ALTERNATIVES IN AURAL REHABILITATION: PROVIDER TRAINING OF NONAUDIOLOGISTS IN THE DELIVERY OF HEARING‐AID SUPPORTIVE SERVICES TO OLDER PERSONS WITH HEARING LOSS

Recently, Patterson and Dancer (1987) suggested a model wherein persons who normally come in contact with older hearing‐impaired persons can be trained to assist the older hearing‐aid user in adjustment to amplification. Their four‐phase educational model offers an alternative to traditional aural rehabilitation programs by using personnel from senior centers, nursing homes, and state and local agencies as program providers.

The present article elaborates more fully on the training that protocol providers will receive from audiologists certified by the American Speech‐Language‐Hearing Association. Providers will be carried through five stages: empathy, effective communication skills, knowledge of the interaction of aging and hearing loss, the phases outlined in the Patterson and Dancer model, and guidelines for referrals. Objective‐based provider and client response criteria are outlined for moving the client from the initial receipt of the hearing aid to its ultimate acceptance and use on a doily basis.     

Recent policy,the numbers game and the schooling of the hearing impaired: a study of one teacher's career

ABSTRACT

This paper describes and analyses the fate of an educational innovation, namely the mainstreaming of hearing impaired children into a primary school. Set in the context of recent State policy, it is a critical case study of a ‘caring’ organization staffed by ‘professionals’ engaged in work upon children with special needs. The data presented are derived from ethnographic interview with a specially qualified teacher of the hearing impaired. Primarily, it explores the teacher's interaction with her male headteacher, from her perspective. Conflict developed between the two around the meaning of integration, and the use of the hearing impaired children as a resource to preserve the school, at a time of threatened closure. Eventually, there was a polarized antipathy between teacher and head; and a consequent teacher career failure and head career success, resulting in the ultimate resignation of the teacher. As such, the paper is a critique of the socially oppressive schooling of those children deemed to have special needs.     

Counselling clients with acquired hearing impairment: towards improved understanding and communication

This article seeks to bring to the attention of counsellors and counselling psychologists specific knowledge and awareness in working with clients with adult onset hearing loss. The need for improved awareness of the needs of these clients is argued, the experience of hearing loss explored, and psychological issues at the core of the disability discussed. Practical matters about communication that need consideration in the counselling setting are examined. It is presented from the vantage point of an experienced counselling psychologist who is herself hearing impaired.     

A neurodevelopmental profile of the rural hearing‐impaired child in the QwaQwa region,South Africa

Being hearing impaired does not only affect a child's academic performance, but can also influence a child's overall development and ability to succeed academically. Children with hearing impairment often experience delays in other areas of their development and an understanding of the inter‐relatedness of these delays are important in order to address all these aspects, and thus minimise the impact on a child's overall development. The paper provides a neurodevelopmental profile of 4‐year‐old to 8‐year‐old rural hearing‐impaired children based on the result of a psychometric assessment. Eighteen children were selected from a special needs school in the rural QwaQwa Free State area of South Africa and underwent a psychometric assessment using two test batteries (Griffiths mental developmental scales – extended revised and a neurodevelopmental evaluation scale). The neurodevelopmental profile will contribute to knowledge of the nature of the challenges faced by the hearing‐impaired child in rural education and the neurodevelopmental origin of these challenges.     

EPILOGUE: SPACED‐RETRIEVAL MEMORY TRAINING IN AN ADULT DAY‐CARE CENTER

A memory‐impaired client at an adult day‐care center was trained to remember the name of a staff member using the spaced‐retrieval technique. After two brief training sessions, the client demonstrated long‐term retention of the target name. Retention was maintained at follow‐up testing 6 months later. Details of the unique aspects of this cognitive intervention, along with implications of this project for cognitive aging research in general, are discussed. In particular, the social and emotional components of memory‐ and cognitive training tasks are emphasized.     

Increasing Academic Performance of Deaf Students at Alpha University: A Case Study

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for OPWL529‐Needs Assessment in the Boise State University master of science degree in Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning, a team of the first four authors completed a needs assessment focusing on learning accomplishments of hearing impaired students at Alpha University. This case study report describes the needs assessment process and results.     

Inferencing skills of adolescent readers who are hearing impaired

Two experiments examined the inferencing abilities of a group of adolescents who were hearing impaired compared with a group of hearing children matched approximately for chronological age. The first experiment used on‐line methods and suggests that pupils who are hearing impaired are less efficient at drawing inferences. When they do so correctly, they draw inferences automatically as the text is encountered in a similar manner to the hearing pupils. In the second experiment, the same material was presented to the hearing‐impaired adolescents in British Sign Language. However, from the results obtained, it is not possible to comment on how the information is processed when it is presented manually, and suggestions are made on ways this might be further investigated. It is suggested that the difficulties encountered by the students who are hearing impaired, when reading implicit material, reflect the relative impoverishment of their experiential backgrounds.     

