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Reflection on deafness
effect of hearing impairment in society essay
Reflection on deafness
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In America, English exists as the standard language. For that reason, it is understood that children will learn this as their primary language. However, according to the “National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders” website, “about two to three children per 1,000 are born deaf or hard of hearing”(Quick Statistics [NIDCD Health Information]) . Moreover, an article by Karen Kalivoda points out that “depending on the age of onset and the severity of the hearing loss, an individual's spoken language development may be radically affected”. Babies learn to speak by parroting the sounds around them; however, a deaf child does not hear these noises and, therefore, the child does not “develop their language” skills (Kalivoda). These children are known as having “prelingual hearing loss” (Kalivoda) and cannot learn “English as a spoken language” (Kalivoda).
For this group of children, the primary source for communication is through American Sign Language, or ASL, instead of spoken English. Without the basic understanding of the English language either in spoken or written forms, deaf students have an immensely difficult battle with the English grammar system. These children tend to have “a more restricted vocabulary, grammatical errors in verb and tense agreement, and errors in word usage” (Kalivoda).
Another website titled “Deaf Literacy: Research Highlights” from the Elementary and Middle Schools Technical Assistance Center, EMSTAC, provides information on several problems deaf students experience when learning fundamentals of the English language. For example, “students’ lack of exposure to spoken language makes teaching traditional sound-letter correspondence difficult” and “deaf students whose first ...
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...decrease the amount of mistakes.
Works Cited
“American Sign Language” 21 August 2008. Nidcd.nih.gov Web. 24 February 2010.
“American Sign Language (ASL) Syntax” Lifeprint.com Web. 01 March 2010.
“Brochure” Web. 22 February 2010. Austincc.edu Web. 22 February 2010.
“Deaf Literacy: Research Highlights” Emstac.org Web. 24 February 2010.
Izzard, Sylvia. Interview by Miranda Harrison. “Sign Language Interpreter.” 24 February 2010.
Kalivoda, Karen S., and Others And. “Teaching Students with Hearing Impairments.” Journal of Developmental Education 20.3 (1997): 10-16 ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.
Morenberg, Max. Doing Grammar. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
"Quick Statistics [NIDC Health Information]." Nidcd.nih.gov 4 August 2008. Web. 22 February 2010
"Why is English Difficult for Deaf Students?" Accd.edu 8 July 2008. Web. 24 February 2010
Deaf Again autobiography is a man’s recounting of his life growing up in deaf culture, but virtually living in the hearing world. Mark Drolsbaugh was born to deaf parents, but grew up partially hearing. When he was diagnosed with hearing loss, his grandparents responded by not allowing Mark to learn ASL. Doctors and speech therapists concluded that Mark should not be immersed in deaf culture, instead he should hang on to his hearing as much as he can. He was given hearing aids and translators did not sign to him, but just repeated everything clearer. His parents were actually instructed to not used ASL around Mark because that would promote deaf culture. He became very reliant on lip reading and had no significant connection to the deaf community, even though his parents were both deaf! When he wasn’t familiar with the lip patterns of an individual, he found it very hard to understand them. Because of this, he was unable to keep up in school and had to rely on teaching himself all of his classwork. Eventually, he was accepted into Germantown Friends School, which was very rigorous, but people
Mark Drolsbaugh, the author of Deaf Again, was born to deaf parents at a time when the deaf population didn’t have and weren’t given the same availability to communication assistance as they have today. He was born hearing and seemed to have perfect hearing up until the first grade when he started having trouble understanding what was being said but was too young to understand what was happening. (Drolsbaugh 8).
Just like members of other minorities, such as Hispanics and African-Americans, Deaf people experience some of the same oppression and hardships. Although the attempts to "fix" members of and obliterate the DEAF-WORLD are not as highly publicized as problems with other minorities, they still exist. Throughout time, hearing people have been trying to destroy the DEAF-WORLD with the eugenics movement, the mainstreaming of Deaf children into public hearing schools, and cochlear implants.
These studies revealed that students with moderate to severe disabilities have the potential to benefit from phonemic awareness and phonics instruction. The ELSB curriculum supports these studies by providing phonemic awareness and phonics instruction. In addition, it provides an option for students who need to use augmentative communication, who do not have phonemic awareness skills and who may need more repetitions to learn. The ELSB can be used either with a small group of students or individually. Additionally, teacher scripts are provided so that teachers know how to word the introduction of each skill and to keep the lesson moving at a quick
Language does not only mean oral communication, there are many other forms of communicating however oral communication is the only one considered “normal.” The book “Deaf Like Me” follows a little girl Lynn throughout her early years of life and relates to us the struggles she endured while trying to fit into the mold of being normal. The story written by her father Thomas Spradley and her uncle James Spradley is an exceptional and moving story walking us through the early attempts of Lynn’s family trying to get her to learn the oral language despite her deafness that did not allow her to develop language by listening to the people around her.
