Josephson,+Aaron+-+Hearing+Impaired

(at the Sea of Galilee, Israel)

Hi everyone! My name is Aaron Josephson and I am a 26 year old from Hood River Oregon, well Salem before that, but currently Klamath Falls.I am currently working on my masters in teaching at SOU and of course enjoy working with kids. I currently work at a children's mental health agency and do one on one work with kids. I have also spent a year at Head Start as a preschool teacher but had to change jobs in order to have year-round work. Anyways, my long term goal is to be a grade school teacher in the lower grades; although I am still open to other possibilities! Why that grade level? This is probably due to where my experience lies, so I am open to working with other age groups as well. As far as this class goes, I look forward to whatever I can learn to help all students succeed in the classroom and feel part of the community. Hope you enjoy this wiki!

Project Background  Before I share what I learned, here is the background on my project. I am going to be observing a child in their home who has an IEP and also interview the child’s mother. This particular child’s IEP covers many areas of this child’s IEP including vision and difficulty with reading. Here is what I observed and learned. Observations  I spent a fair amount of time with this family as we have had some interactions in the past. My time for observing was during dinner and while playing a game of bingo. I did not have many observations about this child during this time but I think this has some value to it. Mainly that I would not be aware of her educational challenges unless I had been told. It would be very easy for me to assume she is being lazy or something when having difficulty reading if I was not careful about such possibilities. The Interview  When speaking with this parent I learned a lot and it was not at all what I expected to hear. Some will be left out due to confidentially. We first discussed what is on her IEP (see above). After this we went in to the question of what things seem to be helpful at home. What I heard was not everyday ways of working on things but rather that the IEP process has helped this parent to get her child services and to advocate in this regard. For example; advocating for further testing when needed.  We also got in to some of the challenges of the IEP process. One of the comments I heard from her mother is that the IEP process is easier and more helpful now that she is walking through the process for the second time. Another challenge related to after the fact, this is that this child’s schedule at school is very pieced together and her mom expressed concern in this being a negative. My Take Away  The biggest thing I have taken away from this is that the IEP, although very complicated from a parent’s point of view, can also be empowering for both the parent and the child. This is not what I expected to hear. I also need to be aware of possible challenges students face in order to not make mistakes in how I interact with students due to a lack of knowledge about a given child. This has been an experience I will take with me throughout my teaching career. || =Why this topic?= ====I choose this topic because it is something I do not know much about. This made the benefit of my research and learning more so in comparison to choosing a topic I am very well versed in such as topics in the field of psychology.====
 * Parents of Children with IEPs (a community learning project)

The top 5 things I learned:

1) You don't have to use technology to help students who are hearing impaired.

2) The experience of the student can be very different then another student who is hearing impaired. From near 'normal' hearing to being unable to hear anything.

3) Although it would seem to be the opposite, noises in your classroom may make hearing more difficult due to the need for your student to concentrate on what they are being said even more then students who are not haring impaired.

4) There are many and diverse causes of hearing impairment. One that stuck out to me was medication side effects.

5) There is no wrong way to help hearing impaired students learn and interact; what's most important is that you do something.

Resources
 * < =Top Resource= ||< =====**This video is a short video about a girl who is hearing impaired. This would be a great resource for educating students about students who struggle with haring.**===== ||= =5= ||
 * 1 ||< This resource is an eHow article about games you can play with students who are hearing impaired. This is also helpful for gaining insight as to how you can successfully modify lesson plans. ||= ==3== ||
 * < 2 ||< This video gives an overview of hearing impairment and it's causes, (also available below) ||= =4= ||
 * < 3 ||< This website gives an extensive list of ideas for creating a classroom which will be accessible and comfortable to children who are hearing impaired. ||= =3= ||
 * < 4 ||< Here are some strategies for content modification when writing lessons when you have a student who is hearing impaired in your classroom. ||= =4= ||
 * < 5 ||< This website many resources for working with children who are hearing impaired as well as for those who are hearing impaired. ||= =3= ||
 * < 6 ||< This is a great website for parents (or teachers?) of children who are hearing impaired. This link goes to a page with tips on communicating more effectively. ||= =3= ||
 * < 7 ||< Want to go ahead and learn some basic ASL (American Sign Language)? Go to this site to get started with many resources to begin to learn ASL. ||= =5= ||
 * < 8 ||< Do you need some books to read to your class to help them understand what is going on with 'the kid who can't hear'? Here is a link to a list of book on Amazon.com on hearing impairment which are specifically for children. ||= =4= ||


 * < = What is hearing impairment? =

Read the following or watch this video!

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Hearing impairment occurs when there is damage to one or more parts of the ear. There are many types of hearing impairment. Here is a bit of information about a few of them.


 * Conductive hearing loss ** – This is as a result of damage to the outer or middle ear. This can be due to a blockage or other structural problems. This can be cured often by surgery or medication.


 * Sensor neural ** – This is due to damage in the inner ear or the auditory nerve. This person will have trouble hearing clearly and understanding speech. This is the type which can be treated with a cochlear implant.


 * Mixed haring loss ** – This is when someone struggles with both conductive and sensor neural hearing loss.

For each of these the degree of hearing loss varies greatly from very little to complete hearing loss. Time of the hearing loss is also varied and comes with two main categories when discussed medically. ||

Causes of hearing impairment
Here are some of the causes of hearing impairment.

>Want some game ideas for the hearing impaired? Check this out!
DID YOU KNOW? About 10% of Americans struggle with some form of hearing impairment.

See this video to see what it might be like...

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This page has a great list of ideas to get you started. Here are some of the tips.
==== " When speaking to the class as a group, use as many visual aids as possible. Posters, charts, transparencies on the overhead, the chalkboard, big books, and slide shows are some examples of tools you can use in your classroom.====

====Also use hand gestures and [|body language] when speaking to the class. The student may pick up on cues from you. If you know sign language, use it.====

====Write all content information on the board. Content information might include spelling words, vocabulary and definitions, historical dates and facts, math examples, etc. Anything that students will be responsible for knowing for testing and grading purposes, should be provided in writing for this student.====

====Meet with the student one-on-one sometime during the day to review content and lesson material. The beginning or end of day would probably work best. Make yourself available to the student for questions. " ====

=To see the rest GO HERE!=

=Be aware of these things:=


 * Distance between the listener and the sound source:** The farther away you are from a speaker, of course, the harder it is to hear the speaker. This is because the intensity, or loudness, of a sound fades rapidly as it travels over distance. So, while you may have no difficulty hearing someone in close range, you may have considerable difficulty hearing the same person across the room.


 * Competing noise in the environment:** Most rooms have background noise that competes with the spoken message or sound we want to hear. Examples of background noise include ventilation systems, others talking, paper shuffling, computers, radios, TVs, outside traffic or construction, and activities in adjacent rooms. Background noise can make hearing very challenging. For optimum hearing, speech should be at least 20–25 decibels (dB) louder than any competing noise. This is called the signal-to-noise ratio, or S/N ratio.


 * Poor room acoustics/reverberation:** A room’s acoustics are the quality of sound maintained in the room, and they can affect your ability to hear effectively. Sound waves bounce off hard surfaces like windows, walls, and hard floors. This creates sound reflections and echoes (called “reverberation”). The result of excess reverberation is distorted speech. Large gyms, cathedrals, and open marble lobbies quickly come to mind when we think about reverberation. Reverberation also can occur in smaller spaces such as classrooms. We’ve all experienced how much easier it is to hear in rooms that are carpeted and have upholstered furniture (which absorbs noise) than in empty rooms with tile or cement floors.

=To see the source of this information go here.=