Listening to the Needs of Deaf
and Hard of Hearing Children
Courtesy of the
Hearing Foundation of Canada
Whether its auditory-verbal, auditory-oral or sign language, there are many options available to parents as they decide which school is best for their child.
There are so many things for parents to contemplate when a child is diagnosed with a hearing loss. Together with medical considerations, two of the most fundamental questions are: How will my child communicate and how will he or she learn?
There are more options than you might think. And parent’s choices depend on things like the level of hearing a child has and how early the problem was diagnosed.
When there is an early, significant hearing loss, the way a child learns language is altered. All babies learn language and speech by babbling. Those who can hear learn to train their lips, tongues and voices to imitate the sounds they hear around them.
Babies who can’t hear also "babble", but often they stop making sounds because they can’t hear feedback and begin to communicate with more hand gestures, body movements and facial expressions.
Audiologists point out that it’s crucial for children to be fitted with hearing aids as young as possible. This will enhance residual hearing and allow for the possibility of language development. When an extremely young child is fitted with an aid upon diagnosis, they are considered to be "optimally aided."
Depending upon their level of hearing, optimally aided children are good candidates for a skills program that teaches them to use their residual hearing and communicate using spoken language, auditory verbal therapy involves a family commitment and usually weekly hour-long sessions.
Anita Bernstein is the director of therapy services for VOICE for Hearing Impaired Children - a parent support and advocacy group. Working with York University, VOICE actually helps train auditory-verbal therapists and in communities where it’s necessary, VOICE offers auditory-verbal therapy.
Bernstein says children typically stay in auditory-verbal therapy for years and often attend regular schools. Any child who is wearing a hearing aid can come into the program, Bernstein says, though children must be assessed individually to make sure the treatment is appropriate. She says parent involvement is key.
"The work that’s really done is educating parents how to help children learn to listen and speak," says Bernstein. "When children start to listen, then they follow normal development much like a hearing child. What we’re doing is helping parents develop, because they’re normally the ones who teach children language."
Bernstein says part of the process is for parents to teach children to use their hearing aids or cochlear implants (a prosthetic surgically implanted in the ear to stimulate the auditory nerve). They help children make sense of sounds by calling attention to sounds like a phone ringing and telling the child what it is.
"You would point out the sound and they would say ‘what is that’ and you would say ‘that’s the phone, listen again, hear the ringing sound it makes.’"
The goal of auditory-verbal therapy is for the child to attend regular schools in conjunction with weekly therapy classes and Bernstein says many children do succeed in regular classes. Ontario has 3,500 deaf children in the school system and about 3,000 of those are what Bernstein calls oral-mainstream kids. That means they’re kids with hearing loss who are in regular classes - and many of them would be learning to use their hearing through this type of therapy.
In many cases, auditory-verbal therapy is offered through schools or hospitals. VOICE itself is currently teaching 60 kids and counts some 750 families as members of their organization. Executive director, Richard Solomon, says VOICE works to ensure parents and children have all the options they need to develop and raise their child.
"We help them find programs in their areas with whatever services are offered. We’ll connect them with other parents and resource support from a resource library and videos and books. Sometimes we’ll try to educate the community as to what services they require. If by any chance there are no auditory-verbal therapy type programs, then our local chapters will organize one."
Some schools offer special education classes where a student may learn in a separate classroom or be integrated into regular classrooms. The communication policy is a combination of auditory-verbal and auditory-oral - where a child also uses lip-reading to communicate. Programs differ from province to province, but local school boards and ministries should be able to answer questions.
Schools for the deaf and special education schools are another options. There are special schools in almost every province that teach regular provincial curricula in what teachers call bilingual and bicultural environments.
Usually a combination of residential and day schools, the special focus is on the development of literacy skills in American Sign Language and English (or LSQ and French). Most of them also foster an appreciation for deaf culture - where deafness is not considered a disability but a distinct alternative culture with its own language and identity.
Craig Barnes is superintendant of the Ernest C. Drury School in Milton and two other Ontario provincial deaf schools. He says most of his 129 elementary and 107 secondary students in Milton are students whose hearing loss is severe enough that they would not necessarily be able to learn English.
"It would be fair to say that students who come to our program are those who are going to learn English as a second language. While they attend auditory training, it is not our expectation that that’s how they’re going to learn. Our schools are intended for those who are going to learn visually."
The school has about 60 teachers, many of whom are deaf, and about the same number of its students live in residence. It’s not just older students who stay on campus. Barnes says distance is the biggest deciding factor - students come from as far north as Barrie and as far east as Oshawa. The environment at E.C. Drury is bilingual - meaning students communicate using American Sign Language and also learn to use English.
Barnes says the school is also bi-cultural - celebrating hearing culture and deaf culture, which he says raises self-esteem and promotes a feeling of belonging.
"In deaf culture, obviously the things we value are not auditory, but visual. We use sign language and focus much more on vision. There are different rules of conduct - different etiquette. For example, when we try to get each other’s attention, we might speak and say ‘hey you.’ A deaf person will tap you on the shoulder or arm or wave for your attention. The kids also tell stories in Sign and have jokes in Sign."
In Barnes’s opinion, deaf culture is celebratory, not exclusionary. Barnes adds that parents are encouraged to celebrate deaf culture with their kids; the school offers workshops to keep parents educated and involved.
Community advocates and parents have strong feelings about the best ways to educate deaf or hard of hearing children. The debates are often heated, but what most people seem to agree upon is that access to information is needed to make informed choices.
"I think parents have a very confusing and emotional time when they first find out their child is deaf," say Anita Bernstein. "And as if that’s not enough, they’re now faced with ‘what do I do?’ It’s important to make sure they get the whole gamut of options and resources they need to educate themselves.
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