In the book Seeing Voices, the author describes the world of the deaf, which he explores with extreme passion. The book begins with the history of deaf people in the United States of America, the horrible ways in which they had been seen and treated, and their continuing struggle to gain hospitality in the hearing world. Seeing Voices also examines the visual language of the deaf, sign language, which is as expressive and as rich as any spoken language. This book covers a variety of topics in deaf studies, which includes sign language, the neurology of deafness, the treatment of Deaf American citizens in history, and the linguistic and social challenges that the deaf community face. In this book, Oliver Sacks does not view the deaf as people having a condition that can be treated, instead he sees the deaf more like a racial group. This book is divided into three parts. In the first part, Oliver Sacks states a strong case for sign language, saying it is in fact a complete language and that it is as comprehensive as English, French, Chinese, and any other spoken language. He also describes the unhappy story of oralism (this is the education of deaf students through oral language by using lip reading, speech, and mimicking the mouth shapes and breathing patterns of speech)) in deaf children’s education. In addition, the first part is about the history of deaf people as well as information about deafness. It also includes the author’s own introduction to the world of the deaf.
I believe that this is important because if a young Deaf/hard of hearing student has a hard time learning what will their view on learning become? I also don’t agree with the fact that the article suggests the use of MCE (Manually coded English). Manually coded English, is similar to ASL But, follows the grammatical setup of English. Whereas ASL has its own grammatical setup. I believe that a Deaf/C.O.D.A teacher is the best opportunity for the students. Young Deaf students should be taught by Deaf/C.O.D.A teachers because ASL is most likely the students first language. Consequently ASL would be the easiest way to learn English. From the perspective of a Deaf person, ¨I had a hard time learning English, I had both a Deaf teacher and a hearing teacher. I learned English easiest from the Deaf teacher” (S. White, personal communication, February 16, 2016). Also, young Deaf students should be taught by Deaf teachers because Deaf/C.O.D.A are good language models. Language models are important to have because who else would be a good model for ASL? Throughout this article I will be exploring and sharing with you why Deaf/C.O.D.A teachers are important to the education of young Deaf/hard of hearing
When most people think of the process of language development in “normal” children, the concepts that come to mind are of babies imitating, picking up sounds and words from the speakers around them. Trying to imagine that a child who cannot hear one single sound a person makes can learn to speak a language is absolutely fascinating. These children range from amazin...
Subject-Based Deaf and Hard of Hearing Internet Resources. (2004, August 31). Retrieved October 17, 2004, from http://wally.rit.edu/internet/subject/deafness.html
From antiquity, being deaf was looked upon as an undesirable and a culture which was disconnected with the rest of mainstream society. Often members of the community found themselves ostracized by members of other cultures, who viewed them with suspicion, and were thought to be possessed, or in communion, with undesirable “spirits”, particularly during the advent of the Christianity that was in practice during the Middle Ages. During this period, before the advent of Gutenberg’s metal, movable type printing press, the populace was mostly illiterate and religious texts and spiritual obligations/instructions were verbally transmitted to the people by the literate clerics of the day. Thus, the deaf were believed to have no access to “Fides ex auditu,” which was the primary way, and often thought to be the only way; one could reach spiritual fulfillment and salvation. (Lane, 1984)
From a deafness-as-defect mindset, many well-meaning hearing doctors, audiologists, and teachers work passionately to make deaf children speak; to make these children "un-deaf." They try hearing aids, lip-reading, speech coaches, and surgical implants. In the meantime, many deaf children grow out of the crucial language acquisition phase. They become disabled by people who are anxious to make them "normal." Their lack of language, not of hearing, becomes their most severe handicap. While I support any method that works to give a child a richer life, I think a system which focuses on abilities rather than deficiencies is far more valuable. Deaf people have taught me that a lack of hearing need not be disabling. In fact, it shouldn?t be considered a lack at all. As a h...
According to Hutchison (2007), the pivotal moment in the early history of deaf education was the International Congress of the Education of the Deaf, which met in Milan in 1880. Prior to that time, sign language was widely used as the language of instruction in schools for the deaf around the world. At the Milan conference, leading educators passed several resolutions that effectively banned sign language from classrooms, stating the “incontestable superiority of speech over signs in restoring the deaf-mute to society, which gives him a fuller knowledge of language” (Hutchison, 2007, p. 481) and declaring that “the oral method should be preferred to that of signs in the education and instruction of deaf-mutes” (Hutchison, 2007, p. 481). Not only did the resolutions disallow the use of the na...
Technology has advanced our school systems and provides many new and helpful products into the classrooms. Technology has also provided specialized products for students that are hearing impaired. There is no lack of opportunities for the deaf and hard of hearing in the school system. There are many ways to innovate the way they learn.
So today, I have shared with you my journey in deafness. Being deaf can be hard, but it is not the end of the world. I can do what anyone else can do such as talk, play sports and hang out with friends. Every person’s journey is different. For me the key to success is perseverance.
Kuder, S.J. (2008). Teaching Students with Language and Communication Disabilities (3rd edition). Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.