DIFFERENTIATION AND ADJUSTMENTS FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING STUDENTS

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "DIFFERENTIATION AND ADJUSTMENTS FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING STUDENTS"

Heather Thompson
6 years ago
Views:

1 DIFFERENTIATION AND ADJUSTMENTS FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING STUDENTS An adjustment as defined by the Disability Standards for Education (2005): is a measure or action taken by an education provider that has the effect of assisting a student with a disability in relation to admission or enrolment, a course or program, facilities or services on the same basis as a student without a disability, and includes an aid, a facility or a service that the student requires because of his or her disability. It is a legal requirement to make adjustments for students with a disability. It is a requirement that parents/carers and students are consulted when deciding which adjustments to put in place. Deaf and hard of hearing students may require ALL, SOME or NONE of these adjustments. Selecting just a few may not enable students to participate on the same basis as a student without a disability. There will be other adjustments you can consider that are not on this list. These are ideas to assist classroom teachers and schools in supporting deaf and hard of hearing students. You will find that many of these suggestions are in fact just good teaching practice and could be implemented with other students including those whom are hearing children of deaf parents. Adjustments need to be reviewed regularly, changed when needed and PLANNED each lesson. Students needs may change regularly, even on a daily basis so making adjustments is a process not a one-off activity. Teachers should select and use syllabus outcomes and content that best suits the learning needs of each student. Outcomes CAN NOT be changed but the number of outcomes can be adjusted. Deaf and hard of hearing students can show their understanding of outcomes and content through diverse tasks and assessments. Adjustments should be recorded as a part of their individual/personal learning plans. Think outside the square adjustments are only limited by your imagination.

2 How you Teach The Environment Presentation Organisation Communication Seating Acoustics Welcoming Content & Task Size Time Mode Vocabulary Group Work Provisions Outcomes Strategies Assessments

3 ADJUSTING YOU TEACH Adjusting presentation of lesson Deaf and hard of hearing students experience difficulty with multi-tasking. It is unreasonable to expect a deaf student to listen to instructions whilst writing, watch a video clip and take notes, or answer questions while watching as they are then denied the visual cues for lip-reading. A Teacher of the Deaf or an SLSO supporting in the classroom will often take notes for the deaf student. This allows the student the opportunity to focus on the speaker. This can also allow time for the supporting person to explain any unknown content. Use the model-teach-practise process. Talk to the class, not the black board. Keep hair, hands and objects away from face and facial hair neatly trimmed. Position yourself so the deaf student can see and lip-read you. Lipreading is NOT easy. Give clear concise instructions that are broken into steps where necessary. Present instructions and content visually using pictures, symbols, diagrams, flowcharts or written on board. Gain students attention before you begin to give information. Rephrase information if needed. Teach required skills explicitly. Use images, clips and other visual devices with oral explanations. Ensure captions are enabled on all movies/clips. However, be aware that deaf students may have difficulties in copying notes while watching AV materials. Captions should match the voice. For YouTube content please search topic, cc to ensure material is professionally captioned. The live captioning provided on YouTube is often mismatched and can lead to further confusion. Use the technology built-in to some sound amplification systems for recording presentations, ing to students and printing a record. Link new content with prior knowledge. Model specific skills. Assist development of skills involving higher order thinking by explaining hidden messages in texts. Do not dictate notes. Deaf students cannot write and listen/watch a speaker at the same time. Refrain from playing music while talking. Allow for re-teaching by peers. This can be very effective. Ask the TEACHER OF THE DEAF to teach the class while you spend some time with the deaf/hard of hearing student. Team teach with the TEACHER OF THE DEAF. Allow time to ensure the deaf student is on track and has understood fully

