11/17/18

Now that the school year is well underway, it is a good time to re-visit the issue of classroom accommodations for our students with hearing loss.  We need to make sure our students have auditory access in their  classrooms and other places in schools.  How can we do that?

Yes, grades are important to consider but there are many, many factors that can impact  students’ grades.  I find that a quick observation in the classroom is an excellent way for me to check this out.  Professionals that work with deaf/hard of hearing students have a unique perspective when observing because we are looking out for different things than other professionals.

• We are looking at the acoustics of a classroom.  Once I observed a student whose room was having moisture problems and there was a giant dehumidifier running during instructional time!  In another classroom  that I observed, the room next door to my student had a classroom soundfield system that was turned up so loud it was bleeding over into my student’s room!

• We are looking at the amplification usage as well.  I have a student this year who is new to receiving H.I. services.  She does not know any troubleshooting strategies when her hearing aids or DM/FM doesn’t work so she has gone through way too many batteries.  One of the first things we did was to create troubleshooting checklists for her to use.

Troubleshooting Guide from Interactive Self-Advocacy Notebook – Amplification Unit

Troubleshooting Guide from Interactive Self-Advocacy Notebook – Amplification Unit

As you can see from the checklists, she has to know the names of the parts of her amplification and have some idea of how they work in order to troubleshoot her equipment to continue to have auditory access.

How can we teach this information in a fun, brain-based learning way?  I love to use games and I developed TicTacToe Bingo Games to teach these skills.  I f a student uses hearing aids, 

Hearing Aid TicTacToe Bingo is a fun resource.  It is available digitally to print as well as an app from the App Store in iTunes

If a student uses Phonak’s Roger Pen:

This resource is available digitally to print as well as the App Store in iTunes.

Each resource comes with 4 Bingo Boards, 3 decks of cards (Pictures, Labels and Functions), Data sheet, suggested ways to write IEP goals and other ways to use the materials.

Coming soon – I’m excited because so many of you have been asking for this:   Roger Touchscreen Mic TicTacToe Bingo!