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Hearing and Vision Impairments Spring 2010 Defining Hearing Loss • Dear and hard of hearing describes hearing loss • Unilateral or bilateral • IDEA defines deafness as a hearing impairment that is so severe that the student is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification and that adversely affects the student’s education performance • The severity of hearing loss is measured through decibels (dB) – Deaf=70-90 dB – Harding of hearing =20-70 dB • Congenital deafness is a rare condition • Deaf community prefers term “deaf child” to hearing impaired Prevalence of Hearing Loss • Low incident disability • In 2006, 71,589 students with hearing loss between the ages of 6 and 21 received some type of special education services • Preschool programs (ages 3 to 5) served another 8,123 children, about 1% of the total number of young children in preschools. Determining the Causes • • • • Congenital Acquired Genetic causes Prenatal causes – – – – Hypoxia Rubella Other illnesses Premature infants • Postnatal causes – Bacterial meningitis – Acute otitis media (ear infections) • Postlingual casues – Trauma to skull, excessive noise Determining the Presence • Diagnostic Assessment – Screen all newborns for hearing loss before 1 month of age – Evaluate all infants who screen positive before 3 months of age – Early interventions (initiated before 6 months) • Medical personnel – Otologist (physician) – Audiologist (measures hearing) • Hearing aides Cochlear implants Big Issues • Cochlear implant – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECT6FY4cby0 &feature=related – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pfQhyy6c7Y &feature=related Determining the Nature of Specially Designed Instruction and Services • Educational evaluation • How hearing is tested – Audiometer – Audiogram (behavioral – Typanograph – Speech audiometry Vision Impairment • Defining Visual Impairments – Two different definitions • Legal definition – Based on acuity and filed of vision – IDEA definition • Low vision • Functionally blind • Totally blind Prevalence of Visual Impairments • Various measures are used, so it is difficult to get an accurate count • In 2006, 25,661 students of the special education population Characteristics • Incidental Learning – The way sighted children naturally learn about their environment – Lack of incidental learning skills can impact the development of motor, language, cognitive and social skills • Limitations in range and variety of experiences • Limitations in the ability to get around • Limitations in interactions with the environment Determining the causes • Congenital vision impairments – Occur at birth or before vision memories have been established • Adventitious vision impairments – When a person has had normal vision but then acquires a vision loss Determining the presence • Determining how a student uses vision – FVA – Provides more concrete information about a student’s vision that may help in making IEP decisions • Determining the appropriate reading medium – Finding the appropriate learning medium (learning medium assessment) • Braille, print, audiotapes, and access technology – Allows the IEP team to know needed accomodations Determining the Nature of Specially Designed Instruction and Services • Expanded Core Curriculum – Compensatory and Communication Skills – Social and interaction skills – Orientation and mobility skills • Informal assessments should include the student’s ability to function independently • Assessments should include the age-appropriateness of tasks – What are the student’s peers doing? – Determine skills typically learned through incidental learning, analyze task involvement, and begin teaching these tasks earlier • Avoid making assumptions about a student’s previously acquired learning