4 Adjust the way you organise the lesson and yourself Some extra planning on your part can have a significant impact on successful inclusion for your students. Casual staff need to know when the TEACHER OF THE DEAF will be in the room or withdrawing the student. Leave a note for them with any special information you think they need to know. Adjusting your communication with students Ensure you and the message you are communicating is accessible. Light behind you puts your face in shadow. ADJUSTING YOU TEACH At a school and/or stage levels include a key vocabulary list when planning units of work from the syllabus. Provide a copy of the unit of work and/or your program and lesson material to the TEACHER OF THE DEAF well in advance of it being presented in class. Handing them work as they walk into the school or classroom does not allow for any consultation or further adjustments. Pre-teach key vocabulary for each new topic. In-service peers as soon as possible about hearing loss and facilitating communication. Taunting can evolve from ignorance. Peers in the room deserve to know their classmate. Establish class rules for discussion. Provide a visual or written summary/outline of what will happen during the lesson. Show prepared examples of what you want the students to produce. Give students a copy of notes rather than have them write down while trying to lip-read/watch an interpreter. Provide dot-point summaries or transcripts if captioned material is unavailable. Use a calendar or diary when assisting students in planning workload and allow time for students to use these before leaving the classroom. Use a visual daily/lesson timetable. Use the TEACHER OF THE DEAF to take a small group including the deaf/hard of hearing student. Encourage the involvement of Deaf adults from the community. Everyone needs a role model to whom they can relate. Find art work, poems, texts written by Deaf authors or depicting Deaf characters. Are you speaking naturally, clearly and not too fast? Are you about a metre away from the student? (FM/wireless) Get to the point quickly. Stand in one place when speaking. Have the light on your face. Try not to anticipate needs and communication. Let the student attempt communication before assisting. Ask the student to confirm they understand the task with open ended questioning and repeating instructions to you. Allow think time when questioning students. Pre-warn students they will be called on to respond. Give students a specific question that you will be asking them during the lesson. Encourage and provide opportunities for success and participation. Encourage use of wireless/ FM systems in the classroom and hall. Use the hearing loop in the hall

5 ADJUSTING THE ENVIRONMENT Adjust the seating plan The deaf/hard of hearing student needs unhindered visual access to the teacher AND their peers. Adjust the acoustics of the room Excessive background and environmental noise deny the deaf/hard of hearing student access to your teaching/learning. Be mindful that outside noise will impact the learning environment for ALL students. Provide a welcoming environment for visiting itinerant and specialist staff Arrange the room in horse-shoe shape with deaf student at front with better ear towards the teachers. Student seated near positive role model or peer buddy. Allow room for the TEACHER OF THE DEAF or another support person to work with student. Don t seat the deaf student near distractions. Remove any possible visual distractions like hanging and swinging artwork. You want the student to focus on you. Consider the students need for remaining anonymous. Install a sound distribution system. Reduce reverberation by using soft furnishings and sound absorbing materials. Monitor noise levels in the room with a decibel meter. Decibel 10 th is a good free i-device app. Put felt under pencil tins and other noisy table top items. Use the students personal wireless/fm devices properly. Do not have music playing while teaching. Turn off fans and air conditioners when delivering important information. Be aware of motors running in the room. These could include fish tanks, air conditioners and fans. Play audio visual material within a normal volume. If it is too loud the sound becomes distorted. A quiet withdrawal space near the classroom is ideal. Chat to the itinerant staff working in your school. They are often seen working in staffrooms, small spaces, hallways and classrooms or around the school during breaks

6 ADJUSTING THE CONTENT and TASK Adjust the size of the task Research skills should be explicitly taught. Deaf students may experience shame and have low self-esteem due to being self-conscience of their voice being different. Adjust the time given to complete a task Deaf students often take longer to complete tasks due to needing extra explanations and/or extra processing time. Be flexible when adjusting the mode of presentations both receptively and expressively Long paragraphs can contain a lot of unknown words that have nothing to do with understanding the topic. Words like demonstrate, occur, response. Fewer questions to complete. Complete one part of the class task. Reduced amount of content to read/consider. Direct students to specific websites/books so that relevant and concise information is researched rather than just providing open research questions. Provide summaries of chapters/audio-visual material/ paragraphs/text book/movie synopsis. Make multiple choice questions out of three options instead of four. Provide a word list from which to choose the answer. Reduce audience size for oral presentations. Reduce or simplify the amount of homework. Provide more time to finish a task (speeches are problematic for many deaf students). Divide an activity into two or more parts. Allow time for multiple viewings of audio-visual material prior to being presented to the class. Extra time at each step of the modelling/teaching/practising process. Provide simplified notes with visual stimulus so the student is not wasting time copying information that they do not understand. Presentation of knowledge does not only need to be written. Use PowerPoint and/or presentations where visual information can easily accompany text. Recounts could be presented as a play, told to a scribe, in a story board or filmed. Chain information as a scaffold to learn and demonstrate a skill. Dot points. Conducting/participating in an interview with or without a support person present. Take photos or make a movie. Create a model/chart/poster. Present a graph. Label a picture/diagram Provide a writing scaffold or use a SEARR (statement, example, analyse, refer to question and restate point) type of support to writing. Use graphic organisers such as mind maps and flow charts. Oral/signed responses instead of written (students will not be able to provide written responses if they cannot verbalise a response). A copy of the response can be recorded for the student to use later if needed. Use audio-books where students are challenged by reading large amounts but have the ability to access the information with their devices

