with the complete linguistic access, which is needed to internalize whole language. V.E. - Visual English A mention of this term was seen. It is not known whether this is the same as L.O.V.E. or not. Signed English This method was developed by Harry Bornstein, one of the people on the Gallaudet Signed English project (those little books for children you see in various public libraries).

SIGNED ENGLISH is similar to SEE-1 and SEE-2, but a little simpler. It is primarily intended, by my understanding, for use with young children and the intellectually limited. It uses English word order, but fewer grammatical markers than the SEE systems - it has fourteen, based on Brown's 14 grammatical morphemes (e.g. plural /s/, poessive /s/, /ed/, /ly/, /er/, /ing/, /est/, I should know what the others are but I don't.) The problem with these systems is that they are SLOW. They are easier to learn for hearing people than ASL, but they are slower to use, because, on average, signs take twice as long as words to produce. So the average proposition takes twice as long to express. Also, you have to be grammatically very self-aware to use them. The research shows that most parents and many teachers who are trying to use these systems end up leaving out many of the gramamtical markers and that many children exposed to them end up modifying them to more ASL-like forms. Pidgin Sign English This is a contact language, which ranges from being more Englishy to being more like ASL. PIDGIN SIGNED ENGLISH is what happens when adults try to learn ASL, basically. It is ASL and some of its grammar (how much varies from person to person) in English word order and with other "englishism" (like aux. verbs). Children exposed to PSE will often produce grammatically perfect ASL. Sign English This method uses more ASL and fewer markers than Bornstein's Signed English method. Amelish This term was coined by Bernard Bragg from Texas. This method uses lots of ASL & fs in English order. C.A.S.E - Conceptually Accurate Signed English This is like Englishy PSE or Bragg's Amelish.

It is a signing system rather than language on its own. Therefore some people claim that exposure to C.A.S.E. does not provide children with the complete linguistic access, which is needed to internalize whole language. ASL This is a language on its own, which uses no voice. It has its own grammatical structure and its own linguistic structure. In the past, this language was called also AMESLAN. SLE [I have no information about it.] M.C.E. - Manually Coded English As one of the contributors to this article understand it, MANUALLY CODED ENGLISH is not a a particular method - it is a general description of all the system that attempt to reflect English grammar, etc on the hands. ROCHESTER METHOD This method is not very popular. every word is fingerspelled. (Sounds awfully tedious.) Total Communication See http://www.zak.co.il/deaf-info/old/zpig.html#total_communication

Obesity in Children

Managing Obesity Through Diet In Singapore, the percentage of obese school children has remained at about 12% for the past 3 ye amount of body fat.

Being obese has many adverse consequences. The extra weight that obese children carry can put pain, making simple activities more difficult to do. They may also suffer emotional and social conse about their weight and this may cause the child to be self-conscious and embarrassed. Children wh become obese adults. Obesity later in life is associated with heart disease, high cholesterol, high bl reasons, actions to prevent obesity should begin early in life.

George Balsey, a deaf architect in Amherst, MA states that we create visu-centric spaces where the Deaf could see everything which helps with visual communication. For our designs we also deal with light natural and artificial, high tech thats available

for the deaf especially in educational settings and communications. We look for one communication system that works for both the deaf and hearing. We focus more on seeing and be seen.

Deaf people require an unobstructed line of sight. Hearing people can hear from another room, even from upstairs, not so with a Deaf person, says Staci Greenberg of INterior Design Services. Greenberg, who is the mother of a deaf daughter, emphasizes that Lighting is another important consideration. If the Deaf person is trying to see someone signing to them and the light is behind the signer, it is not possible for them to see what is being signed. Well-placed lighting source will address that issue.

Factors to ConsiderSome of the criteria came to light after talking with different people including some deaf architects and designers who deal with either commercial or residential space:

* Use of partial walls - less than floor-to-ceiling height; * Placement of windows locate them so they produce diffused light, not glaring light; * Use of building materials such as clouded glass instead of brick, concrete, or drywall, to create privacy and still feel open; * Wooden floors so banging can be felt from other rooms; * Select colors on floors as not to confuse a Deaf persons wide vision range; * Use curved corners instead of right-angled walls or sharp turns; * Create an open Kitchen to be visually accessible to adjacent rooms; * Position light switches outside bathroom and bedrooms; * Implement circular areas to see each other comfortably; * Create wide, non-white sidewalks outdoors to accommodate people walking and signing to each other, and avoid glare of sunlight.

Universal Design

The SmithGroup, who was involved in developing the Sorenson Language and Communication Center, says that the building "establishes a new level of architectural accommodation... Because the hearing-challenged community uses visual cues as a primary means of communication, lighting is a key component of the SmithGroup design on both functional and aesthetic levels." "Personally, I've come to a conclusion that the Deaf Space principles would benefit everyone all over the world, not just deaf people, because humans are naturally collective and tactile," says Ryan Commerson, a graduate student at Gallaudet University who enrolled in a course on Deaf Space, For me, Deaf Space is just one more validation that being deaf is truly a great thing; that being a visual-tactile oriented member of a collectivist culture has something of value that can be shared with the world."

