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Contents
Introduction 2
Rules of Effective Communication 2
Introduction to Total Communication 3
Understanding Deafness 5
Communication Choices 6
Statistics 6
Lip-reading 7
Working with Support Staff 10
Working with a CSW/Interpreter 11
Teaching and Learning 12
How does a CSW work? 13
Preparing Resources 14
Language and Deafness 15
Possible Effects Relating to Language Difficulties 17
Marking Guidelines 18
Work Placements 21
DDA 21
Academic Standards in Education 21
Checklist 23
Introduction
This booklet aims to provide guidance for lecturers teaching deaf students. If the guidelines are followed, communication will be more effective and deaf students will have access to their course on an equal basis to their hearing peers, as far as is practically possible. The information will not only give you a better understanding of some of the difficulties faced by deaf students but also strategies to implement in the classroom.
“In A Nutshell”
Rules for Effective Communication
Maintain your eye contact with the student- it’s the student you are advising, not the communicator (you may find this unusual at first).
Speak at a reasonable and natural speed, do not over exaggerate lip-patterns and don’t shout.
Take care not to stand in front of the light source (eg. window) as this can create shadows and obscure your face.
Background noise should be kept to a minimum. If a student wears hearing aids, the background noise will be amplified and deaf students may find it difficult to concentrate.
Allow time for the student to digest what you have said and then formulate their reply, you may need to pause.
Do not walk around, turn your back on the student, carry on talking whilst writing on the board or carry on talking while students are copying board work. Make sure the deaf student can see you face on at all times.
It’s OK to point and gesture.
Remember - it is impossible for a deaf student to watch a signer and take notes at the same time or to watch a DVD and a signer!
Introduction to Total Communication
Total Communication is a team of Interpreters, Communication Support Workers and Note-takers, both manual and electronic.
We provide 1:1 communication support for d/Deaf[1] and hard of hearing students, from enrolment to exams.
Our students have consistent support, provided routinely and without exception.
The support team is managed from an office based at Reading College where the lecturing staff and students can readily have access to the team.
Communication support is vital for d/Deaf and hard of hearing students to have access to information and also to access their hearing peer groups.
d/Deaf students cannot ‘learn’ without communication support. Support enables them to reach their potential or achieve at any level of study (we routinely support students from Basic Skills up to BA level).
In order that lecturing staff understand how to teach a d/Deaf learner and to help them appreciate the needs and culture of a d/Deaf person, we aim to deliver Deaf Awareness to both the students’ peer group and their lecturing staff as early into the first term as possible.
We ask you to plan these sessions within induction or class tutorials.
All d/Deaf students have individual needs. You may have had previous experience working with a d/Deaf student but that doesn’t mean the situation will be the same second time around.
Although we cannot give a definitive set of rules for you to follow, we aim to help guide you in understanding the basic issues encountered in teaching, learning and assessment whilst teaching a d/Deaf student.
How a d/Deaf person chooses to communicate will depend on factors surrounding the nature of their hearing loss, i.e.
· when they became deaf
· the extent of their hearing loss (see sections on “Understanding Deafness”)
· how were they educated?
· were they brought up in a Deaf or a hearing family?
(Hence the reason why we need to treat all of our d/Deaf students as individuals - their life circumstances will vary).
So what types of communication would a d/Deaf person use?
Some students will use British Sign Language[2] (BSL), others may lip-read or use a combination of the two. Some may prefer to use signs given in an English order, called Sign Supported English (SSE). Some may need only a Note-taker, whilst others may need a Communication Support Worker (CSW) and a Note-taker.
We have had experience of a student who uses a radio aid[3], a CSW and a Note-taker.
Hearing Aids do not restore normal hearing. This is a huge misconception. They magnify sound - all sounds (including background noise), not just voices or the sounds that are most important.
Most d/Deaf people will use a variety of communication methods depending on their circumstances, past and present. We cannot say that one method is better than another – it is down to personal choice.
A d/Deaf learner may miss abstract language, words that have multiple uses, metaphors and analogy.
Understanding Deafness
The term "deaf" covers a very wide range of hearing loss, a range of communication needs and differing experiences and cultures. Each deaf person has a different hearing loss which includes not only the volume of residual hearing, but also the frequency of sound they can hear. A person with a high frequency loss will usually be better able to hear men's voices and consonants whilst a person with a low frequency loss will be better able to hear women's voices and vowel sounds. Very few people experience absolute silence.
Range of Deafness
The range of deafness can be roughly broken down into four main areas:
1. Mild deafness
People with mild deafness may have difficulty understanding speech especially in noisy situations. They may or may not wear hearing aids and may not be able to hear sounds like leaves rustling or people whispering.
2. Moderate Deafness
People with moderate deafness will probably wear a hearing aid. Without a hearing aid, they will most likely have difficulty understanding speech even in normal conditions. They may be able to use a voice telephone which has an amplifier and/or an inductive coupler if they wear hearing aids.
3. Severe deafness
People with severe deafness will probably wear hearing aids but may find it difficult to understand speech even with their aids. They will rely more on lip-reading and some may use sign language. They may find it difficult to use a voice phone even with powerful amplification and may therefore use a text phone or videophone. They probably won't be able to hear sounds such as lorries.
4. Profound deafness
People with profound deafness may find hearing aids of very little or no benefit and will rely heavily on lip-reading. They will probably use sign language and text phones or videophones. They may not be able to hear sounds like a pneumatic drill or aircraft etc.
