Deaf Students and Math

CSign

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Does anyone know of any good resources/articles/papers on deafness and how it can impact how a student learns and becomes proficient in math? I recall reading somewhere in the past that math is one other area that can be challenging for deaf students, but I'm having a hard time finding anything worthwhile.

Any productive information would be much appreciated.
 
Does anyone know of any good resources/articles/papers on deafness and how it can impact how a student learns and becomes proficient in math? I recall reading somewhere in the past that math is one other area that can be challenging for deaf students, but I'm having a hard time finding anything worthwhile.

Any productive information would be much appreciated.

Strategies for Teaching Math to Deaf Students
 
I remember in mainstreamed math class (3rd grade) the teacher would have each (hearing & me) student stand up, and answer her question: What is 3 times 5? What is 6 times 1?

Except that I couldn't hear what she said, so I'd bluff by saying any number or say that I didn't know. Hoped that someone would realize I didn't hear the teacher, but no one did. :roll:
 
I remember in mainstreamed math class (3rd grade) the teacher would have each (hearing & me) student stand up, and answer her question: What is 3 times 5? What is 6 times 1?

Except that I couldn't hear what she said, so I'd bluff by saying any number or say that I didn't know. Hoped that someone would realize I didn't hear the teacher, but no one did. :roll:

That's terrible :( Did you end up feeling confident/proficient in math?
 
I lost my hearing to Rubella and my specific targeted learning disability is in math which also makes learning foreign languages difficult, reading music and many others. It's well documented that people with hearing loss (depending on what caused the loss) also have learning disabilities. They tend to go hand in hand. You could ask someone here - it's a great site:

LD OnLine: The world's leading website on learning disabilities and ADHD
 
The problem is how we teach math and science. I'm sure being deaf can add to those problems. We teach people math through abstract concepts without connecting it to the real world. I had some of the worst math teachers and it wasn't until someone I knew told me they were bad that I realized it.

To be fair, a lot of what you learn in math you are not going to use in the real world and if you had to there is a computer to do it. But still, it's not making us any smarter.

We don't teach people math we teach people how to pass tests. It's like teaching you about a hammer, you know how it works but you don't know when to use it.
 
I used to be good at Math and I did pass the NY regents exams. That was over 90 percents. Thanks to my old Deaf ASL User Teacher. I am not the alone who passed the NY regents exams, and most of my Deaf classmates passed as well, under the same Deaf Asl User Teacher.

Don't know what to tell ya.
 
:confused:
I recall reading somewhere in the past that math is one other area that can be challenging for deaf students, but I'm having a hard time finding anything worthwhile.
Really? Math ? challenging for deaf students???

During my time, there were ALMOST all of Deaf/Hoh (most of strong ASL users) and a several Deaf Foreigner teachers were at business deptment at Gallaudet University. I also know a lot of Deaf (asl users) work as finance jobs anywhere.
 
Does anyone know of any good resources/articles/papers on deafness and how it can impact how a student learns and becomes proficient in math? I recall reading somewhere in the past that math is one other area that can be challenging for deaf students, but I'm having a hard time finding anything worthwhile.

Any productive information would be much appreciated.
probably because this is a foreign concept. very very foreign to me. it's as foreign as "white people can't jump" in basketball :lol:

just take your kid to Kumon :lol:
 
The problem is how we teach math and science. I'm sure being deaf can add to those problems. We teach people math through abstract concepts without connecting it to the real world. I had some of the worst math teachers and it wasn't until someone I knew told me they were bad that I realized it.
well.... it's not because you're deaf. it's because you had a crappy math teacher.

To be fair, a lot of what you learn in math you are not going to use in the real world and if you had to there is a computer to do it. But still, it's not making us any smarter.
no you cannot use a computer to do it for you if you don't know how to do math yourself.... unless you mean using a calculator to do some adding/subtracting when doing your bills.

We don't teach people math we teach people how to pass tests. It's like teaching you about a hammer, you know how it works but you don't know when to use it.
I don't see how is that possible in math. how do you teach people to pass test if they don't know math?
 