Deaf Senior HousingWith the baby boom generation entering retirement age, designing and building housing for deaf seniors are including elements of design to meet the specific needs of deaf people. Deaf seniors are moving into deaf-friendly assisted living apartments and senior housing with open kitchens and living rooms and strategically placed lighting. Clubrooms with kitchens are created within large open spaces.

Thinking Deaf Space Makes Sense

Deaf and hearing architects and designers can incorporate their designs into a viable presentation of Deaf Space that can fit either a residential or commercial environment. It does not exclude use of that space by hearing people. Incorporating criteria for Deaf Space could enhance use of space, and possibly improve its marketability in todays volatile real estate market.

The idea of 'Deaf Space' goes back over 100 years ago to Olof Hansen, one of the first deaf architects, who designed the Dawes House at Gallaudet University, deaf clubhouses and state buildings across the country and even in Venezuela. Several years ago, a deaf couple in Faribault, Minnesota, was looking for a home. One day a husband saw a house he liked very much. He asked his wife to come see it. She loved it. It had fewer walls which gave the feeling of being roomy with windows giving plenty of light, etc. They bought the house. Not until later did they discover that the architect was none other than Olof Hansen, the Deaf architect. The house gave the feeling of being deaf-friendly. What is 'Deaf Space'? Robert Arnold, a Deaf Studies professor at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA explains that 'Deaf Space' is a definition of architecture from building inside and out, and including the landscape. A cultural example: an igloo, you would know what that's from and who, what culture, a teepee, an African hut, a mansion, a log cabin, etc.". George Balsey, a deaf architect in Amherst, MA states that "we create visu-centric spaces where the Deaf could see everything which helps with visual communication. For our designs we also

deal with light - natural and artificial, high tech that's available for the deaf especially in educational settings and communications. We look for one communication system that works for both the deaf and hearing. We focus more on seeing and be seen". Deaf people require an unobstructed line of sight. Hearing people can hear from another room, even from upstairs, not so with a Deaf person", says Staci Greenberg of Interior Design Services. Greenberg, who is the mother of a deaf daughter, emphasizes that "Lighting is another important consideration. If the Deaf person is trying to see someone signing to them and the light is behind the signer, it is not possible for them to see what is being signed. Wellplaced lighting source will address that issue." Factors to Consider Some of the criteria came to light after talking with different people including some deaf architects and designers who deal with either commercial or residential space: * Use of partial walls - less than floor-to-ceiling height; * Placement of windows - locate them so they produce diffused light, not glaring light; * Use of building materials such as clouded glass instead of brick, concrete, or drywall, to create privacy and still feel open; * Wooden floors - so banging can be felt from other rooms; * Select colors on floors as not to confuse a Deaf person's wide

vision range; * Use curved corners instead of right-angled walls or sharp turns; * Create an open Kitchen to be visually accessible to adjacent rooms; * Position light switches outside bathroom and bedrooms; * Implement circular areas to see each other comfortably; * Create wide, non-white sidewalks outdoors to accommodate people walking and signing to each other, and avoid glare of sunlight. Universal Design The SmithGroup, who was involved in developing the Sorenson Language and Communication Center, says that the building "establishes a new level of architectural accommodation... Because the hearing-challenged community uses visual cues as a primary means of communication, lighting is a key component of the SmithGroup design on both functional and aesthetic levels." "Personally, I've come to a conclusion that the 'Deaf Space' principles would benefit everyone all over the world, not just deaf people, because humans are naturally collective and tactile," says Ryan Commerson, a graduate student at Gallaudet University who enrolled in a course on 'Deaf Space', "For me, 'Deaf Space' is just one more validation that being deaf is truly a great thing; that being a visual-tactile oriented member of a collectivist culture has something of value that can be shared with the world."

Deaf Senior Housing With the baby boom generation entering retirement age, designing and building housing for deaf seniors are including elements of design to meet the specific needs of deaf people. Deaf seniors are moving into deaf-friendly assisted living apartments and senior housing with open kitchens and living rooms and strategically placed lighting. Clubrooms with kitchens are created within large open spaces. Thinking 'Deaf Space' Makes Sense

Deaf and hearing architects and designers can incorporate their designs into a viable presentation of 'Deaf Space' that can fit either a residential or commercial environment. It does not exclude use of that space by hearing people. Incorporating criteria for 'Deaf Space' could enhance use of space, and possibly improve its marketability in today's volatile real estate market.

Accommodations for the Deaf: Designing

Designing For The Deaf By Amanda Milam-Porteous

11/28/2008 There are several things to consider when a person designs a building. The ideas and decisions that need to be made can be difficult for an untrained professional. Even a trained professional can have a hard time designing a building if she is designing for a particular culture she is unfamiliar with. If the designers had a person of that particular culture help with the design decisions not only would the designing be much easier but also more functional and practical for that culture. There is a huge range of situations that one would need to consider when designing a school building for the deaf. The building could develop into its full potential if the design team collaborates with the deaf community about its functionality. According to Hansel Bauman an architect at HBHM Architects, that is just what Gallaudet University did. Together a design team along with students and staff of the university [aimed] to create an aesthetic that emerges out of the unique [way] deaf people inhabit the world. Bauman goes further to say that by having the deaf design the building based on their needs brings the idea of Deaf A