7 ADJUSTING THE CONTENT and TASK Adjust the difficulty of the vocabulary The level of vocabulary a deaf/hard of hearing person is exposed to is greatly reduced. Deaf people generally do not overhear. Therefore explicit teaching of new words is needed. Hearing students need approximately 10 to 12 exposures to words in conversation, used in multiple contexts, in order to learn their meaning indirectly (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002). Students with a hearing loss require twice as many exposures to learn a new word than hearing peers (Pittman, 2008) Use support structures and people (Parents/TEACHER OF THE DEAF/L&ST/SLSO/peers) Note taking for the deaf student is NOT doing the work for the student. Adjusting group work Group work can be difficult as it generally means a noisier working environment Pre teach vocabulary prior to exposure in classroom. Check often for understanding of new vocabulary. Provide a different task to meet the same outcome. Ensure multiple exposures to words in different contexts. Provide language enrichment activities such as shopping, cooking, excursions. Discuss multiple meanings of words. Explain figurative language and idioms with visuals. Use a colour-wheel for shades of meaning of a word. High-interest reading material with pictures to support. Simplified vocabulary. Difficult vocabulary explained in footnotes. Present/draw a labelled picture. Make a collage of images on a topic. Use a visual dictionary. Discuss root word, prefix and suffix meanings. Provide/use a glossary with simple definitions and images. Underline or highlight key terms and encourage students to do the same in their own notes. Provide links to prior learning. Teach spelling of meta-language. Present information in dot-points. Use images and text to play matching games. Use ipad or other device to keep a folder of images with matching definitions in the student s own words. Revise vocabulary at the beginning of each lesson. Use wh question forms that the student knows. For younger children use songs and rhymes often for multiple exposures. Pre teach vocabulary and content. Provide copies of program, lesson tasks, and audio-visual material PRIOR to it being seen in class. Connect to previous knowledge. Use support person as a note-taker so the student can attend to teacher and materials. Use a scribe. Be flexible in increasing/reducing support for each task as student needs change with each task. Allow the TEACHER OF THE DEAF to run a group that includes the deaf/hard of hearing student. (Pre-arranged of course). Use a smaller group or pairs. Allow groups to work outside of the room where it may be quieter

8 ADJUSTING ASSESSMENTS Use special provisions Adjust the assessment task Adjust the number of outcomes Other possible strategies for assessments Allow for extra time. Use a reader. Use a scribe. Separate supervision in a quiet environment. Individual instructions. Use of an oral or sign interpreter. Reduce the number of questions. Use different questions. Simplify questions. Reduce the number of choices to three in multiple choice questions. Provide a word bank/finite number of options to choose from. Present to a small group or the teacher only. Oral presentation. Space questions out on paper. The Board of Studies states that to maintain a regular pattern of study (not life skills), a student needs to achieve more than one outcome (2 +). We can not change the wording of an outcome but we can adjust how many outcomes the student will work towards achieving. Ideally students need to access to as many as they can possibly achieve. Practise similar questions many times before the actual assessment is presented. Explain exam terminology. Provide the TEACHER OF THE DEAF and other support staff with outlines and study guides. Clearly explain grading criteria. Provide a time line if the assessment is an assignment. Mark on content rather than grammar. A deaf student often has flawed grammar due to not hearing the quiet sounds that indicate plurals and tenses. (An English assessment may be the exception). Allow time for explicit teaching sessions with a TEACHER OF THE DEAF before an assessment task

TIPS FOR TEACHING A STUDENT WHO IS DEAF/HARD OF HEARING

http://mdrl.educ.ualberta.ca TIPS FOR TEACHING A STUDENT WHO IS DEAF/HARD OF HEARING 1. Equipment Use: Support proper and consistent equipment use: Hearing aids and cochlear implants should be worn all