Claire Letendre

August 29 to September 2

We had a wonderful week in Kindergarten.

This week in small group we worked on writing our names and naming our upper case letters. We played a fun game of "Name that Letter". In small group centers, we sorted by shapes, worked on letter sounds and the book, "Hello!".

Next week, we will be working on identifying lower case letters and naming the parts of the book.

Our library day is Friday afternoons with Mrs. Shepardson's class. Please return library books on Friday.

Have a good, long weekend and I will see everyone on Tuesday!

All About Hearing Loss

Hearing Loss is a condition when a person does not hear at the optimal level. There are many things that cause hearing loss and there are many different types of hearing loss. Understanding how a person hears is the first step in understanding hearing loss. Then one can look at how hearing loss is diagnosed and the different types of hearing loss. Figuring out when the hearing loss began also gives information when describing a hearing loss.

Below is a modified powerpoint that I made for an honors project in my college studies. I hope that it provides information about hearing loss.

Download Hearing Loss Explained

What is a Cochlear Implant?

    A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted hearing device. A cochlear implant is a device that bypasses the damaged hair cells and directly stimulates the auditory nerve.

             There are many parts to a cochlear implant. First is the part that you can see on the outside. That consists of a device that sits behind the ear. On this device there is a microphone that picks up sound. The bulkier part of the external device is the speech processor. It takes the sounds that the microphone picks up and organizes the sounds. These are sent to the transmitter that secured to the side of the head with a magnet. The transmitter transmits the electrical impulses to the receiver underneath the skin. The receiver changes the sounds into electrical impulses. These electrical impulses are sent to an electrode array that is threaded through the cochlear. The cochlear is the organ in your ear that you hear with. This electrode array directly stimulates the auditory nerve. These sounds are now picked up by the brain.

             Children and adults decide to get cochlear implants when hearing aids are not powerful enough for their hearing loss. This means that the user is not getting ample benefit from a hearing aid. Many users have learn how to hear with their cochlear implant since is different than hearing with a hearing aid.

            Currently at Still Elementary, there are about 7 students that have a cochlear implant.

For more information:

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders:

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/coch.asp

The FDA      http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/ImplantsandProsthetics/CochlearImplants/default.htm

 

There are three companies that manufacture cochlear implants in the United States.

Cochlear: http://www.cochlearamericas.com/

Advanced Bionics: http://www.advancedbionics.com/index.cfm?langid=1

Med-El: http://www.medel.com/us/index/index/id/1/title/Home

 

FAQ About Having Your Child in a Class with Students who are Hearing Impaired

1. What does it mean to be in a co-taught classroom?

  There are many different models of co-teaching. However, it generally means that there will be two teachers in the classroom for at least part of the day. It means a special education teacher will be teaching at least one subject. The special education teacher is required to teach the general curriculum.

2. How can a co-taught classroom benefit my student?

Here are some of the benefits of a co-taught classroom:

• First, there is a lower teacher to student ratio with two teachers in the classroom.
• There is also more diverse and individual instruction. At times, one teacher can take students who need extension on a subject and another teacher can students who need extra help.
• The students are exposed to many different teaching styles. One style might work better for them than the other.
• A student’s progress can be more closely monitored when two teachers are in the room.
• The student’s benefit from more learning time. With two teachers in the classroom, there is less visible prep time. While one teacher teaches, the other teacher can set up for the next lesson or activity.
• Students are exposed to different learning styles and students with disabilities.

3. Will there be an interpreter in my child’s class?

    It depends. Some students who are hearing impaired use sign language to communicate and support what the teacher is saying. These students are in a total communication (spoken and sign language) program. Some students use only the hearing they get from cochlear implants and hearing aids. These students do not use a sign language interpreter. These students are in an auditory-oral (spoken language only) program.

4. Why does the teacher wear something around their neck?

    The thing you see around the teacher’s neck is a microphone. The microphone use FM waves (radio waves) to carry her/his voice directly to the students with a hearing impairment. The students who use hearing aids have a device that picks up these FM waves and the teacher’s voice goes directly to their hearing aids. If a student uses a cochlear implant, the student carries a “box” or “bag” of sound. This is a desktop speaker that stays next to the student at all times. The teacher uses this so the students can hear the teacher no matter where he/she is in the room or if she is facing the board.

Further Reading

http://www.magonline.org/CoTeachingInTheClassroomREVMAGPresentation.pdf

This is a power point on line made by Price George's County Public Schools that gives a lot of information on co-teaching.

http://www.listen-up.org/edu/options1.htm

This is in indepth article on Deaf/Hearing Impaired Education that explains the different types of educational settings for students with hearing impairments.