A Follow-Up Study of School Counseling Graduates Specializing in Work with Hearing Impaired Clients

This study evaluated the adequacy of training provided to more than 80 graduates of a school counseling program for specialists with hearing impaired individuals according to employment demands and continuing education needs. Results indicated that almost all graduates were employed in settings consistent with their training. Continuing education needs in the areas of consultation skills, networking strategies, and administrative and management training were similar to results obtained in studies of generic counselor education programs.     

Implementation and evaluation of computer-aided Mandarin phonemes training system for hearing-impaired students

A computer‐aided Mandarin phonemes training (CAMPT) system was developed and evaluated for training hearing‐impaired students in their pronunciation of Mandarin phonemes. Deaf or hearing‐impaired people have difficulty hearing their own voice, hence most of them cannot learn how to speak. Phonemes are the basis for learning to read and speak in Mandarin. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to use voice‐recognition techniques to develop a Mandarin phoneme training system for the self‐training of hearing‐impaired people. The system analyses the spoken Mandarin phoneme of a hearing‐impaired person, compares it with the phonemes database, and shows the results on the computer monitor. Our CAMPT system helps hearing‐impaired people pronounce Mandarin phonemes, and the system automatically gives the learner a percentage score for each phoneme. In other words, learners can receive instant feedback from the system. Experiments conducted among high school students diagnosed with hearing impairment revealed that our system can help students learn the Mandarin phonemes with a neural net recognition algorithm for different users. After five months, most learners can pronounce 95% of the phonemes correctly.     

THE OLDER HEARING‐IMPAIRED STUDENT: MANAGING OBSTACLES TO LEARNING

With the number of older Americans increasing, many colleges and universities are attempting to serve the needs of this population by offering tuition reductions, alternative scheduling, and special courses to older learners. Consequently, more and more older persons appear to be returning to colleges and universities on a part‐time or full‐time basis. However, many of these older students may not be receiving maximum benefit from their educational experiences, owing to hearing impairments. This article discusses obstacles and problems that confront the older hearing‐impaired student in the classroom and presents possible management solutions.     

基于“通用手语”的听障人员普通话水平替代性测试信度、效度分析

听障人员普通话水平替代性测试是指以"通用手语"为语言工具,采用与普通话水平测试相同的结构与内容测试听障人员普通话水平的一种测试。替代性测试对保障听障人员语言权利和促进国家通用语言文字应用都具有重要意义。为验证听障人员普通话水平替代性测试的科学性和有效性,以中国盲文手语推广服务中心2018年至2021年共432份听障人员普通话水平替代性测试试卷为样本,运用教育测量学方法,重点分析基于"通用手语"的听障人员普通话水平替代性测试的难度、区分度、信度和效度。研究结果表明,各指标均在合理范围内,即替代性测试是科学的、有效的。     

Collaborative consultation: a method for improving educational services for mainstreamed students who are hearing impaired

As a result of well-known recent federal mandates for appropriate special education to all disabled students, the majority of children who are hearing impaired currently are educated in public school settings, along with hearing students. Consequently, teachers of students who are hearing impaired have expanded their role to include the provision of ongoing support to regular classroom teachers, speech-language pathologists, paraprofessionals and administrators. One model for delivery of these services is that of collaborative consultation. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of collaborative consultation, and to delineate some principles that merit consideration by regular and special educators who are involved in the education of students who are hearing impaired.     

Understanding of the alphabetic principle through invented spelling among hearing‐impaired children learning to read and write: experimentation with a pedagogical approach

Given the problems experienced by hearing‐impaired individuals in learning the written language, a pedagogical approach was tested. The study examined the links between the development of representations of alphabetic system and the results in reading and writing of first graders. In the study, there were 31 hearing‐impaired children and 25 hearing ones. Invented spelling was measured three times during the school year. Reading and writing tests were given at the end of the year. The results obtained revealed a similarity between the learning profile of the hearing‐impaired children and that of the hearing children. It also demonstrated the importance of the work done through invented spelling, among the hearing‐impaired children. Thus, like their hearing peers, hearing‐impaired children are able to use procedures to process the written word based on the alphabetic principle, but continuous support‐implying invented spelling constantly adjusted to the progression of their representations must be provided.     

