education access for people with hearing loss
Access to education is not a simple thing for a person
with hearing loss. Because of the great diversity of communication
situations in an educational environment, providing access is a complex
and evolving problem. Providing access to hard of hearing, late
deafened, and oral deaf persons in this environment has only
recently been recognized as a problem that requires a solution.
One
promising effort has been the collaboration between the Northeast
Technical Assistance Center (NETAC), located at the National Technical
Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
in Rochester, N.Y., and Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc.
(SHHH), based in Bethesda, Md. They have recently announced training
materials and classes that address providing access for hard-of-hearing
students at postsecondary institutions. Read more about this effort
here.
Even with all the accommodations that are starting to be provided for
people with hearing loss, taking classes in a normal fashion is still
TOUGH! Taking a class online might be considerably easier, especially if
the online class has been designed for deaf and hard of hearing
students.
The folks at NTID have done exactly that, and invite you to consider
their Distance Learning Program.
An ongoing issue reported by people with hearing loss is their
inability to take advantage of standard training opportunities. This
seems to be especially true for technical subjects with new and complex
vocabulary, e.g. computers. NTID has just announced computer hardware
and software courses that are restricted to participants
with hearing loss. The first courses will be presented this
winter/spring, with more to follow. This looks like a great opportunity
for those of you who work in this field (or want to).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2001 - WGBH in Boston has been on the forefront of media
accessibility for many years. Here's an article on the
WGBH
Software Accessibility Guidelines.
March 2001 - We've been noticing a real proliferation of online
education opportunities lately. WGBH is the latest organization to
contribute to these expanding opportunities.
March 2001 - More on online education for people with hearing loss,
as DeSales University plans an online MBA for
people with hearing loss.
June 2001 - Here's a double win! A non-profit organization called
Equal Access to Software and Information (EASI) provides workshops on
how to adapt computer and information technology for people with
disabilities. That's a win! Oh, yeah, and the courses are online!
Another win! Read all about it here.
June 2001 - Most of us are pretty familiar with the famous colleges
that cater to deaf folks. Gallaudet University and the National
Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) are the best known. In addition,
there are several regional schools that do a great job of serving the
hearing loss population. Here's a press release about some of the
programs at the Southwest Collegiate Institute for the
Deaf in Big Spring, TX.
June 2002 - Thought about taking classes, but concerned that it would
be tough to understand the instructor? Or maybe there isn't a college
that offers what you want within a reasonable distance. A new option
that might just help level the playing field is online classes. Here's
some information on NTID's online offerings.
September 2003 - Have you ever thought about the importance of
classroom acoustics to a person's ability to learn? It's especially
important to those with hearing loss. Here's a report
on Classroom Acoustics from the 2003 SHHH Convention.
November 2004 - Should local school districts
pay for cochlear implant maintenance costs?
April 2005 - A report from British Columbia indicates
that an inexpensive sound amplification system improves classroom
performance for ALL kids - even those with perfect hearing!
June 2005 - Have you ever taken an online course and found lecture
videos to be inaccessible. If so you might want to tell your school
about Project ADEPT.
August 2005 - The ANSI Standard for Classroom
Acoustics is not available at NO COST!
September 2005 - People with hearing loss have a much easier time
attending college than they did years ago; note takers, CART, FM
systems, etc. provide today's student with advantages unimagined not too
long ago. So why would someone with hearing loss choose to reject all
these resources, a decision that surely made school much more difficult?
Here's one person's answer to that question.
November 2005 - We often hear about the state Schools for the Deaf.
But how much do we hear about the oral schools? Here's
a great article that discusses how one of them is working to educate
kids with hearing loss.
December 2005 - Did you know that AG Bell provides FREE assistance to
school programs that have oral programs? Here's
Grace Tiessen's wonderful article on the PAP Program!
February 2006 - Teachers Find That Mikes Amplify
Learning
June 2006 - Sound Field Systems on the Rise in
Schools
June 2006 - Scientific Society Cautions
on Use of Sound Amplification
August 2006 - Access Board and
Classroom Acoustic Standards
August 2006 -
FM Made Friendly
November 2006 - Kids Learn Better When Classroom is
Wired for Sound
June 2007 - School to
fight ruling that student should have CART
July 2007 - Handbook for
Educating HOH College Kids Debuts!
August 2007 - Handbook for Educating Hard of
Hearing Students Published
October 2007 - Classrooms
need good acoustics
November 2007 -
Gallaudet Learning System Includes Captions
December 2007 - Court affirms real-time captioning for
2nd deaf student
January 2008 -
Voice amplification system enhances
students' education
January 2008 -
Summer
Academy in Computing for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students
March 2008 -
Amplification in the classroom: New
technologies, new challenges
March 2008 -
Sound Field Systems Improve Educational
Outcomes
March 2008 - NAD Expands College Bowl
Competition
March 2008 -
University of Arkansas Reports
Transcriber Shortage
May 2008 - Free online computer
training and MORE!
