5 hearing challenges and solutions for deaf children in school

HEARING CHALLENGE 1: Listening in the classroom for a child who is deaf or hard of hearing is different to listening at home. Two of the biggest challenges for a child using hearing technology are listening in noise and listening from a distance. Hearing loss is invisible and you cannot see the child struggling.

SOLUTION! Make sure the child is sitting near the front, where he/she can see and hear both the teacher and other children. Keep background noise to a minimum. Soft furnishings such as cushions, carpets and soft furniture can help absorb some of the background noise. Be as close to the child’s hearing technology as you can so they get the best sound possible. Keep phonics groups small and ideally find the quietest possible space for phonics learning, remembering that the child needs to hear the other children as well as the group leader.

HEARING CHALLENGE 2: The child with hearing loss generally has less experience of listening, depending on the age at which hearing aids were fitted. They may have reduced vocabularies and a smaller knowledge of the world as they may not be able to ‘eavesdrop’ what is being said around them. 

SOLUTION! Ask open ended questions to check for understanding and give the child more time to process what has been said and to respond. As them to repeat back the instruction or the ‘plan’ for the class activity. Encourage them to ask for clarification if they have not understood. 

HEARING CHALLENGE 3: The child with hearing loss may not pick up information so easily from his/her peers, both in large groups, small groups and in free play situations. This can affect confidence in social skills as he/she may only get partial information about what is happening 

SOLUTION! Repeat back the contributions of other children in whole class and small group discussions. This will keep the child with hearing loss engaged and focussed in their learning. Be explicit about others’ feelings when resolving conflicts so that the child with hearing loss understands what has happened, even if they are not directly involved. This will build up their understandings of emotions vocabulary as well as developing their empathy.

HEARING CHALLENGE 4: The child with hearing loss has to listen at least twice as hard to understand spoken language and may get more easily fatigued.

SOLUTION! If possible, 5 minutes of pre teaching will be enough to tune the child into the new words and concepts that are going to be covered in the lesson. Remember that parents are a very valuable resource and are usually very happy to help their child.  Communicate with parents and give them specific resources that they can share at home, for example if you are looking at a particular story or topic, let the child take a book home to share with parent/s before reading it as a class.  

HEARING CHALLENGE 5: 

At some point the child using hearing technology will have to deal with children being curious about their ears and their hearing aids. 

SOLUTION! Be open and honest about the differences and help the child feel pride in being special. Try to have books including characters who are deaf to share and consider some deaf awareness for peers which can often be provided by a Teacher of the Deaf. ‘Freddy and the Fairy’ by Julia Donaldson is just one example of a book which can help raise awareness of deafness in the class as a whole. There are many more.