IDEA Definition:"Deaf-blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.
Deafness means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section." |
Learning and Behavioral Characteristics |
There are different levels, or degrees of hearing impairment. Some may be deaf, which is a profound or complete loss of auditory perception. If the student has not been classified with one of these impairments, you may notice that they tend to squint a lot or ask "What?" and seem to not pay attention. Having a sensory disability does not mean you have a lower IQ, though performance tests may be low. But this is due to the fact that they can't see or hear to the optimal ability. In the area of vision loss educators may not that a student uses a lot of speech, has difficulty organizing thoughts on paper, different body language then their peers, may seem quiet or shy, and a bad perception of space,
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Teaching Accommodations |
Those that are deaf and hard of hearing, rely heavily upon receiving information through the vision. If there are moments where you have your students watch something or do things more auditory based, you should either have notes, captions, or a different assignment. With these accommodations may need to be made for written assignment and things dealing with language and language development. Some students may require to be placed in a school specially equipped for teaching deaf students ASL.
For those that have visual impairments, they may only require corrective lenses. Moving both students to the front of the room would be ideal, unless the student can't see close yet can see at a distance. Some may require a service dog, a staff/cane, or braille. If their vision is bad, a student may need a shorter assignment. Click here for a list of more accommodations. |
Being in their shoes
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REFERENCES:
Disability in Action (7 Feb. 2012). Sensory Disability definition and classification. Retrieved from http://www.disabilityinaction.com/sensory-disability-definition-classification.html
Hardman, Michael L., Clifford J. Drew, and M. Winston. Egan. Human Exceptionality: School, Community, and Family. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2005. Print.
U.S. Department of Education. Sec. 300.8 Child with a disability. Retrieved from http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,regs,300,A,300%252E8,c,
Disability in Action (7 Feb. 2012). Sensory Disability definition and classification. Retrieved from http://www.disabilityinaction.com/sensory-disability-definition-classification.html
Hardman, Michael L., Clifford J. Drew, and M. Winston. Egan. Human Exceptionality: School, Community, and Family. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2005. Print.
U.S. Department of Education. Sec. 300.8 Child with a disability. Retrieved from http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,regs,300,A,300%252E8,c,