July 2008 -
HLAA
Research Symposium: What Research Tells Us of Lifelong Learning
and its Impact on Earnings for People with Hearing Loss
October 2008 - A Place to Learn: How
Architecture Affects Hearing and Learning
November 2008 - Researchers Discover HOH
Students Underserved
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2005
We've seen several studies in the past few years that reveal that the
acoustic environment in most classrooms is bad enough that even kids
with normal hearing sometimes have trouble understanding the teacher.
Imagine how difficult it must be for kids with hearing loss!
The ANSI Classroom Acoustic Standard is now available to individuals
at no cost. Many school districts cite this standard as a requirement
for new classroom construction and for major renovations, so it's an
important document.
It's a bit technical (ok it's a LOT technical), so probably not
something you'd pick up for casual reading. But if you have any
involvement with schools (or other buildings where quiet environments
are important), you should know about this document.
You'll have to register on the ASA site to get it, but there's no
charge, you don't have to give them credit card information, and the
registration process is pretty painless. Once you've gone through the
"checkout" process, there's a (not very noticeable) link
(ANSI_S12.60-2002.pdf ) that you click on to download the standard.
To be the first one on your block to have this standard, point your
browser to http://asastore.aip.org/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2006
Students and
teachers are using wireless microphones with surround sound that
make even the meekest voices sound as robust and clear as an
American Idol. "I relate it to Madonna -- I say we're rock
stars," said Adrienne McElroy, a third-grade teacher at
Liberty Elementary School in Port Charlotte.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Improved Test Scores Cited as Benefit
June 2006
Baltimore County Public Schools in Maryland may soon join a growing
number of schools to amplify general education classrooms with sound
field systems. Sound field systems amplify a teacher's voice evenly
throughout the classroom so every student can hear every word all of the
time. If the school board approves the proposed budget, a large-scale
$400,000 pilot study may put the systems in up to 25 classrooms in eight
elementary schools.But schools in the district didn't wait for the pilot
project to begin. In at least three new schools in the county,
forward-thinking principals added sound field systems during
construction.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August
2006
Fortunately, classroom FM systems are very effective in managing these
same factors (background noise, distance and reverberation) and FM systems
can facilitate dramatic improvements with respect to speech recognition in
noise (Chisolm, McArdle, Abrams and Noe, 2004). This article will present
an overview of the rationale for FM systems, expected outcomes and
challenges of classroom FM for children with hearing loss and a brief
description of new FM products.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2006
Bassett has joined the growing ranks of schools
embracing a deceptively simple technology at a time when federal No
Child Left Behind accountability standards are compelling districts to
find new ways to boost academic performance. Although amplification
systems have long been used to help hearing-impaired students, recent
research has shown that enhanced audio benefits all students by helping
a teacher's voice get through loud and clear, even at the back of the
classroom. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2007
I've been involved for a couple of years in an
effort to develop a handbook of best practices for educating hard of
hearing post-secondary students. The project was coordinated by the folks
at the Postsecondary Education Programs Network (PEPNet), and involved a
host of knowledgeable experts from throughout the country. The official
name of the document is "Hard of Hearing Students in Postsecondary
Education: A Guide for Service Providers." It's been a long time coming,
but it's finally finished, and I think anyone interested in providing
services to people who are hard of hearing, late-deafened, or oral deaf
will find it an invaluable resource. You can read it or download your very
own copy at
http://tinyurl.com/2h4cpe - and please share it with anyone you think
might be interested.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 2007
During a press conference on Parliament Hill, the
Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA)
alerted parents that a noisy classroom can affect a child's ability to
learn. With children back in school for a new year, audiologists and
speech-language pathologists advise parents to be aware of the noise
conditions in their children's classrooms. Children, who primarily learn
through listening, need a learning environment in which they can fully
hear and understand the teacher's instructions. A newly released study
found that many classrooms had poor quality acoustics and that children
were often working in below standard classroom listening conditions
(Rubin, Flagg- Williams and Aquino Russell, August 2007). Results from a
Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network study show that one in six
words is not understood by the average Grade 1 student due to excessive
background noise and poor acoustics in Canadian classrooms.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2007
Students at Gallaudet University in Washington,
DC, the only liberal arts university in the world for the deaf and hard of
hearing, are benefiting from lecture capture software that includes closed
captioning. That lets students view videos of lectures on demand, complete
with text captions along the bottom of the screen. The content is created
with capture software called Apreso Classroom, from Anystream. Students
can go online to watch Gallaudet professors lecture in American Sign
Language, while viewing slides, Web sites, or other content on the
computer screen itself, along with any markups the instructor makes. At
the same time, running captions display across the bottom of the video
screen.
