Deaf / Hard of Hearing

The impact of hearing loss on deaf or hard of hearing students’ receptive and expressive communication methods depends on certain factors such as degree and age of onset. These students may use Sign Language (including working with interpreters), lipreading and speech, various assistive listening devices, or a combination of these.

It is helpful to realize that hearing aids amplify all sounds, some of which (overhead projector motors), may be very distracting to the student.  As well, persons who lipread must do a certain amount of guessing. For these reasons, persons with a hearing loss rely more heavily on visual cues and visual presentation of information.

Accommodations and Supports

Some of the most commonly provided academic accommodations to students who are deaf or hard of hearing include

• Note taking
• advance syllabus prior to the start of classes
• Exam Accommodations i.e. extra time, access to an interpreter during tests and exams, to interpret questions
• use of computer for completion of test/assignments
• provide clarification on tests, exams and assignments. If interpreter is not available, ensure the conversation is written down and ensure that any last minute changes or errors on tests and exams are provided to the student in writing
• Sign language interpreters for classes, labs, meetings etc.
• access to assistive devices such as captioning devices, FM systems, TTY
• priority seating for the students and their computerized notetakers and their interpreters
• access to computerized notetaker or an interpreter and manual notetaker
• use of sign/oral language interpreters for oral assignments
• provision of advance reading lists, texts and content specific vocabulary
• provide computerized notetakers and interpreters with copies of reading material and videos at least one week in advance of when it is being taught.

This page last modified Tuesday, 04-Oct-2011 16:22:41 ADT