Communication Choices
When considering the communication needs and choices of deaf people, these can be broken down into two broad categories:
1. Some deaf people may use English as their first language and use hearing aids and lip-reading / some sign language to receive information. They are likely to use their own voice to reply. In formal situations such as meetings and training they may need to use a lipspeaker or note-taker.
If the onset of deafness occurred later in a person's life, after the acquisition of spoken/written language, then they would most likely fall in to this category.
If a deaf person communicates in this way it can be easy to forget that they are deaf, and to assume they can follow everything being said. This is not the case, and care should be taken to ensure communication is successful using the guidelines contained within this document.
2. Some deaf people may use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first
language. In this case access to lectures etc. will normally be by the use of an interpreter. BSL is a language in its own right, separate and distinct from English in structure, grammar and vocabulary. People who use BSL may not use their voice when communicating; in formal situations such as meetings and training sessions they may use an interpreter whereas in normal every day situations they may rely on lip-reading and/or written notes.
Statistics
British Sign Language was recognised as an official language in March 2003.
· 1 in 7 people in the UK have a hearing loss, this equates to almost 9 million people.
· 9 out of 10 deaf children are born to hearing parents.
· The approximate number of sign language users, as a first language, is 70,000 in the UK.
· There are over 250,000 BSL users in the UK.
· The majority of deaf people use English as their first language.
Lip-reading
“When you are deaf, you live inside a well-corked glass bottle. You see the entrancing outside world, but it does not reach you. After learning to lip read, you are still inside the bottle, but the cork has come out and the world slowly but surely comes to you”. Quoted by Dorothy Clegg, 1953. Listening Eye.
Extracted from www.wikipedia.org, under the heading lip-reading.
Lip-reading is the art of understanding speech from observation of the lips, tongue and jaw movement using all available clues such as the topic of conversation, rhythm of speech, facial expression and other non-verbal clues.
Therefore the term 'lip-reading' is a little misleading. The Americans call it 'speech reading' which appears to be a more appropriate and explanatory term.
Lip-reading should not be considered as a substitute for hearing. On average when a Deaf person is lip-reading, only 30%-40% of words in the English language is clear enough to understand from lips alone. An example of this in the phrase “Where there’s life, there is hope”, which can be easily mistaken for “Where’s the lavender soap?” in most English dialects. This level of accuracy decreases when the student is ill or stressed, or has lip read for a long period of time. They rely on a ‘bank’ of English words to fill in the gaps, a challenging process. If the language you are using is ‘new’, chances are the words will be lip-read incorrectly until the vocabulary becomes familiar
Author Henry Kisor, has written a book on this, with the reference to mis-hearing, or shall we say, mis-reading the question. He titled his book “What’s that pig outdoors?”;A memoir of Deafness, in which it could really be “What’s that big loud noise?”. He used this as an example in the book to discuss the shortcomings of lip-reading/speech-reading. From this source and other resources, research and experiences shows that to help improve the preciseness of lip-reading, there is a need of support and back up in the use of the language by using props and cues from the environment in which they are in at the time, and a knowledge what is likely to be said. Saying random things or words that have no connection ie; a name of a person or a place that is unfamiliar to them, can throw the lip-reader/speech-reader into a state of confusion and instability. It is easier to lip-read basic words and customary phrases such as greetings rather than incoherent utterances that appear in isolation, and without that supporting information, you’ll never get anywhere.
There are ways of supporting communication to bridge those gaps, it can be used in mime and gesture, writing, sign language and interpreters. When conversing with a lip-reader/speech-reader, particularly for the first time, however tempted you are, do not exaggerate mouthing of the words. It is not helpful, it may obscure useful clues and quite frankly makes you look silly. It can be embarrassing for the lip-reader and you.
However, it is all about learning and gaining knowledge from past experiences and training. It is also important to be aware of how it may feel to be on the receiving end, to also remember that it is tiring to lip-read for a long period of time and that breaks will be required. There are some simple guidelines to get you started if you are working alongside a student who is a lip-reader.
Limitations of Lip-reading
· Many groups of consonants have the same lip-pattern e.g. m,p,b. It is impossible to distinguish between the words meat, beat and peat so this is why the topic and context are so important to the lip-reader.
A student can only lip read if they can see your face. Talking whilst facing the board, or walking around the room is an impossible situation for the Deaf learner.
· Attention
Before you start talking, make sure that you have the student’s attention.
- it is ok to wave or tap them gently on the shoulder (but never from behind).
· Speech
Speak clearly, a little slower than usual but not too slowly. Do not exaggerate your mouth patterns or change the natural rhythm of speech. Give the student you are speaking to time to absorb what has been said. If this information is being interpreted by a CSW there could be a noticeable time delay, this is the time required by the student to process the information.
· Voice
Use your normal voice level. If you shout, it will distort your mouth patterns and it will be difficult for the student to understand what you are saying.
· Light
Stand away from the window or light source as light behind you will create a shadow and your face will not be seen clearly. Equally make sure you are well lit and not in semi-darkness.
· Context
Don’t waffle - state the topic of your sentence first - keep instructions short and clear but use sentences. They are easier to lip-read than individual words. The context is very important to Deaf students; it helps them follow what you are saying. Indicate when there is a change of subject. When introducing a new topic, write it up on the board or use an appropriate visual aid.
· Rephrase
If the student you are speaking to does not understand a word or phrase, rephrase what you have said - it could be the way you are saying it, rather than what you are saying that is causing confusion. Don’t waffle.