With all the activities, lessons, and friends one would meet, it’s definitely one of the most memorable parts of our lives. For ordinary students, school can go by like a breeze. However, for students with hearing loss, it may be a bit more challenging. How can you ensure that this stage of their lives would be something they would look back to? Here are a few tips!
Meet with the teachers
Teachers need to be informed of your kid’s special condition. This way, they can pave the way for a comfortable environment for your child at school. She may have to work on some adjustments with her teaching approach and prepare the class by helping them understand the situation.
Encourage your child to join clubs
School is a great avenue for your child to meet new people and experience what life has to offer. It’s a safe place to make mistakes and learn from them. By joining clubs, they would get to interact with people who have similar interests as them. And maybe, if possible, your child can meet other children with the same condition as them.
Tell them they can be achievers as well
Hearing loss is never a reason to not succeed and not try at all. Most people with hearing loss are afraid of the challenges and judgement of trying something new. If at an early age, they already get rid of this fear, they will carry it until they grow up. You child can be an athlete, a student leader, a class valedictorian, or whatever he wants to be. The possibilities are endless!
Make sure they pack an extra battery
Just to be on the safe side, you may want to ask your child to pack an extra battery. You’ll never know when the batteries would run out of juice.
Teachers can also talk an extra step for the welfare of your child. There are a lot of considerable things that they can do to help your child have an easier time at school.
Help with visual cues
While some students are okay with verbal learning, most students still need to see something in class to fully understand the lesson. This is very much helpful most especially for students with hearing loss. They don’t have to exert extra effort in learning because they have visual cues to help them. You may use powerpoint presentations, photos, graphs, or maybe even an actual prop.
Maintain eye contact
A good teacher knows how to maintain eye contact with her students. By catching the attention of the student with hearing loss, they would know that they need to listen.
Don’t speak facing the board
This is a mistake that some teachers do. When you face the board as you teach, students are unable to see your mouth when you speak. The sounds you produce are also facing away from the students, and as a result, those with hearing loss may have a harder time.
Check facial reactions
Teachers may want to look around the class to check if their students understand what they have just said. This tip doesn’t only apply for students who need extra attention, but rather, to all. If you think that the lesson is still confusing or the students did not understand it fully, you can tell with the way they would react.
Keep the background noise to a minimum
While it is true that noise in the classroom is unavoidable, you may need to tell the class to keep it down a notch. Listening to sounds is hard as it is, but listening to sounds with background noise can make it more challenging.
Hearing loss has a huge impact on a child’s learning. But remember, it may be a bump along the way, but never too big for your child to not succeed. With these tips, may you help your child and students have a better learning experience at school.
For more information, you may contact Listening Lab at +65 6817 5100.
About The Listening Lab
Listening Lab is a home-grown company whose mission is to help our clients restore their hearing to enjoy the life that they desire. Experiencing hearing loss can be detrimental to one’s quality of life. Hence we commit to providing high-quality hearing solutions.
Our hearing solutions include hearing tests and treatment and prescribing hearing aids. Clients may come to get their hearing checked, and we will assess whether hearing aids are required.
If hearing aids are required, clients can choose from a variety of the best hearing aid brands we provide. Each of the products offers unique features that complement daily use and perform well in helping our clients enjoy the life that they desire.
