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Total communication combines oral and manual methods to enhance the child’s ability to communicate. As members of the multidisciplinary team, the family helps shape the educational program for the child and reinforces the intervention in the home. Family-oriented approaches lead to better communication skills for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

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Why are family involvement and transition planning so important for the child’s communication?

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A multidisciplinary team is critical to the educational support of children who are deaf or hard of hearing, and an audiologist is a key member of this team. Most students with hearing loss will require services provided within all three tiers of the response to intervention model. Finding the optimal set of services for each child requires data showing the child’s strengths and needs. With most children who have hearing difficulties served in the general classroom for most of their day, it is essential that teachers incorporate strategies to help students be successful.

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What kinds of educational responses are needed for children with hearing loss?

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Bilingual-bicultural approaches recognize the identities of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and acknowledge their membership in both Deaf and hearing communities. The community is a very diverse group whose membership is composed of people of many different religious, social, and ethnic backgrounds. The shared bonds, however, are similar values and traditions, a common language, and specific behavioral protocols that are known to and practiced by group members. Membership in the Deaf community is a part of an individual’s identity, and allegiance to the group is often strong.

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What is the Deaf culture, and why are bilingual and bicultural approaches to understanding the needs of individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing important?

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Children who are deaf or hard of hearing have the capacity for normal intelligence, and some may be intellectually gifted. However, because they cannot hear as well as children with normal hearing, they may experience developmental delays. Reading levels of children who are deaf or hard of hearing tend to be substantially lower than those of their hearing peers. They will develop the language of their home. For the child who is deaf, it will be the language taught in the home or another sign system. One difficulty is that 90 percent of children who are deaf or hard of hearing are born into homes with hearing parents who do not recognize the child’s early attempts at a manual communication system, so these attempts are not reinforced, and the child’s language development is delayed. Lack of verbal language makes it difficult for children who are deaf to make friends with children who speak and do not sign.

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How do hearing losses affect a child’s cognitive, academic, social, and language development, and what can be done to maximize a child’s communication potential?

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The ear is a complex organ, and problems with any part of the ear or the auditory nerve can result in hearing loss. There are both genetic and environmental causes of hearing loss. Otitis media is the most common cause of hearing loss in children. Early identification and intervention is essential to help children develop the communication skills that will be the foundation for their later success.

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What are some causes of hearing loss, how are they detected, and why is early intervention so critical?

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A hearing loss is defined by the degree of loss, the type of loss, and the age at which the loss occurred. The impact of hearing loss also depends on these three factors.  The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act defines deafness as a hearing impairment that is severe enough that the child cannot process linguistic information through hearing, even when using amplification or hearing aids. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing are a heterogeneous group with different strengths, interests, and needs; what they share is difficulty hearing.

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What are some characteristics of children with hearing impairments, how are the terms deaf and hard of hearing define, and why must we consider the degree, type, and age of onset of the hearing loss?

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Since the early 1800s the field of deaf education has been evolving through both legislation and the formation of schools and educational associations focused on teaching children who are deaf. Thomas Gallaudet and Alexander Graham Bell were early leaders of deaf education within the United States.

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How did the field of deaf education evolve, and what is the history of the debate between oral and manual communication?