Chapter 4 - SUGGESTED ADAPTATIONS AND SPECIAL TEACHING APPROACHES FOR SELECTED SUBJECTS

SUGGESTED ADAPTATIONS AND SPECIAL TEACHING APPROACHES FOR SELECTED SUBJECTS

The curriculum for hearing impaired children is similar to that for ordinary children in that it aims to provide the children with a general education in preparation for further studies, future employment and adult life. The curriculum content for the mainstream education should therefore be appropriate for hearing impaired children as long as adaptations are made where required. In addition to most of the subjects offered in ordinary schools, special emphasis is put on Speech and Language, Chinese Language, English Language and Music. These subjects are considered to be particularly important to hearing impaired children in that they help to improve their communication competence required in everyday life. These subjects have therefore been selected and will be discussed in this chapter. Possible adaptations to the curriculum materials and related teaching approaches will also be suggested.

4.1 Speech and Language

As natural acquisition of communication skills is hampered by hearing impairment to varying degrees, it is necessary for the school to provide additional programmes to facilitate the development of language and fluent speech in the children.

Since hearing impaired children suffer from different degrees of hearing impairment and their speech and language abilities are different,
individual Speech and Language sessions, tailored to meet their different learning needs, are necessary. It is best to arrange short, frequent sessions for the children to meet the same teacher or speech therapist. The teaching session should best be conducted in a quiet environment (preferably a sound-proof room). Group Speech and Language sessions are also recommended as they help to generate interactions between the children and the teacher and among the children themselves.
It is important for the teacher and the speech therapist designing and conducting these sessions to be competent in Speech and Language teaching and to have a sound knowledge of children's language development in their early childhood.
4.1.1 Learning Areas

Speech and Language includes such learning areas as
auditory learning,
speech teaching,
speech reading,
language learning and
social skills in communication.
These various learning areas are elaborated as follows:

(1) Auditory Learning

Auditory learning is a process in which hearing impaired children develop their residual hearing through guided listening practice. The teacher needs to give the children auditory exercises which involve the use of environmental sounds, music and speech. Auditory learning requires a clear presentation of a systematically arranged, progressive sequence of activities. These activities will ensure that, through the following stimuli employed, the children will acquire the skills of detection, identification, discrimination and comprehension:

(a) Basic skills required in detection include:

Auditory awareness -- the awareness of the presence and absence of sounds

Auditory attention -- the ability to attend to sounds

Localization -- the awareness of the direction of sounds

Auditory memory -- the ability to recall a sequence of sounds heard, e.g. a rhythmic pattern made by a musical instrument or by the human voice

(b) Basic skills required in identification, discrimination and comprehension include:

Identification of the sources of sounds -- e.g. a drum, a rattle, a telephone, animal noise, the human voice (male and female) and other environmental noise.
Differentiation of the following
qualities of sounds -- duration (long and short sounds), intensity (loud and soft sounds), and pitch (high and low sounds).
Imitation of sounds -- the ability to repeat a sound heard, e.g. by beating a rhythmic pattern on a drum or by saying a phoneme, a syllable, a word, a phrase or a sentence heard.
Response to sounds -- the ability to react appropriately to different sounds, especially to the spoken language, by carrying out a command, answering a question or re-telling a short story heard.

(2)

Speech Teaching

(a) Speech teaching is closely linked to auditory learning. If the natural learning approach fails, a more structured one should be used. A cumulative, sequential programme is recommended. The teacher should help the children learn speech first in the auditory mode. The visual mode or even the tactile mode, if required, can also be enlisted. But, whatever mode is used, he should still emphasize the importance of the auditory mode.

(b) At a phonetic level, the teacher needs to ensure that the children can produce speech with appropriate suprasegmental elements (duration, intensity and pitch) and the phonemes (vowels, diphthongs, consonants and blendsv ).

