Download Continuum of hearing loss from mild to profound

Chapter 9
Deafness and Hearing Loss
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Definitions of Hearing Loss
Medical perspective
– Continuum of hearing loss from mild to profound
Educational perspective (IDEA definition)
– A hearing loss that adversely affects educational performance
Difference between deafness and hard of hearing
– Deaf: The student is not able to hear even with a hearing aid
– Hard of hearing: Significant hearing loss that makes special
adaptations necessary
• Many persons who are deaf do not view hearing loss as a
disability
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
How We Hear
Audition, the sense of hearing, is a complex and not
completely understood process
– The auricle funnels sound waves into the auditory canal
– Variations in sound pressure cause the eardrum to move in
and out
– The vibrations of the bones of the middle ear transmit energy
to the inner ear
– The inner ear is the most critical and complex part of the
hearing apparatus
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Prevalence
• According to ASHA, 95 of every 1,000 people have a
chronic hearing loss
• The large majority of persons with hearing loss are adults
• The U.S. Public Health Service estimates 83 out of 1000
children have an educationally significant hearing loss
• About 25% of students who are deaf or hard of hearing
have another disabling condition
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Types and Causes of Hearing Loss
Age of onset is important for determining educational needs
• Congenital hearing loss is present at birth
– Causes of congenital hearing loss
• Genetic Factors
• Maternal Rubella
• Congenital Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
• Premature birth
• Acquired hearing loss appears after birth
– Prelingual hearing loss before speech develops
– Postlingual hearing loss after speech develops
– Causes of acquired hearing loss
• Otitis Media
• Meningitis
• Ménière’s Disease
• Noise Exposure
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Characteristics of Students
with Hearing Loss
• Students with hearing loss have different characteristics
– Levels of functioning influenced by:
• Degree of hearing loss
• Attitudes of parents and siblings
• Opportunities to acquire a first language
• The presence of other disabilities
• Academic achievement
– Most children with hearing loss have difficulty with all areas of
academic achievement
– Deafness itself imposes no limitations on the cognitive
capabilities of the individual
• Social functioning
– The extent to which a child successfully interacts depends
largely on others’ attitudes and the child’s ability to
communicate in some mutually accepted way
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Technologies and Supports That Amplify,
Provide, Supplement, or Replace Sound
Hearing aids
– Hearing aids make sounds louder but not necessarily clearer
– The earlier in life a child is fitted the more effectively he will
learn to use hearing
– Hearing aids offer minimal benefit in noisy and reverberant
classrooms
Assistive listening devices
– A radio link established between the teacher and the child can
solve problems caused by distance and noise
Cochlear implants
– A cochlear implant bypasses damaged hair cells and
stimulates the auditory nerve directly
– Tremendous controversy surrounds cochlear implants in the
deaf community
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Supports and Technologies
• Interpreters
– Interpreters have increased the ability of students to perform
well in school
• Speech-to-text translation
– Computer devices that translate speech to text
• Television captioning
– Captioning helps students comprehend more
• Text telephones
– Helps teachers communicate with deaf students
• Alerting devices
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Educational Approaches
• Oral/Aural Approaches
– Training in producing and understanding speech is
incorporated into virtually all aspects of the child’s education
• Total Communication
– Simultaneous presentation of language by speech and
manual communication
• American Sign Language (ASL) and the BilingualBicultural Approach
– ASL is a legitimate language in its own right
– The goal of the bilingual-bicultural approach is to help deaf
students become bilingual adults who can read and write with
competence in their second language
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Educational Placement Alternatives
• Approximately 84% of children who are deaf or hard of
hearing attend local public schools
– All of the professional and parent organizations involved with
educating students who are deaf have issued position statements
strongly in favor of maintaining a continuum of placement options
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
Current Issues and Future Trends
• The keys to improving the future for people who are deaf
or hard of hearing
– Access to the language and communication modality best suited to
their individual needs
– Effective instruction with meaningful curriculum
– Self-advocacy
William L. Heward
Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 8e
Copyright ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.