Helping Children With Hearing Impairments To Read

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Sue Sullivan

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Hi

I am a researcher in the UK, and I am trying to raise funds so that I can use virtual reality technology to support children with hearing impairments to read. If you have a child with a hearing impairment you will understand the difficulties they have with reading, and how important it is to support reading development in the early school years. We are using virtual reality to support and train children's reading skills, and we are looking for funds to help us continue that research. It is very difficult to get funding for research with children with hearing impairments, as it does not appeal to the mainstream criteria of many funding bodies. But we believe that this type of technology is perfect for use with children who have impairing impairments, and we are determined to develop an app that all children with hearing impairments can access for free, to help them with their reading. To help us develop and trial this app we have started a crowd fundraising page and we ask that anyone who wishes to support this important research get in touch with us to find out more. Please can you share this information with friends
 
deaf or hard of hearing, not hearing impairment... and there's already stuff out there...ASL/BSL....that's what you can learn on this forum if you read around and learn from Deaf people....
 
Sue Sullivan said:
Hi

I am a researcher in the UK, and I am trying to raise funds so that I can use virtual reality technology to support children with hearing impairments to read. If you have a child with a hearing impairment you will understand the difficulties they have with reading, and how important it is to support reading development in the early school years. We are using virtual reality to support and train children's reading skills, and we are looking for funds to help us continue that research. It is very difficult to get funding for research with children with hearing impairments, as it does not appeal to the mainstream criteria of many funding bodies. But we believe that this type of technology is perfect for use with children who have impairing impairments, and we are determined to develop an app that all children with hearing impairments can access for free, to help them with their reading. To help us develop and trial this app we have started a crowd fundraising page and we ask that anyone who wishes to support this important research get in touch with us to find out more. Please can you share this information with friends
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UK actually does fairly well by their hearing impaired students.
 
I think that those that get so PC about which term to use hurt their own cause.
 
The most important thing here is that they are trying to get us to give them money for something that I have no idea if they are even qualified to produce.

I actually think they aren't. This isn't anything that's going to become part of a curriculum.
 
Agreed! The problem is just like here. That is that most dhh kids in the UK are mimimal accomondations mainstreamed, and so they fall through the cracks. They usually just get resource room style interventions (if that) Most don't even get to attend a dhh program.
 
deafdyke said:
Agreed! The problem is just like here. That is that most dhh kids in the UK are mimimal accomondations mainstreamed, and so they fall through the cracks. They usually just get resource room style interventions (if that) Most don't even get to attend a dhh program.
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I guess that would be something like the reject class I was put in with other kids that had LD . We had the same burnt out teacher all day.
 
Hi Everyone

I do usually just put DHH (deaf and hard of hearing), but a friend of mine who is slowly loosing their hearing said that he preferred the term hearing impaired. I'm not trying to be PC.

This is a genuine cause. I am a genuine researcher, and have spent many, many years trying to support DHH children (7-11 years) in their reading skills. In the UK, they are closing all the specialists schools for DHH children, and these children now go to mainstream schools. Some of these schools have support units, where you can spend time, and sort out your hearing aids etc. Some schools don't have support units - they have a support worker who may pop in now and again. Some DHH children do well in mainstream schools, but some 'fall through the net' and they don't get the support they deserve with their reading. I have been running lots of research projects over the last several years to try to find effective reading interventions for use with DHH children, and by far the most popular intervention I have tried made use of technology (a pad). Because of course, all children, whether DHH or not, love engaging with technology.

Yes, I did put a link to a crowd funding page, but you can ignore that. I have only just set it up, and this was my first toe in the water at trying to advertise it, which clearly didn't go down well. I am going to try and raise my funds through commerce. I do believe that VR headsets are amazing, and the DHH children I know who have tried them with me were captivated. I think that with some clever programming this kind of technology can support reading by e.g., providing the children with background knowledge about the things in the story. I know, from having worked with many DHH children, that a large difficulty is that they lack some of the background knowledge they need to understand the text.

Anyway, thank you for your comments, and for reading the post. I genuinely am very interested in your views about the use of VR to support reading, so please do respond if you can.

Thanks again
 
Bottesini said:
The most important thing here is that they are trying to get us to give them money for something that I have no idea if they are even qualified to produce.

I actually think they aren't. This isn't anything that's going to become part of a curriculum.
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No, it probably won't become part of the curriculum, although it should be
 
dogmom said:
deaf or hard of hearing, not hearing impairment... and there's already stuff out there...ASL/BSL....that's what you can learn on this forum if you read around and learn from Deaf people....
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Hi - thanks for your comment. I do know BSL (Level 3) - I was really talking about the use of technology to support text reading in DHH children.
 
Sue Sullivan said:
Thanks - a lot of my DHH friends prefer hearing impaired, and that's how they describe themselves. I'm also loosing my hearing, and I personally prefer hearing impaired
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I feel people should be able to use any words they want to describe being HOH or deaf. I am HOH from nerve damage so my ears are impaired .
 
Sue Sullivan said:
I don't think some of the UK parents of DHH children that I know would agree with that statement...
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Maybe not but the Deaf people I know in the UK, are pretty proficient writers. And that's a real test on whether the educational system worked.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I feel people should be able to use any words they want to describe being HOH or deaf. I am HOH from nerve damage so my ears are impaired .
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That is about what I said at post 5 and didn't get any comments. I have now quoted it below.

Jane B. said:
I think that those that get so PC about which term to use hurt their own cause.
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Sue Sullivan said:
I completely agree - 100%
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I am glad there are some that seem to agree with me!
 
Yes, I also know some Deaf people here in the UK who are fantastic writers, and readers. But, and I too can only speak from personal experience, have met many deaf children who are very poor at reading, and many deaf adolescents who fall behind in secondary school because they didn't get the support early on (in Primary school) with their reading.
 
Sue Sullivan said:
Yes, I also know some Deaf people here in the UK who are fantastic writers, and readers. But, and I too can only speak from personal experience, have met many deaf children who are very poor at reading, and many deaf adolescents who fall behind in secondary school because they didn't get the support early on (in Primary school) with their reading.
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Oh just like here? They keep the kid in a primary school b/c they're doing semi OK....and then when they hit secondary school, the curriclum becomes too complex?
 
deafdyke said:
Oh just like here? They keep the kid in a primary school b/c they're doing semi OK....and then when they hit secondary school, the curriclum becomes too complex?
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Yes, in the UK DHH children often do not get the reading support between 7- 11 years, or they get a few random interventions here and there. So, by the time they hit secondary education (12-16 years), they are not well equipped in terms of their reading, and as the curriculum becomes more complex they start to lag behind their hearing peers.
 
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