That's terrible :( Did you end up feeling confident/proficient in math?

No, I was placed in remedial math classes several times after that, through junior high. Had a lot of trouble in high school math classes. To the point where a teacher said I shouldn't consider college since the math would be "too hard for me." I do very well in every other subject, there's no reason why math should be particularly difficult.

In current college attempt, the student accessibility director encouraged me to "suspend disbelief" and keep at it, and I managed to pass Algebra with a C. I was a nervous wreck about it though. I think I could have done better without the baggage, though.

I'm taking Intro to Statistics now, during the summer, and again, I'm a nervous wreck about it, and I'm not doing well, because I'm not catching enough in class. Teacher is rushed (8 week class), I hardly catch a single word he says. The remote transcriptionist (CART) is only giving me 2-4 words out of each 1-2 sentences the teacher says (sometimes nothing at all, I've explained this to student accessibility several times, but they won't spend the extra money to get remote captioning from NTID, for example), and the transcriptionist's "sentences" on-screen don't make much sense most of the time.

My only chance in that class is to read every single page in the textbook, do every exercise, and go to tutoring every day. The classroom experience itself is a joke. And I'm paying them out of pocket during the summer because VR doesn't cover summer classes. Ha!

Long story short, I think I can do well in math, but there's a lot of mental blockage about math to get past, in order to convince myself I'm not a dummy at math.

I was even tested for learning disability in grade school, and it was found I do not have a learning disability. Just bad teachers, I guess, and an inappropriate teaching method for deaf/hoh students.
 
No, I was placed in remedial math classes several times after that, through junior high. Had a lot of trouble in high school math classes. To the point where a teacher said I shouldn't consider college since the math would be "too hard for me." I do very well in every other subject, there's no reason why math should be particularly difficult.

In current college attempt, the student accessibility director encouraged me to "suspend disbelief" and keep at it, and I managed to pass Algebra with a C. I was a nervous wreck about it though. I think I could have done better without the baggage, though.

I'm taking Intro to Statistics now, during the summer, and again, I'm a nervous wreck about it, and I'm not doing well, because I'm not catching enough in class. Teacher is rushed (8 week class), I hardly catch a single word he says. The remote transcriptionist (CART) is only giving me 2-4 words out of each 1-2 sentences the teacher says (sometimes nothing at all, I've explained this to student accessibility several times, but they won't spend the extra money to get remote captioning from NTID, for example), and the transcriptionist's "sentences" on-screen don't make much sense most of the time.

My only chance in that class is to read every single page in the textbook, do every exercise, and go to tutoring every day. The classroom experience itself is a joke. And I'm paying them out of pocket during the summer because VR doesn't cover summer classes. Ha!

Long story short, I think I can do well in math, but there's a lot of mental blockage about math to get past, in order to convince myself I'm not a dummy at math.

I was even tested for learning disability in grade school, and it was found I do not have a learning disability. Just bad teachers, I guess, and an inappropriate teaching method for deaf/hoh students.

I had a low life professor of English tell me I "couldn't cut it" as a college student. I showed the bastard by hanging in till I got my M.Ed. I might add that I had to hire a lawyer twice (ungrad & graduate level) because the college refused to accommodate my math disability - and prevented other colleges/universities from accommodating me as well when I tried to take the math requirements off campus. Having a disability in math is harder than hearing loss - you deal with idiots carrying Ph.Ds every damn day.....
 
Like DeafBadger, because when I was placed in mainstream grade school, I did pretty badly in math and often guessed or deliberately gave wrong answers because I never heard what the teacher said. It wasn't a learning disability, it was a teaching communication issue between hearing mainstream and oral/deaf students.

This realization later became true because by the time I was done with undergrad in college, as prerequisites for my majors I was already finished with Multivariable calculus (Calculus 3 in general terms). Take that, learning disability.