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2008
It's time to say goodbye to one longtime classroom
complaint. "'I didn't hear you' - I don't hear that anymore," Glenwood
Elementary School kindergarten teacher Peggy Kenaga said. That's due to
the small silver microphone, decorated with purple and clear rhinestones,
hanging around her neck. The microphone is part of a new classroom
amplification system called LightSPEED, and now, thanks to a preventative
special education grant, every Enid Public Schools kindergarten through
sixth grade classroom has one. Pre-kindergarten classrooms don't have the
system because their class sizes are smaller and their work is more
group-centered, said Amber Graham Fitzgerald, school and community
relations director. It's been a big hit with both teachers and students.
"It's like Surround Sound in the classroom," said Marilyn Mitchell,
Glenwood third-grade teacher. Mitchell especially likes the fact her
students can use the second microphone that came with the system. She uses
it in daily class activities, like reading lessons. The student answering
a question gets to speak into the mike, amplifying his or her voice so the
entire class can hear.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2008
The University of Washington and the
Department of Computer Science & Engineering is please to announce the
2008 Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Computing,
now in its second summer. The Summer Academy is designed to introduce
computing to deaf and hard of hearing students considering computer
science, computer engineering, information science, information systems or
information technology as a career, either in industry or academia. This
is a challenging academic program from which participants will receive
college credit. The Summer Academy is looking for the top 10 deaf and hard
of hearing students, 18 and over, who excel in and enjoy math, science
and/or computing (students 16 and 17 years of age who have exhibited
exceptional scholastic achievement in math, science and/or computing may
be considered for admission under specific conditions). Admission is very
competitive, based on an assessment of ability in computing and enthusiasm
to participate in an intensive learning experience in all things
computing. The Summer Academy is fully funded by the National Science
Foundation; tuition, room & board and transportation will be provided
at no cost to selected applicants. This is truly an exciting
opportunity!
Please view our
website at
www.washington.edu/accesscomputing/dhh/academy which includes program
information, a brochure and an online application form. The deadline is
February 29, 2008, however applications received after that date will be
considered on a space available basis.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New technologies, new
challenges
March 2008
A technological revolution has been under way in
the classroom for the last decade, but you'd have to look hard to find it.
In some cases, it's a tiny audio pieceattached to a student's hearing aid
or a hand-held transmitter for a teacher that looks like an iPod. In other
classrooms, it's a flat-panel speaker strategically placed high above the
teacher pointing out to the students ahead. Amplification in the classroom
takes on many forms for students with hearing aids and cochlear implants.
And newer sound field systems are getting wider exposure as more school
districts are convinced that boosting the teacher's voice above the
ambient noise will benefit everyone in the classroom, not just those with
hearing loss. More and more hearing-impaired students are benefiting from
the latest technologies in FM systems and other devices that can be
integrated into their hearing aids andcochlear implants. Manufacturers are
working to make FM systems that are smaller and more advanced than the
current generation, with new products hitting the market about every 2
years. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2008
Rene Slater used to give herself laryngitis trying
to talk over the incessant hum of the ventilation unit in her classroom
here at Wyoming Elementary School, and her second-grade students still
complained they could not hear. Now Mrs. Slater's voice resonates over the
drone of the ventilator through four speakers mounted on the classroom
walls, thanks to the wireless microphone, resembling a half-moon pendant,
that hangs around her neck. "It's a more personal connection, because it
sounds like I'm next to each child," said Mrs. Slater, 54, who takes off
the microphone only when leaving school and no longer loses her voice.
"They can all hear my voice equally as well." This school year, Wyoming
Elementary has equipped every kindergarten through third-grade classroom
with the amplification system, technology that was once reserved for large
lecture halls or to aid students with hearing or learning disabilities. In
an era of chronic ear infections, widespread iPod use and rampant
attention-deficit disorders, school officials have embraced the
microphones for mainstream classrooms, pointing to research suggesting
that all children learn better when they hear instruction loud and clear.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2008
A trained transcriber sits in class with a student
and uses a laptop computer with specialized abbreviation software to
transcribe - type the meaning of - what is being said in lectures and
discussions, Jannarone said. A hearing-impaired student then is able to
read the transcript in real time from a second computer, type questions
and comments to the transcriber to be voiced and take notes in the
software program on the second computer, she said. The shortage of
transcribers is most commonly because of the hiring process. "The hiring
and retention piece of this issue is a bit more complicated than it may
appear on the surface," Jannarone said.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 2008
Learning to use a computer or a new computer
program in a standard class is very difficult for people with hearing
loss, because the instructor is typically demonstrating how to do
something at the same time that he's talking about it. The person with
hearing loss has to choose whether to watch the instructor so she can
lipread, or watch what is being demonstrated without understanding what
the instructor is saying. So an online class that allows the student to
work at her own pace is just the ticket. And here's an organization that
offers exactly that. And the classes are FREE!
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/