Professional Development Course on Catering for Diversity in English Language Teaching ENG5315 The Characteristics of Di

1. Professional Development Course on Catering for Diversity in English Language TeachingENG5315The Characteristics of Diversity Session 6 Hearing and visual impairment: Characteristics and impacts upon language learning Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education 1

2. Hearing impairment Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

3. Hearing impairment and deafness The term ‘hearing impairment’ is a generic term used to describe all hearing loss that is severe enough to negatively impact a student’s education (Cartledge, Gardner, & Ford, 2009). Deafness is defined as ‘a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification’ (IDEA, n.d., cited in National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education [NAPCSE], 2004-2007). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education 3

4. Types of hearing loss Conductive Abnormalities in the middle or outer ear. Sensorineural Hearing loss occurs in the inner ear, often involving damage to the nerve fibres. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education 4

5. Degree of hearing loss • Mild The child hears nearly all speech, but may mishear if not looking directly at the speaker. • Moderate The child will have great difficulty in hearing without a hearing aid anyone speaking who is not very close by. He or she may well rely on lip reading and visual cues to aid understanding. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

6. Degree of hearing loss • Severe Not able to cope without a hearing aid. The child needs to use visual cues such as lip reading and body language to gain information. The child’s spoken voice may be comprehensible. • Profound The child will probably use a hearing aid but will rely on visual cues and/or sign language to communicate. The child’s own voice may seem incomprehensible to those not used to it (East & Evans, 2006). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

7. Characteristics of hearing impairment • Speech and language development show signs of delay. • The child has trouble following directions and often looked confused and bewildered (Boyles & Contadino, 1997). • The child will become tired easily because of the need to put extra effort into listening (Brown, 2006). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

8. Nature of the problems of hearing impaired students: Listening • The hearing impairment interferes with the child’s ability to imitate speech patterns (Boyles & Contadino, 1997). • Hearing loss affects the ability to hear vowels or consonants. • For those with a moderate hearing loss, effective communication skills are possible because the voiced sounds of conversational speech remain audible but they cannot hear unvoiced sounds (Gargiulo, 2006). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

9. Nature of the problems of hearing impaired students: Listening • Other problems: • There may be some auditory confusions of some words such as between mouth and mouse. • The child would have missed the consonants that mark tense, possession and number (Brown, 2006). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

10. Nature of the problems of hearing impaired students: Speaking • Problems with proper stress • Voice problems • The hearing impairment interferes with the child’s ability to imitate speech patterns (Boyles & Contadino, 1997). • In group discussions, the child may not be able to locate quickly who is talking and the pace can sometimes be too fast for him or her to process the information received (Brown, 2006). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

11. Treatment • For most hearing-impaired students, a hearing aid is a critical element in their rehabilitation and education. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

12. Strategies to support children with a hearing loss • The hearing-impaired child should be seated close to the teacher and away from background noise. • For children with unilateral loss, establish which is the child’s better ear and seat them to the best advantage. • Face the hearing-impaired student when speaking and be sure that the student is looking at you. • It is especially important for the teacher to remember not to talk while facing the board and not to cover his or her mouth with papers and/or books when giving information to the class. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

13. Strategies to support children with a hearing loss • Provide written instructions. • Write key words, new topics, etc. on the board. • Speak clearly. • Avoid exaggerating the lip patterns when speaking in class (Brown, 2006). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

14. Strategies to support children with a hearing loss • Rephrase and restate instructions and direction. • Increase visual information. • Use visual aids when possible (Gargiulo, 2006). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

15. Just for fun!! Auslan - Signbank http://www.auslan.org.au/ Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education 15

16. Activity Let’s take a look at the following table: Acknowledgement: Dr. John M.G. Lian, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong 16

17. Activity Now, try to translate the following message: 5434453452153215 343315143431311142 Acknowledgement: Dr. John M.G. Lian, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong 17

18. Visual impairment Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

19. Definition of visual impairment The term ‘visual impairment’ is used to indicate a continuum of loss of sight and includes blindness. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education 19

20. Categories of visual impairment Totally blind Totally blind means the learner receives no useful information visually and therefore must use other senses to acquire information and learn. Low vision Learners with low vision are able to learn primarily through sight and then enhance that information through their auditory nad tactile senses (Cartledge, Gardner, & Ford, 2009). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education 20

21. Characteristics of visual impairment • Abnormal eye movements • The child may complain that things appear blurred or words move about on the page • Sensitivity to sunlight or bright light (Boyles & Contadino, 1997) • Watery eyes • Eye fatigue (Gargiulo, 2006) • Continual blinking or rubbing of eyes • The child holding a book at an unusual distance Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

