educational info

Educational Information

Children with Communication Disorders. (contd.)

WHAT ARE THE EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS?

Many speech problems are developmental rather than physiological, and as such they respond to remedial instruction. Language experiences are central to a young child's development. In the past, children with communication disorders were routinely removed from the regular class for individual speech and language therapy. This is still the case in severe instances, but the trend is toward keeping the child in the mainstream as much as possible. In order to accomplish this goal, teamwork among the teacher, speech and language therapist, audiologist, and parents is essential. Speech improvement and correction are blended into the regular classroom curriculum and the child's natural environment.

Amplification may be extremely valuable for the child with a hearing impairment. Students whose hearing is not completely restored by hearing aids or other means of amplification have unique communication needs. Children who are deaf are not automatically exposed to the enormous amounts of language stimulation experienced by hearing children in their early years. For deaf children, early, consistent, and conscious use of visible communication modes such as sign language, finger spelling, and cued speech and/or amplification and aural/oral training can help reduce this language delay. Some
educators advocate a strict oral approach in which the child is required to use as much speech as possible, while others favor the use of sign language and finger spelling combined with speech, an approach known as TOTAL COMMUNICATION. There is increasing consensus that whatever system works best for the individual should be used.

Many children with hearing impairments can be served in the regular classroom with support services. In addition to amplification, instructional aids such as captioned films and high interest/low vocabulary reading materials are helpful. For most children with hearing impairments, language acquisition and development are significantly delayed, sometimes leading to an erroneously low estimate of intelligence.

Students whose physical problems are so severe that they interfere with or completely inhibit communication can frequently take advantage of technological advances that allow the individual to make his or her needs and wants known, perhaps for the first time.

ADDITIONAL READING

Adams, J. W. (1988). You and Your Hearing-Impaired Child: A Self-Instructional Guide for Parents. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.

Freeman, R. D., Carbin, C. F., & Boese, R. J. (1981). Can't Your Child Hear? A Guide for Those Who Care about Deaf Children. Baltimore: University Park Press.

Grant, J. (1987). The Hearing Impaired: Birth to Six. Boston: Little, Brown.

Hixon, T. J., Shribers, L. D., & Saxman, J. H. (Eds.). (1980). Introduction to Communication Disorders. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

King, R. R. & Sommers, R. K. (1986). Talking Tots: Normal and Impaired Communication Development of Preschool Children. Danville, IL: Interstate Printers and Publishers.

Luterman, D. (1987). Deafness in the Family. Boston: Little, Brown.

Miller, A. L. (1980). Hearing Loss, Hearing Aids, and Your Child. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.

Moores, D. F. (1987). Educating the Deaf: Psychology, Principles, and Practices (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

National Information Center on Deafness, & National Association of the Deaf. (1987). Deafness: A Fact Sheet. Washington, DC: Author.

Ogden, P., & Lipsett, A. (1982). The Silent Garden: Understanding the Hearing Impaired Child. New York: St. Martin's.

Oyer, H. J., Crowe, B., & Haas, W. H. (1987). Speech, Language, and Hearing Disorders: A Guide for the Teacher. Boston: Little, Brown.

Schwartz, S. (Ed.). (1987). Choices in Deafness: A Parent's Guide. Rockville, MD: Woodbine House.

Van Hattum, R. J. (Ed.). (1980). Communication Disorders. AN
Introduction. New York: Macmillan.

RESOURCES:

American Speech/Language and Hearing Association
10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852
301/897-5700, 800/638-8255 -----

National Association of the Deaf
814 Thayer Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910
301/587-1788 -----

National Information Center on Deafness
Gallaudet University, Washington, DC 20002
202/651-5051 -----

Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, Inc.
3417 Volta Place, NW, Washington, DC 20007
202/337-5220 -----

Division for Children with Communication Disorders

The Council for Exceptional Children
1920 Association Drive, Reston, VA 22091 -----

TRACE Research and Development Center
314 Waisman Center
1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53706 ------

ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced and
disseminated. ------

This publication was prepared with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, under contract no. RI88062007. The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI or the Department of Education.

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