(c) At a
phonological level, attention has to be given to
morphology,
semantics and syntax. The transfer of skills from the phonetic to the phonological level requires careful planning on the part of the teacher. Besides, the teacher needs to ensure that the children are given sufficient motivation, practice and reinforcement.

(3)

Speech Reading

Speech reading should be learnt as a supplement to listening. It should not be regarded as a separate skill. To prepare the children for real-life situations, speech reading and listening skills should be practised both in the presence and absence of background noise.

(4)

Language Learning

It is important for hearing impaired children to be given sufficient opportunities for meaningful verbal interactions both in real life and in contrived situations. In developing daily conversational skills in the children, the teacher can consider the following suggestions:

(a) using questions to develop answering skills

(b) using open-ended questions to develop narrative skills
(c) using action phrases or pictures to develop sequencing skills
(d) using pictures or activities to develop descriptive skills
(e) using activities to develop questioning skills

(5) Social Skills in Communication

Some of the social skills are: initiating a conversation, maintaining eye contact with the speaker, taking turns, asking for an explanation when necessary, ending a conversation, etc. These social skills can be developed in contrived situations.

4.1.2 Record-Keeping and Assessment

Records of the children's personal information should be kept. The information should include their medical history, causes and onset of deafness, previous speech and language learning and attainment, hearing age (the age when a child first uses a hearing aid), hearing aid usage, etc.

Based on the information, a programme can be designed in progressive stages to ensure the transfer of learnt communication and
problem-solving skills from the classroom to everyday life situations.
Evaluation of Speech and Language programmes may take many forms. Periodic assessment, formal or informal, may be used to detect the children's levels of attainment and provide a basis for designing remedial programmes in Speech and Language learning.

4.2 Chinese Language

As a complement to Speech and Language learning to improve the children's communication competence, Chinese Language is an area to be emphasized. The teaching of this subject includes Text Teaching, Composition, Dictation and Reading. Apart from the guidelines laid down in the CDC Syllabus for Chinese, which the teacher is advised to familiarize himself with, the following are some suggestions on possible adaptations to the curriculum materials and teaching approaches specially relevant to the learning difficulties and needs of hearing impaired children.
4.2.1 Text Teaching

The learning materials selected should mainly be those written in a
vernacular style and those, in which the content is related to the everyday life experiences, interests and practical needs of the children. Materials on practical writing should also be included. Due to their language deficit, some children may progress at a slower pace than ordinary children. The teacher therefore need not be too concerned about covering every single chapter in the textbook. In fact, sometimes instead of the whole chapter, selected paragraphs can be taught.

(1) Comprehension

(1) Attention should be given to comprehension of the text as a whole before detailed study of individual paragraphs should be made.

(2) The teacher should avoid adopting the one-way communication mode in teaching. He should encourage discussions in the class. The children will then have more opportunities to listen, to think and to express themselves so that they can better understand the text.

(3) The teacher should encourage the children to express themselves in
phrases or complete sentences as appropriate and help them master some of the
basic grammar of the language.

(4) During the lesson, the teacher needs to write on the blackboard, whenever necessary, to help the children with their difficulties in speech reading and comprehension.

(2) Reading Aloud

Reading by the teacher for demonstration and then reading aloud by the whole class, small groups or individual children for practice are good for language learning. The teacher may need to correct the children's speech at the appropriate moment. However, he has to make sure that this is not over-emphasized, otherwise this will undermine the children's confidence.

(3) Phrase Explanation and Sentence Construction

(1) It is advisable to teach those phrases which are generally used in the children's everyday life instead of teaching all of them in depth, otherwise too much time will be spent on one chapter and the general progress will be affected.

(2) As the children's receptive ability of language may affect their power of comprehension, the teacher should illustrate a word or a phrase with examples drawn from the children's everyday life. He may start with the simpler expressions so that the children can learn and understand them with less difficulty. Abstract concepts should be explained with the help of concrete examples.