22. Characteristics of visual impairment • Frequent headache or dizziness • Clumsiness, bumping into furniture, etc. • Failure to respond appropriately to gestures unless addressed directly by name; inappropriate response to nonverbal communication • Difficulty in copying from the board, confusion between similarly shaped letters or words (East & Evans, 2006) Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

23. Nature of the problems of visually impaired students: Speaking • An important aspect for a pupil with visual impairment is learning such skills as looking at the person being addressed when the pupil himself or herself is speaking. • Turn-taking skills in conversation and discussions, which are helped by visual clues about body language, may be unavailable to the pupil with visual impairment. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

24. Nature of the problems of visually impaired students: Reading • Students with visual impairments have more articulation problems than their normally sighted peers (Mills, 1983). The greater articulation problems in students with low vision than in those totally blind may be due to the fact that they may be relying on their vision to imitate the lips and tongue movements to form words, while those without sight must rely on hearing alone (Harley, Truan, & Sanford, 1997). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

25. Nature of the problems of visually impaired students: Writing • Handwriting of a pupil with low vision may be untidy (Farrell, 2006). • The student may space letters unevenly within words. • The student may appear to ignore the lines on the page altogether and produce letters that either are suspended above the line or fall on or below the line seemingly at random. • The size of the letters may also vary within the same word (Harley, Truan, & Sanford, 1997). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

26. Strategies to support visually impaired children • Use the child’s name to get attention. Looking at him or her may not be enough. • Allow the child to sit at the front of the class or near to the board. • Provide the child his or her own copy of the text where possible. • Allow extra time for finishing tasks. • Short tasks are preferable to long, sustained sessions. Because the pupil with impaired vision will tire more quickly than his or her peer. • Enlarge the text. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

27. Strategies to support visually impaired children • Avoid italic scripts. • Lower case script is easier to read than capital letters. • Shorter lines of text are easier to follow (East & Evans, 2006). • Provide a variety of experiences. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

28. Teaching strategies: Reading • Most children should be able to use materials for normally seeing children if enlarged or recorded on cassette tapes (Harley, Truan, & Sanford, 1997). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

29. Teaching strategies: Writing • Use markers with bolder and darker strokes. • Use wider line paper. • Word processing offers students who are blind or low visioned an invaluable tool for improving their writing skills (Harley, Truan, & Sanford, 1997). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

30. Materials and devices for children with limited vision • Closed circuit television (CCTV) / Video magnifier Books or pictures are placed under a small camera and can then be enlarged on the accompanying television screen. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

31. Materials and devices for children with limited vision • Felt-tip pen • Magnifiers Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

32. Materials and devices for children with limited vision • Talking computers • Braille A system of reading that incorporates six raised dots to form letters, words, and sentences. Braille is used by individuals who do not possess adequate vision to read large print efficiently. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

33. Materials and devices for children with limited vision • Braille notetakers Portable devices that can be used to take notes in braille (Hallahan & Kauffman, 2003). Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

34. References Blind Childrens Center. (1993). First steps: A handbook for teaching young children who are visually impaired. Los Angeles, Calif.: Blind Childrens Center. Boyles, N. S., & Contadina, D. (1997). The learning differences sourcebook. Los Angeles: Lowell House; Chicago: Contemporary Books. Brown, W. (2006). How to understand and support children with hearing difficulties. Cambridge [England]: LDA. Cartledge, G., Gardner, R., & Ford, D. Y. (2009). Diverse learners with exceptionalities: Culturally responsive teaching in the inclusive classroom. East, V., & Evans, L. (2006). At a glance: A practical guide to children’s special needs. London; New York: Continuum International Pub. Group. Farrell, M. (2006). The effective teacher’s guide to sensory impairment and physical disability: A practical strategies. London: Routledge. Gargiulo, R. M. (2006). Special education in contemporary society: An introduction to exceptionality. Belmont, Calif.: Thomson/Wadsworth. Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

35. References Hallahan, D. P., & Kauffman, J. M. (2003). Exceptional learners: Introduction to special education. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Harley, R. K., Truan, M. B., & Sanford, L. D. (1997). Communication skills for visually impaired learners: Braille, print, and listening skills for students who are visually impaired. Springfield, ill.: C.C. Thomas. Harrington, J. D. (1976). The integration of deaf children and youth through educational strategies. Why? When? How? Highlights, 53, 8-18. Haynes, W. O., Moran, M. J., & Pindzola, R. H. (2006). Communication disorders in the classroom: An introduction for professionals in school settings. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Miller, O. (1996). Supporting children with visual impairment in mainstream schools. London: Franklin Watts. National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education. (2004-2007). Exceptional children and disability information. Retrieved April 3, 2008, from http://www.napcse.org/ Prepared by Ruby Yang, Department of English, The Hong Kong Institute of Education