Hearing Impaired School 1: The Kids

Hello again!  It's been almost 4 months since I've written.  In that time, I've fallen into a job at a school for hearing impaired students.  I feel so welcomed and so fortunate to have found it. Since I had absolutely zero experience with hearing impaired (HI) kids before, it's been a learning experience.  I work with 2 & 3 year-olds in the morning, kindergarten-ish kids in the afternoon, and translate for Spanish-speaking parents on occasion.  I was too overwhelmed for a while to decide what to write, so I've decided to split it into 3 topics (kids, parents, adults).  It's detailed, but since I'm just here for another month-ish I want to make sure that I remember everything.  Up first - the kids.

So, I love the kids.  Short Version - I love working at the school and have learned a lot about how the program is structured and the support the kids receive. I've developed habits to encourage their listening and speaking abilities. It's been interesting to see their language develop and is incredibly rewarding. If you're curious to know more, read on. 



Overview: There are five kids between 2 and 4, maybe a dozen preschoolers, 8 kindergarten-ish, about 8 lower elementary, and about 8 upper elementary. HI children under the age of 2 receive services by a teacher who comes to their house once a week to show the parents how to work with their child, develop language, use hearing aids, etc. The children come from all over Grand Rapids - Kent City, Caledonia, Forest Hills, etc and use either hearing aids or cochlear implants, depending on the severity of their loss. Many children start young in the program then by the time they're in kindergarten or first grade have developed enough language skills to attend a "regular" school near their house - there are about 130 kids integrated in other schools who receive our services by teacher consultants, who work with their regular teachers to make sure their needs are met. That means that, in general, the kids with lower language skills are the ones who stay at our school through the upper grades; some of them also have other physical or cognitive diagnoses. We're a program housed inside of a larger elementary school, so some of our higher-functioning kids go to a general ed classroom for one or two subjects a day.

Program: The goal of the program is to develop listening and speech skills, so we don't use any sign language. However, there is a sign language program in the county and the parents decide which school to enroll their child. Though I haven't seen the other program, I've read about the benefits of speech methods over sign methods, especially for children who are able to hear a good amount. It makes you wonder, how many job opportunities are there for adults who only know how to sign?

Student Environment: Some of my favorite moments have been observing how the kids interact with each other. Since it's such a small group of kids and some have been together for years, it's more like a family. They know all about each others hearing aids and implants, and all notice (and celebrate!) when one students gets new pieces (or surgery for an implant). If one kids loses part of his equipment on the playground, they all stop and help each other look. When I'm having trouble understanding what a student is trying to say, often one of his peers will interject and "translate" for me. They'll matter-of-factly help me out by saying "oh he can't say that yet," without malice or embarrassment. They know the parapros and teachers really well. It's great. They're silly, caring, and intelligent.

Instruction: The hardest thing when I first started was to change my habits to new ones that encourage speech and listening (and I'm still learning). Math, reading, and writing are important here, but developing speech and language is HUGE. For example, one teacher passes out homework every day by covering her mouth (so they can't lipread) then calling the students' names one by one - they have to listen for their name to know when to walk up and collect their homework. It's slower than just passing it out, but infuses listening skills into a normal task. Luckily a couple teachers were extremely helpful in explaining and 'training' me, so I now (try to):

• not point or use gestures while talking so they can only rely on my words (ex. 'go line up at the door' without looking at the door... I never noticed how much I gesture until I started working here!) - this is called 'say then show' so you give only auditory clues, then visual if they need it
• after giving a command, wait a while to see if they've understood or not (this sounds basic, but it's sooo habitual just to repeat yourself when someone doesn't react right away) 
• make my sentences as clear and concise as possible 
• not give toddlers what they want unless they vocalize for it (ex. he points at his juice, I say "what do you want?" and play dumb until he makes an attempt to say 'juice'... I actually did this with my cat recently who was meowing for water one night when I was reallly tired)
• have kids repeat basic words and phrases as often as possible by 'cupping' my mouth than theirs
• narrate what I do and what the toddlers do all the time so they are immersed in language (ex. walk, walk, walk! ooooppennnn the doooor. take of your coat! coatt offf. zzzip, zzzip, zzip.)
• maintain a distance of a yardstick away from their ears when speaking, on their level, so they hear my voice as clearly as possible... this is hard
• notice things through their lens - for example, a parapro told me that many kids with hearing loss dislike cartoon movies since they can't get clues by lipreading the characters' words 

The kids older than preschool also get one-on-one speech therapy and daily instruction in explicit language patterns (ex. Marvin closed the door. Who closed the door? He closed the door). They also focus heavily on how many syllables a word has, which they call beats. Kids have eagerly called for my attention to show me "miss ni cole - 3 beats!!!".  Teachers use a whole system of symbols to mark verbs, nouns, etc. when writing. Yearly standardized tests of receptive and expressive language (what they can understand and say), called the CASL, show their level of performance given in an age score. For example, on the Sentence Comprehension part, an 8 year old might get a score of 5 years 7 months, meaning that she can comprehend sentences about as well as an average five and a half year-old without hearing loss.

Average age of sound development

 Language Development: So, how do they talk?  Really, it's a range. Some kids put together sentences lacking full grammar ("Josie eat sandwich"). Some kids really struggle pronouncing some sounds, which I've learned is because they literally can't hear the sounds. There's a whole spectrum of which sounds are easier and hard to hear to the human ear (many kids call me "miss ni ole" since they can't pronounce the 'k' sound). Many kids know less vocabulary - I've told a 7-year-old that thing she drew is called a tree, a 10-year-old that the things in my eyes are called contacts, and an 8-year-old that the action of making bread or pies or cakes is called baking. There are 2 kids (age 7 and 8, I think) whose language is severely behind - one boy who rarely talks and one who continuously babbles but it rarely resembles words. They are both still working on things like copying how many beats I make, and pointing to the picture I name - "pig or rooster." A handful speak other languages at home (Spanish or Dinka) which complicates things. However, despite their challenges, they work hard, find what works, stay positive, and are eager to learn. There are a couple kids that have shown a HUGE improvement in just the few months I've been here, so I can only imagine how rewarding a whole school year would be to a teacher.

Social & Emotional Skills: One thing I have noticed is a lot of bickering and conflict between students, especially at recess (I have lunch duty). The more I observe, the more I see how a delay of language can cause conflicts. For example, if you're unable to say "please stop taking my rock," your likely go-to method is to bellow "STOPPPP!" and wave your arms around, which tends to upset other kids. If you're unable to express why you're frustrated and what you would like the other person to do, you're more likely to roll your eyes and make a mean face. The kids with some of the lowest language skills are the ones that most easily yell. It seems like the lower the language level is, the higher the overall frustration level is. One of the kids who can't talk was recently seen biting into his wrists when he was frustrated, since he can't express his frustration in words. I can imagine that if I couldn't tell people when someone pushed me, or when I lost my hat, or when I didn't like my food, I might be perpetually frustrated. Communication obstacles add a whole new layer to social and emotional skill development.

Anyway, that's hopefully a clear picture of the kiddos. I wish I could add photos but want to maintain privacy. I do have to say that I've appreciated the perks of being in an elementary school again, instead of a high school - I've gotten dandelion bouquets after recess, random cards, daily hugs, and anger after I miss a day. The diapers, boogers, and slobber are worth it :-)