(3) In teaching
pronouns,
kinship terms and
ways to address people, role play is an effective approach.

(4) Constant revision of sentence patterns will help to reinforce language learning, which is particularly required for hearing impaired children.

(5) Exercises in sentence construction are also of particular importance to these children. They indicate to the teacher whether or not the children can use a word or a phrase correctly.

(6) At the initial stage, in order to encourage the children to write, the teacher can use sample sentences to guide them in writing correct sentences.

(7) Reading aloud and
recitation of good sentences are useful for learning sentences and
expressions.

4.2.2 Composition

(1) The teacher needs to discuss with the children and help them organize their thoughts before they set about writing.

(2) The teacher should watch out for the children's common errors, some of which are:
wrong word sequence, omission of words,
confusion of the subject with the object, etc.

(3) Hearing impaired children may have difficulties in abstract thinking. At an early stage, they should be asked to write on subjects related to their everyday life in simple forms such as diary, dialogue journal and various kinds of
practical writing.

4.2.3 Dictation

Dictation is also important to hearing impaired children. It provides practice in listening, comprehension and speech, which can be achieved through oral activities. The teacher needs to choose a suitable passage for dictation according to the language abilities of the children. The format of dictation includes oral dictation and recitative dictation. In oral dictation, the teacher should make sure that the children do not memorize the passage beforehand. He should read at a natural pace so that the children can be aware of the natural flow of the language.

4.2.4 Reading

Reading is again of particular importance to hearing impaired children. It helps to enrich their receptive language. Therefore good reading habits need to be developed in the children. However, the following has to be noted:

(1) The teacher needs to find out the children's language abilities and make sure that the materials selected are suitable for them.

(2) The content of the reading materials selected should best be related to the children's life experiences and interests.

(3) The children should be encouraged to discuss with each other the books they have read and share with them the pleasures of reading. Story-telling and reporting are examples of effective and interesting approaches.

4.3 English Language

Like their peers in ordinary schools, hearing impaired children may need to use English in their daily life and later in their working life. If these children are to receive higher education, a good English foundation is essential. The subject of English Language therefore plays an important part in the curriculum for hearing impaired children. Along with the guidelines laid down in the CDC Syllabus for English, which the teacher of English Language needs to be familiar with, the following suggestions are particularly relevant to the learning needs of hearing impaired children.

4.3.1 Approach

(1) It is more important for the children to want to communicate and know how to do it effectively than for them to master the language system.

(2) When a language item is practised, the emphasis of the exercise should be language in use and the practice should be interesting to the children.

(3) Using Chinese is undesirable as the translation process is complicated and adds to the learning burden.

4.3.2 Skills Focus

(1) As foundation to the basic skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing, the children must be taught the skills of
pronunciation and using
text-types. Even for hearing impaired children, reading aloud is a very useful way to reinforce knowledge of word and sentence formation, spelling, mastery of text-types and expression of ideas and feelings.

(2) Extra efforts are necessary to help hearing impaired children to understand and appreciate the
sound patterns of the English language (including
phonics,
linkage,
rising and falling tones,
intonation to express mood, etc.) even if they may not develop the oral abilities to speak them. Such training should start as soon as possible.

(3) Since hearing impaired children's opportunities for language exposure and experience through listening may be limited by their physical constraint, they should be given increased training and practice in reading. The teacher should use graded reading materials of a broad nature, preferably with pictorial support, and encourage them to read these materials, both aloud and in silence.

(4) To enable hearing impaired children to continue their development in language, some basic language development skills must be taught as early as possible. These include phonics skills, dictionary skills, reading skills, note-taking skills, library skills and enquiry skills.