It really is about the mode of teaching more than it probably is about any kind of learning disability. If there's a disconnect in the teaching method, chances are, the student doesn't perform well in class.
This statement is excluding students who may have more than one learning issue and deafness can be one of those - In other words students who have other associative disorders, brain trauma/injuries that also include deafness, can have their learning processes greatly impeded.

As for some anecdotal feedback, there are some other AD'ers, some engineers and physicists here, who have advanced degrees and also live with deafness.
I think the debate on deafness and math is severely dependent on the variables we are considering. What are our direct and indirect variables?
 
It really is about the mode of teaching more than it probably is about any kind of learning disability. If there's a disconnect in the teaching method, chances are, the student doesn't perform well in class.
This statement is excluding students who may have more than one learning issue and deafness can be one of those - In other words students who have other associative disorders, brain trauma/injuries that also include deafness, can have their learning processes greatly impeded.

There is a documented, and well known connection between children born with hearing loss due to Rubella (German Measles) and learning disabilities. However, I stress, not everyone with hearing loss has learning disabilities. So far the medical evidence just supports Rubella/hearing loss connection.
 
There is a documented, and well known connection between children born with hearing loss due to Rubella (German Measles) and learning disabilities. However, I stress, not everyone with hearing loss has learning disabilities. So far the medical evidence just supports Rubella/hearing loss connection.

Link?
 
There is a documented, and well known connection between children born with hearing loss due to Rubella (German Measles) and learning disabilities. However, I stress, not everyone with hearing loss has learning disabilities. So far the medical evidence just supports Rubella/hearing loss connection.

That's pretty interesting, I never knew about the connection between Rubella induced deafness and learning disabilities. I'd like to check out the study too - do you have a specific case or research you recommend?
 

You need to google. The link I gave above for LD Online provides excellent information. Here's what I got when I googled:

Raising Deaf Kids

Here's another and below is the segment that pertains to me....

Measles Causes, Symptoms, Treatment - Measles Symptoms and Signs on eMedicineHealth


"The most feared complication of rubella is "congenital rubella," which occurs when an infected pregnant woman passes the virus to her unborn child. Among other problems and birth defects, affected infants may have cataracts, heart defects, hearing impairment, and learning disabilities. The risk of transmission is highest early in pregnancy. The virus may also cause miscarriage or stillbirth."

and another:

HealthyChildren.org - Congenital Abnormalities

But really why bother? Any LD Specialist can give you this information more readily than searching through the Internet. Open the Yellow Pages and do a search. If you can't find anyone that answers your question, ask your primary care or an Eye, Ears and Throat specialist. It's their job to know this connection.....
 
That's pretty interesting, I never knew about the connection between Rubella induced deafness and learning disabilities. I'd like to check out the study too - do you have a specific case or research you recommend?

My parents didn't know till I was 25 years old. We heard about the connection through our lawyer who specialized in helping the Learning Disabled get accommodated in colleges. As I said, we hired her twice - as an undergraduate and later as a graduate because the school didn't believe learning disabilities where "real handicaps." Thank God for that woman that helped me; I got my disability diagnosed and documented and later was able to legally force the school to comply with federal anti-discrimination laws.
 
You need to google. The link I gave above for LD Online provides excellent information. Here's what I got when I googled:

Raising Deaf Kids

Here's another and below is the segment that pertains to me....

Measles Causes, Symptoms, Treatment - Measles Symptoms and Signs on eMedicineHealth


"The most feared complication of rubella is "congenital rubella," which occurs when an infected pregnant woman passes the virus to her unborn child. Among other problems and birth defects, affected infants may have cataracts, heart defects, hearing impairment, and learning disabilities. The risk of transmission is highest early in pregnancy. The virus may also cause miscarriage or stillbirth."

and another:

HealthyChildren.org - Congenital Abnormalities

But really why bother? Any LD Specialist can give you this information more readily than searching through the Internet. Open the Yellow Pages and do a search. If you can't find anyone that answers your question, ask your primary care or an Eye, Ears and Throat specialist. It's their job to know this connection.....

I need to Google?? :lol:

If you make a claim it's a rule that you support it with a link.
 
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