Liz Rothwell discusses the possibilities for deaf children in 2023 and how their needs can be met in mainstream education.
For even the most profoundly deaf child, the key to developing the spoken language of the home is through listening. On the surface, this statement may appear to be nonsense but with modern technology many deaf children have and are achieving levels of spoken, and later written, language which have allowed them to access their local peer groups, lead independent lives in their local communities and achieve their potential. All babies, deaf and hearing, are “hard wired” to respond to the spoken interactions of their parents and carers with all the other natural cues which accompany the spoken word—facial expression, eye gaze, and intonation pattern. Family members can provide deaf and hearing babies with a rich linguistic background in the spoken language in which they are comfortable and use spontaneously—regardless of the language in use. Like hearing children, deaf children whose family language is not English, are showing that they can acquire this as a second language in pre-school or school environments once the brain has learnt how to process a spoken language.
Why is all this so much more feasible in 2023? Since 2001 the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme has identified children who may have a hearing loss within a few days of birth, leading to diagnosis and hearing aid fitting at a few weeks or months of age. Also, modern digital hearing aids have greatly improved the ability of deaf children to use their residual hearing by amplifying the complex range of speech sounds. Almost all deaf children have residual hearing at some level. Cochlear Implants work with even the deafest children to turn sounds into electrical signals which stimulate the Cochlea and Auditory Nerve so that they can access spoken language. Deaf children can have hearing aids within 2-3 months of birth and cochlear implants if appropriate at less than a year old. Although their listening experience is behind that of most hearing children, with the right input and rich linguistic environment they can develop spoken language by interacting naturally with family and peers. “Teaching” language and speech sounds and forcing practice and repetition of these are not appropriate. Families are the key to this and are the experts with their children. The role of professional supporters is to empower the family (and other carers including in pre-school settings) to play the key roles in their children’s language development, to help them to use the technology, to make the most of language opportunities in everyday family life and to recognise progress, even small steps.
Families need to learn about all these opportunities as part of their right to informed choice, before they make life choices for their deaf children.
What does this mean for mainstream educational provision?
Below are some of the key areas which need to be considered. Much more detailed and on-going advice and support would be available from a qualified Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People (TODCYP) from the Local Authority Sensory Support Team. Advice is needed well in advance of a deaf child arriving at a school or nursery so that there is time to plan ahead eg the most appropriate classroom, employing additional Teaching Assistant support. It is important that as many staff as possible are trained to understand the needs of the deaf child (rather than just one key person whose possible absence could result in real difficulties).
The TODCYP will advise on aspects of the teaching environment. Many classrooms and nurseries, especially in old buildings, have poor acoustic properties for deaf children (and also for many hearing children), and the resulting reverberation makes hearing aid use difficult. Classrooms are often inherently noisy environments which also results in difficult listening conditions. Seating position in the classroom—the deaf child needs to be able to see as many potential speakers as possible so the middle of the front row is not usually a good option. A speaker’s face needs to be visible with light falling on the face not coming from behind. Deaf children, even if they have become excellent listeners, still need the opportunity to use facial cues and to lipread according to their individual learning styles. This needs to be taken into account when speaking while working with interactive white boards or demonstrating equipment.
Support for the deaf child
Hearing aids and cochlear implants help deaf children to access spoken language but they still experience difficulties and need appropriate support. Deaf children with good early support and interaction can arrive in school with age-appropriate language skills—sometimes better than some of their hearing peers and it can be wrongly assumed that they do not need support. Their needs can be masked and an in-depth understanding of these is essential. Discussion with the TODCYP and parents will help to identify the best support model(s) for each deaf child. This would not necessarily include removal from some classes for specific programmes or “reinforcement” of lesson content, though that might be appropriate. Secondary aged students, in particular, can become resistant to being “singled out” eg by being removed from their peers or having a Teaching Assistant working with them in class. Other options could include pre-teaching of concepts and vocabulary or, particularly with older students, a notetaker—this allows the students to focus on what the teacher is saying, demonstrating, talking through calculations, for example, and to go over the content as many times as needed at a suitable later time. The class or subject teacher, not a teaching assistant, must retain overall responsibility for the use of support and the learning of deaf children in the class. The important outcome for any support is to continue to develop the pupil’s language, understanding and learning skills. This may necessitate imaginative use of resources and different ways of demonstrating the effective use of support.
Language for education
Some deaf children may not have age-appropriate language and this needs to be taken into account in all subject areas—specific programmes or strategies may need to be in place to support continued language development. Although deaf children can become excellent listeners, the limitations of the technology mean that they do not hear language incidentally. They do not overhear conversations around them and this has implications for language and vocabulary learning. Young children generally receive a significant number of hours each day of conversation with adults either one to one or in small groups, ideal situations for acquiring vocabulary and extending language skills. As both deaf and hearing children progress through school, the linguistic demands of the curriculum become greater. Class and subject teachers emphasise new topic specific vocabulary but deaf pupils also need to have ongoing monitoring of their general vocabulary and language development in cooperation with the TODCYP. Higher level language skills become increasingly important such as inference, deduction and Theory of Mind and may need to be modelled and explored more specifically with deaf pupils. If deaf children have developed listening and spoken language skills the variety of approaches used to develop reading and writing are equally applicable to deaf and hearing pupils including phonics and the same principles apply—reading for meaning is the purpose of the process and “decoding” is not an end in itself. Sharing and discussing books and modelling the use of cues are of particular importance for deaf children and help in the development of higher language skills.
Using crucial technology
The use of equipment to aid or enable listening is essential for deaf pupils who use the spoken language of the home and should be used consistently in their educational settings. The TODCYP will give the necessary training and on-going support for this. The microphones on hearing aids and cochlear implants pick up sound optimally up to six feet away from the speaker. As the distance increases so too does the difficulty in hearing what the speaker is saying. Deaf pupils are likely to be using radio aids to enable them to hear the speaker’s voice at the same level no matter where in the room or how far from the speaker they are placed. This will mean the speaker, usually the teacher, will need to use a microphone and the TODCYP will advise on the optimal distance from the mouth, or how to avoid impeding the sound. Other equipment such as Soundfield Systems may be used to enhance the level of the speaker’s voice over background noise. This can be beneficial to all pupils in the class. As deaf children get older, and particularly as they go through secondary education, they can become increasingly self-conscious about being seen to be “different” and therefore there may need to be sensitive handling, for example, of the process of handing over the microphone to teachers at the beginning of lessons, or discretely ensuring the deaf pupil has understood instructions. Systems should be put in place to ensure as far as possible that deaf pupils are always able to use the essential equipment throughout the whole school day. For the youngest pupils, this may mean staff testing the equipment, or maintaining a supply of hearing aid batteries, but as pupils get older supporting them to develop the skills to do this independently. Keep in mind that, no matter how good the technology, deaf children will still experience listening fatigue which can overload working memory. Suitable strategies to support this can be discussed with the TODCYP. Note that many strategies which are used to help deaf children in the classroom can benefit all pupils.
Author: Liz Rothwell
Liz Rothwell
Liz Rothwell is a retired TODCYP and a trustee of DELTA (Deaf Education Through Listening and Talking), a charity which works with professionals and families of deaf children.
Website: deafeducation.org.uk