4.3.3 Teaching Strategies

The choice of textbooks and supplementary materials should be made according to the abilities of the children. The content of these materials should be related to the children's interests and experiences.
The introduction of language items must be monitored with care:

(1) there must not be too many items at a time since overloading can cause apprehension and confusion;

(2) there should be clear gradation so that the children can move comfortably from the easy to the difficult, the simple to the complex, and the basic to extended use;

(3) all vocabulary items should be related to the children's daily life;

(4) all language items should be used in immediate situations when they are taught, such as tasks and projects;

(5) an appropriate amount of drilling is often necessary for hearing impaired children, though this is not encouraged in ordinary schools.

Dictation should primarily be seen as a form of exercise to give the children practice in spelling, and, with flexible use of the dictation format, also practice in the correct use of grammatical features and sentence structures. It provides training to improve the children's auditory comprehension and reading skills. And when it is used for various text-types, it also provides an effective means of introducing the features of each text-type.
Extensive reading is important to the cognitive aspect of language development. It does not require listening skills and enables the children to develop their individual knowledge and language frameworks through meaningful experiences. The children should be encouraged to read abundantly for the acquisition of both information and pleasure. The teacher can help them to achieve this by providing them with a broad range of reading materials, including picture books, and a self-evaluation record card for simple reading projects.
Group work is always effective when the children are given interesting tasks in which they can take different roles and use group effort to produce something that an individual cannot. A good number and variety of tasks that enable each child to take turns to play the different roles helps the children to form meaningful language concepts and acquire skills for effective communication. To enable hearing impaired children to complete group work, signs and symbols, worksheets, forms and questionnaires, role cards and game boards can be used.

4.4 Music

Music has assumed increasing importance to hearing impaired children over the years for its use to improve their communication competence. This subject is therefore discussed in the Guide. Through audition or
vibration, hearing impaired children can perceive music. They can be trained to listen to various sound sources with their residual hearing. Music helps to develop
aural awareness in hearing impaired children. In connection with other subjects in the curriculum, it also helps to improve their language skills, particularly verbal communication skills.
4.4.1 Suggested Musical Activities

1. Auditory Learning

Through learning musical elements such as
rhythm,
pitch,
metre,
melodic direction,
register, etc. and identifying environmental sounds like those of the weather, animals, machines, the traffic, etc., particularly the human voice, the children can develop their sensitivity to sounds; keep in touch with the environment and differentiate the nature, qualities and directions of sounds.

2. Singing

Singing should be a major activity in a music lesson. Singing helps the children to develop breath control, intonation and a sense of rhythm.

3. Dance and Movement

Dance and movement can be taught with the help of songs or music. Dance helps the children to establish a good self-image, express their feelings, co-ordinate their movements, and interact with others non-verbally.

4. Music Appreciation

Music appreciation can arouse the children's awareness of music and their interest in it. This can be conducted in music lessons, assemblies and during lunch time.

5. Instrument Playing

Percussion, keyboard, string and wind instruments can be used, according to the degree of hearing loss and the ability of individual children.

6. Music Games and Mimes

Children understand music through enjoyable experiences in games and
mimes. These games can be played in singing, movement, listening, or instrument playing. Drama, action songs and activities related to everyday life can be included.

(a)	Speech teaching is closely linked to auditory learning. If the natural learning approach fails, a more structured one should be used. A cumulative, sequential programme is recommended. The teacher should help the children learn speech first in the auditory mode. The visual mode or even the tactile mode, if required, can also be enlisted. But, whatever mode is used, he should still emphasize the importance of the auditory mode.
(b)	At a phonetic level, the teacher needs to ensure that the children can produce speech with appropriate suprasegmental elements (duration, intensity and pitch) and the phonemes (vowels, diphthongs, consonants and blendsv ).
(c)	At a phonological level, attention has to be given to morphology, semantics and syntax. The transfer of skills from the phonetic to the phonological level requires careful planning on the part of the teacher. Besides, the teacher needs to ensure that the children are given sufficient motivation, practice and reinforcement.

