Childroom Observation Essay

In today’s society there is an ongoing debate of weather children who are deaf should receive cochlear implants. A cochlear implant is a device that takes sound wave and changes the waves into electrical activity for the brain to interpret. Wire called electrodes are surgically implanted into the cochlear nerve which receives a signal from the microphone attached to the transmitter and speech processor. The microphone captures the sound from the environment and the speech processor filters the noise versus speech. Then the transmitter sends an electrical signal through the electrodes to stimulate the cochlear nerve. Every person has a different thought depending on their experiences in their life whether deaf children should receive cochlear

In Alice-Ann Darrow’s article “Teaching Students with Hearing Losses” she states that it can be difficult to involve students with hearing losses in the music classroom and in the regular classroom as well. There are a numerous amount of students with hearing losses ranging from the ages of six to twenty-one. About 71,000 of special education students struggle with a hearing loss. A majority of students go without knowing that they have a hearing problem. Although most people believe that a person must be good at hearing in order to be musical, it is stated to be not true. The music classroom is actually a great place for students to practice good listening skills. Since listening is a mental process and hearing is a physical. Objectives for hard at hearing students should include listening to music, singing, playing instruments, moving to music, creating music and reading music. Music should be presented to the student’s strength and preferences. It is also helpful to have students feel stereo speakers or instruments as well as the use of kinesthetic movements. Alice-Ann Darrow believes that involving students with hearing losses into the music class room can be difficult but in the long run beneficial to the student.

If educators can take into account the social development needs of hearing impaired students, their success in the mainstream classroom could most likely rise significantly. The authors above pinpoint important problems with socioemotional growth and the acceptance of hearing impaired students in the classroom and if these issues are addressed, students would hopefully adjust properly to the mainstream

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, about two to three children out of every 1,000 are born with a detectable level of hearing impairment in the United States. Without hearing, children miss out on the acoustic correlates of the physical world, such as car horns and footsteps. Children are also limited in their exposure to patterned complexities in music and spoken word. These hard of hearing and deaf students grow and develop in unique ways compared to their hearing peers because of the stimulus they do not have. Researchers have focused on how communication methods for hard of hearing and deaf children affect their development in the physical, social-emotional, cognitive and communicative

A Cochlear Implant is an electronic device that partially restores hearing in people who have severe hearing loss due to damage of the inner ear and who receive limited benefit from hearing aids (http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/au/home/understand/hearing-and-hl/hl-treatments/cochlear-implant). In some cases there are patients whose hearing did not adjust correctly, having a risk of developing a virus, complications after the surgery, the benefits of sign language without a cochlear implant and lastly children or adults with cochlear implants may not even develop a good speech. There are many positive and negative articles I have read on cochlear implants. As a parent you are not only putting your child at risk, you are also withdrawing them from the deaf community, the one they were naturally born into. I do not support cochlear implants, children should not be implanted until they are grown to the point where they can make their own choice

According to Alice-Ann Darrow, Irvin Cooper Professor of Music Education and Music Therapy at Florida State University, Students with hearing loss are difficult to successfully teach music to because instructors are unsure what strategies to use when teaching deaf students. (Darrow 27) Teachers have a hard time teaching music to students with hearing loss because they have the misconception that deaf students have no hearing at all but in reality most deaf students can hear but the students are limited to what they can process. Because teachers have this misconception it's affecting the students ability to learn. These students could be an excellent musician we just need to find new strategies to help these students.

Hearing is very important for learning. Hearing status is strongly correlated with academic performance so these children need to be identified to help ensure positive outcomes. A mild loss may go unnoticed but can have detrimental effects on learning. Classrooms can be noisy environments which are challenging for normal hearing listeners and even more so for children with hearing losses. Providing integrated audiological and speech services through the school system helps identify children who are at risk for difficulties and provide interventions to help ensure a smooth transition to school. The school is a good access point for these services because it is close to the child’s home, parents have a direct contact, wait times can be shorter

This study is intended to document my observation of a child between the ages of 2-5. The small child I observed is a 4 years old male. Family arrangements consist of the mother being the primary caregiver of her son. Since the child is not old enough to consent to my amateur study, I have received permission from the mother and father. The method used in this clinical report is a naturistic observation in which I went to the family’s household where I recorded his behavior for an hour.

The article “Parents of deaf children with cochlear implants: a study of technology and community” focus mostly on the clinical structures and how parents decide to use cochlear implant or not. The data shows that the clinic, the state and local school districts are working together to anticipate parental needs.

As a closing thought, please keep in mind the respect for “difference” that we all MUST have in this country. Deaf or hearing-impaired individuals are not necessarily “disabled”, but rather “different”. Although this difference may seem extremely complicated to the hearing world, it is one that is often embraced in the deaf world. Let us respect all people and their right to knowledge! Hopefully,

Recently in the United States, there has been a drive at both the state and national level to provide universal screening for newborns to detect hearing loss. Although the idea of a universal screening in newborns is a new phenomenon, research has examined the impact of early intervention and screening for children with hearing loss. “Most professionals in the field feel strongly that early identification of hearing loss and early implementation of intervention enhances the child’s social, communicative, and academic development” (Calderon, 1998, p. 54). With that, the two studies used participants in the same early intervention program and mainly focused on the importance of the age of enrollment. Furthermore, the age of enrollment

For this project, I observed my mother's preschool class and the three children which she baby-sits on weekends. Most of the kids that are in the preschool class were three years old, but there was one five year old. The kids I helped baby-sit were two twin three year old girls, and one five year old.

Imagine what life would be like with the inability to hear. Try to envision watching television without sound or watching an inaudible movie. There is a silence that has way of making the busiest scenes seem still. Now try to imagine a lively area filled with lots of laughter, roaring music, and a handful of birds chirping away. That imagery paints a scene of the plain difference between a hearing world and a deaf one. One world is capable of hearing and the other involves no incoming source of sound whatsoever. Understanding how deaf culture and how the hard of hearing work and live is important in order to comprehend the reasons behind why they do the certain things they do such as stare at others for a long period of time or the reason

2003:1) The description of hearing loss that this author has given is similar to one I found to the learners I was assigned to. I also noticed that although they have hearing loss some of them also have mental health. Referrals for hearing loss are best directed to audiologist, otolaryngologist or both. “Audiologist has expertise in hearing testing, use of assertive listening devices and the selection and fitting of hearing aids.” (Yueh et al. 2003: 7) I find it more important to have one or both of these, from the school I was assigned to they have speech therapist and audiologist that helps in hearing