Communicating with Your Deaf or Hard of Hearing Child

Communicating with Your Deaf or Hard of Hearing Child Presented by: Dan “DP” Foley and Tara Kelly Date: March 27, 2012

What are the goals of this workshop? • Auditory-Oral Communication Strategies • Visual and Tactile Communication Strategies • Questions and Answers

Auditory-Oral Communication • What is it? • Using Auditory-Oral Communication with your child • Things to remember

What is Auditory-Oral Communication? • “Auditory” refers to the ears and hearing • “Oral” refers to the mouth and speaking “Auditory-Oral” means listening and speaking

What does auditory-oral communication include? • Talking • Using hearing as much as possible • Reading lips (aka “speechreading”) • Using other clues to understand what people are saying (looking where someone is pointing, seeing pictures, etc.)

Using Auditory-Oral Communication with Your Child • Talk to your child  • Include routines: • waking up • getting dressed • feeding/eating • diaper change/ bathroom time • Songs & games – have fun together! • Ask questions and let them answer • bath time • playing/reading/watching TV • leaving the house • getting ready for bed • Keep the background noise to a minimum whenever possible

Using Your Child’s Hearing • Have your child use their hearing as much as possible – conversation, socializing, TV/video, music, etc. • Use games, toys, and activities that include sounds - home, animals, transportation, etc. • Point out sounds in your child’s environment in the house, outside, on the street, etc. by asking them “Do you hear that?/What’s that noise?” • Help them to make a visual connection to where sounds come from

Reading Lips/Speechreading DON’T : • Talk to your child without facing them or when you are in another room • Try to have conversations in dark settings or when many people are talking at once • Exaggerate your mouth movements or mumble • Expect your child to fully understand language through speechreading alone (only 30% of spoken language is visible on the lips) • Assume your child will understand what you are saying; be prepared to repeat/explain DO : • Make sure that you are facing your child when speaking with them, and that they can see your mouth clearly • Be sure that the room your child is in has good lighting and you are easily seen • Speak normally; you may point to your mouth when illustrating specific sounds (B, F, P, etc.) • Try and have only one person speaking at a time • Expand on conversation with your child

Using Clues in Auditory-Oral Communication • Visual supports in Auditory-Oral Communication can be helpful • Direct your child’s attention to what you’re talking about by pointing or moving closer to the object (when possible) • Use picture reinforcement to illustrate key concepts (family, routines, foods, familiar places, etc.) – photo journals or books are great for this! 

Things to Remember with Auditory-Oral Communication • Patience, not Perfection  - you and your child are learning together. Mistakes and misunderstandings will happen. • Repetition – your child will need to hear/practice making sounds and words many times before they understand them and/or use them • Don’t get so focused on language (sounds, articulation, etc.) that you forget to communicate • Be creative – whatever works for you and your child is ok!

Visual Communication • How to communicate with Deaf or Hard-Of-Hearing children (from birth to 3 years old). • How to maintain eye contact (for children 3-5 years old). • How to introduce signs for people and objects.

How to communicate with Deaf/Hard-Of-Hearing children (from birth to 3 years old) • Attention getting strategies • For meals - Once the child is “seated”, introduce the food to your child and describe your actions (ex. “Mommy’s feeding you!”) • Play time – Do your best to introduce the names of toys and describe the child’s actions in sign • Nap/bedtime – Visual bedtime story

How to maintain eye contact (for 3-5 years old) • “Rebelling” phase begins! • Visual and tactile techniques. • Use your facial expressions to express your emotional tone. • The key thing is patience 

How to introduce signs for people and objects • From birth to 2 years old: • Make references to: • People • Objects • Surroundings • Actions • From 3 – 5 years old: • Make references to and expand on: • People • Objects • Surroundings • Actions

Contact Information • Tara Kelly – Family Educator • kellyt1@christina.k12.de.us • 302-454-2301 • Dan Foley – Family Educator: ASL • foleyd1@christina.k12.de.us • 302-294-0743 (I am Deaf: when you call me, you will hear the interpreter first. The interpreter is there to relay the communication; just talk as if the interpreter isn’t there.)

References • Raising Deaf Kids – website with many resources for families of deaf and hard of hearing children (www.raisingdeafkids.org/communicating) • Guide to Education of Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing – a PDF from the Kansas State Department of Education that includes information on Deaf Education and scholarly references (http://tinyurl.com/7h28w79) • Hands and Voices – organization offering unbiased information and support to parents and families of deaf and hard of hearing children (www.delawarehandsandvoices.bbnow.org/) • Raising and Educating A Deaf Child – website offering information and questions/answers for parents and families of deaf and hard of hearing children (www.educatingdeafchildren.org)

Resources • National Association of the Deaf – information on early intervention (http://www.nad.org/issues/early-intervention) • American Speech-Language-Hearing Association – website with information on speech, language, and hearing (www.asha.org/public/) • American Society for Deaf Children – a “parent-helping-parent” organization that focuses on language access and communication (www.asdc.org) • Alexander Graham Bell Association – organization dedicated to listening and spoken language (www.agbell.org)

Questions and Answers • Any questions? 

Communicating with Your Deaf or Hard of Hearing Child