(1)	Attention should be given to comprehension of the text as a whole before detailed study of individual paragraphs should be made.
(2)	The teacher should avoid adopting the one-way communication mode in teaching. He should encourage discussions in the class. The children will then have more opportunities to listen, to think and to express themselves so that they can better understand the text.
(3)	The teacher should encourage the children to express themselves in phrases or complete sentences as appropriate and help them master some of the basic grammar of the language.
(4)	During the lesson, the teacher needs to write on the blackboard, whenever necessary, to help the children with their difficulties in speech reading and comprehension.

(1)	It is advisable to teach those phrases which are generally used in the children's everyday life instead of teaching all of them in depth, otherwise too much time will be spent on one chapter and the general progress will be affected.
(2)	As the children's receptive ability of language may affect their power of comprehension, the teacher should illustrate a word or a phrase with examples drawn from the children's everyday life. He may start with the simpler expressions so that the children can learn and understand them with less difficulty. Abstract concepts should be explained with the help of concrete examples.
(3)	In teaching pronouns, kinship terms and ways to address people, role play is an effective approach.
(4)	Constant revision of sentence patterns will help to reinforce language learning, which is particularly required for hearing impaired children.
(5)	Exercises in sentence construction are also of particular importance to these children. They indicate to the teacher whether or not the children can use a word or a phrase correctly.
(6)	At the initial stage, in order to encourage the children to write, the teacher can use sample sentences to guide them in writing correct sentences.
(7)	Reading aloud and recitation of good sentences are useful for learning sentences and expressions.

(1)	The teacher needs to discuss with the children and help them organize their thoughts before they set about writing.
(2)	The teacher should watch out for the children's common errors, some of which are: wrong word sequence, omission of words, confusion of the subject with the object, etc.
(3)	Hearing impaired children may have difficulties in abstract thinking. At an early stage, they should be asked to write on subjects related to their everyday life in simple forms such as diary, dialogue journal and various kinds of practical writing.

(1)	The teacher needs to find out the children's language abilities and make sure that the materials selected are suitable for them.
(2)	The content of the reading materials selected should best be related to the children's life experiences and interests.
(3)	The children should be encouraged to discuss with each other the books they have read and share with them the pleasures of reading. Story-telling and reporting are examples of effective and interesting approaches.

(1)	It is more important for the children to want to communicate and know how to do it effectively than for them to master the language system.
(2)	When a language item is practised, the emphasis of the exercise should be language in use and the practice should be interesting to the children.
(3)	Using Chinese is undesirable as the translation process is complicated and adds to the learning burden.

(1)	As foundation to the basic skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing, the children must be taught the skills of pronunciation and using text-types. Even for hearing impaired children, reading aloud is a very useful way to reinforce knowledge of word and sentence formation, spelling, mastery of text-types and expression of ideas and feelings.
(2)	Extra efforts are necessary to help hearing impaired children to understand and appreciate the sound patterns of the English language (including phonics, linkage, rising and falling tones, intonation to express mood, etc.) even if they may not develop the oral abilities to speak them. Such training should start as soon as possible.
(3)	Since hearing impaired children's opportunities for language exposure and experience through listening may be limited by their physical constraint, they should be given increased training and practice in reading. The teacher should use graded reading materials of a broad nature, preferably with pictorial support, and encourage them to read these materials, both aloud and in silence.
(4)	To enable hearing impaired children to continue their development in language, some basic language development skills must be taught as early as possible. These include phonics skills, dictionary skills, reading skills, note-taking skills, library skills and enquiry skills.

(1)	there must not be too many items at a time since overloading can cause apprehension and confusion;
(2)	there should be clear gradation so that the children can move comfortably from the easy to the difficult, the simple to the complex, and the basic to extended use;
(3)	all vocabulary items should be related to the children's daily life;
(4)	all language items should be used in immediate situations when they are taught, such as tasks and projects;
(5)	an appropriate amount of drilling is often necessary for hearing impaired children, though this is not encouraged in ordinary schools.