IMPACT OF ILLITERACY ON REHABILITATION OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS: PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

The number of older illiterate adults seeking therapy for acquired communication disorders is increasing. Communication bias may place health‐care professionals at risk for providing appropriate services to these patients. There is a need to identify illiterate patients, and to study the impact of current diagnostic and rehabilitative procedures on them. Possible effects of illiteracy on hearing‐impaired, aphasic, and laryngectomy patients are discussed, and preliminary suggestions for providing comprehensive rehabilitative services to them are provided.     

The Effect of Hearing Impairment on the Quality of Attachment and Mother-Toddler Interaction

In the present study, 41 hearing impaired and 41 hearing toddlers together with their hearing mothers were observed in Ainsworth's Strange Situation and during free play. Both security of attachment and ratings of maternal and toddler behavior during free play were remarkably similar for the hearing impaired and hearing dyads. In addition, security of attachment was related to the ratings of maternal and toddler behavior in a similar way for the hearing impaired and hearing toddlers. The results suggest that development of a secure attachment and maintaining a good mother-toddler relationship does not depend on normal language development during the toddler years.     

Positive Experiences and Life Aspirations Among Adolescents With and Without Hearing Impairments

THE STUDY investigated the nature and intensity of positive experiences as well as the aspiration toward transpersonal commitments among 79 normally hearing and 42 hearing‐impaired adolescents, in order to achieve a better understanding of those factors in the experience of hearing‐impaired adolescents that have enriched and empowered their lives. Landsman's Positive Experience Questionnaire (PEQ) and Magen's Life Aspiration Questionnaire (LAQ) were utilized. No differences were found between normally hearing and hearing‐impaired adolescent groups regarding the intensity of their remembered positive experiences. In comparison with normally hearing adolescents, those with hearing impairments reported more positive interpersonal experiences, rarely experienced positive experiences “with self,” and showed less desire for transpersonal commitment, even with their hearing‐impaired peers. The role of the socialization process, with an emphasis on communication between the hearing‐impaired youngster and his and her environment, was discussed.     

Teacher‐Pupil Discourse in Classrooms for Hearing‐Impaired Children

Early studies of teacher‐pupil discourse in classrooms for the hearing‐impaired showed that it is systematic, teacher‐controlled and interlaced with language content. Discourse analysis, based on qualitative methods of study, augments and qualifies these views by providing a technique for examining multiple levels of interaction. Discourse material excerpted from a language lesson conducted by an experienced primary teacher with five hearing‐impaired pupils suggests that teacher‐pupil interaction is organized on several levels of structure. A hierarchy of lesson interaction is demonstrated through the illustrative discourse samples; hierarchical levels of roles, tasks, phrases, topics, sequences, turns, and utterances are identified and discussed. Educational implications about the learning structure of the classroom for the hearing‐impaired are offered.     

聋人大学生心理健康研究综述

聋人大学生是兼有残疾人和大学生双重特征的一个特殊群体。随着我国残疾人高等教育事业的不断发展,包括聋人大学生在内的残疾人大学生数量也将会显著增加。本文对聋人大学生心理健康的现状、影响因素和干预措施作一综述,以便为聋人大学生心理健康影响因素的测量和心理健康的干预研究提供较为全面的研究依据。     

Narrative therapy and children with hearing impairments

Narrative approaches to psychology converge around the idea that therapy is essentially a special kind of conversation that elicits a client's strengths, competencies, and solutions. The psychologist is seen to assist in creating conversations that reveal the client's expertise and empower the client to change. The narrative approach is potentially valuable to psychologists working with children with good oral language who are deaf or hard of hearing. Just as important, while the psychologist and the client explore and explicate complex issues within the problem-solving process, the "balance of power" is changed and the child becomes better able to assume control of the problem. Two case studies are used to explore the narrative process of "externalization" with children with good oral language who are deaf or hard of hearing.     

AN ALTERNATIVE TO AURAL REHABILITATION FOR THE OLDER HEARING‐AID USER: AN EDUCATIONAL MODEL USING SUPPORTIVE SERVICES

Over 6 million older Americans are hearing impaired. Many of them are facing the decision to seek help through hearing aids. Once the decision has been made and amplification is obtained, a program of aural rehabiliation can facilitate adjustment to the hearing aid and foster more successful communication. Unfortunately, the number of professionals trained to provide rehabilitative services to hearing‐impaired persons are few relative to the number of persons who need these services. This paper describes a model for delivering aural rehabiliation services through providers trained by audiologists certified by the American Speech‐Language‐Hearing Association. After being trained, staff at senior centers, nursing homes, and state or local agencies who deal with either hearing impairment or aging could serve as program providers. The model program consists of four phases: education, desensitization, rehabilitation strategies, and responsibility training.