Students who are DHH
often have difficult socializing and making friends with their peers. How can
you address this within your classroom.
There are a few things I would do in my classroom to help
with socialization. The first would be having the DHH student inform the class
about their hearing loss. Just a quick here is what it is and maybe a fun fact
or myth about hearing loss that many hearing individuals believe. I would then
include a hearing loss mini lesson for the whole class. Just teaching them the
basics depending on age to educate them more fully what a hearing loss is. If
the DHH student used sign language I would then spend time each week teach the
students some signs to help them communicate with one another. I feel it is
important to inform the regular students about what hearing loss and share the language
with them so the DHH student doesn’t feel so ‘alone’.
Communicating with
parents is very important. What are some ways you can communicate with parents
and is there a better way than another?
I feel at the beginning of the year it is important to find
out from the parents the best way to communicate with them is: text, email,
call, letter, etc. Then use that communication mode the most. I feel that email
would be the easiest and fastest way. I can send them daily or weekly updates
depending on the student’s situation. I hope to also send out a monthly
newsletter if I have a large enough class. The parents are busy working and being
a parent so I want to provide them with information on their student’s progress
the easiest way possible.
I think it is a great idea to have the student inform the class about their hearing loss -that is if the student is comfortable with it. I think this gives the student the chance to feel more comfortable with their classmates. I think it creates an opportunity for the other students to learn about the hearing loss and think of ways they can help out in situations that may be difficult for the student. Just informing every student in the classroom about hearing losses could help prevent any misunderstandings. I think it is a great idea to teach some basic sign language to the whole class in order to improve the communication among everyone. It will show the student they have support.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about communicating with parents. There are many different possible ways of communicating but it is important to figure out towards the beginning of the year which way the parent prefers to be contacted.
Thanks for sharing!