Education and a Deaf Childs Writing Proficiency - Research Paper Example

EDUCATION AND A DEAF CHILD’S WRITING PROFICIENCY TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction……………………………………………………..4 Inculcating Education and Writing Skill in Deaf Child………4 Methods of Learning for Deaf Children……………………….5 Technical Means of Learning to Write………………………...7 Teach the Way They Like………………………………………8 Conclusion……………………………………………………….9 References………………………………………………………10 Abstract The paper uses various sources to argue that a deaf child’s writing proficiency is greatly enhanced through appropriate type of education techniques and exposure to the latest technical means to improve writing skills. Introduction Education is one of the most important aspects that one needs to inculcate in them and in their children as well. There are different ways and methods through which one can get educated. A good writing skill can be acquired easily if the person is having a good educational background. Education for deaf children is very essential and it becomes necessary to get them to learn well. Getting a deaf child to learn, understand and educated is a tedious task but it is not something impossible altogether. There are different methods available for learning and it becomes absolutely necessary to get the right kind of exposure at the right point of time. There are a lot of positive factors that are associated with teaching a deaf child and making them understand. The children will show a great amount of interest and enthusiasm in learning languages and will be thrilled at the fact that they have got an opportunity to learn. If the right kind of support and guidance with regard to the education is provided, they will do wonders. Inculcating Education and Writing Skill in Deaf Child It is a well known factor that such educated children who are with a disability with regard to hearing, also attains a great deal of interest in writing skills. There are a lot of factors that makes a deaf child to achieve the feat of getting well educated. One of the most important factors that influence the learning of these children is that of the support that is rendered by the family and friends of deaf children. Though the deaf learners have a great potential to learn and excel in different sphere, their access to information is very much restricted. This can be attributed to social influences that are related to the academics (Hara, 2003). Deaf children also have the ability to excel in the area of language but unfortunately not many of them venture into this area and thus this field is left unexplored to a great extent. Students who have got hearing problems can actually grasp things in a faster and better manner, thus it is possible to get them learn many things at a time and they will show absolute concentration on all of those issues (Brentari, 1995). Thus the deaf children can very well be associated with excellence in the educational sphere. If the potential of children is made use of at the right time, then definitely a lot of positive results will happen (Powers, 2002). A research has shown that the gender difference in deaf children also contributes to a great level when it comes to education (Swanwick and Knight, 1999). While the deaf girl child is good at language and grasping the nuance of it, the deaf boy child is good at getting the top slot in mathematics (Sandler, 2006). It has been proved that the hearing problem turns to make the person a better learner. Research has shown that those children with hearing problem born to a hearing disability parent have achieved more academically and also in other spheres than those children who are born to normal parents. There has been a lot of research that is being carried out in the deaf education process in the United Kingdom. If we take a closer look at this research material and analyze them, then we will get to know the intricacies associated with deaf education and the importance that it plays in their overall life. We are concerned about providing the right kind of education and exposure to normal children who are without any sort of disability. Then the interest and vigour to make a deaf child learn is even more important and a necessity for their survival as a whole. Education will give them the platform to stand on their own and also to exhibit all of their talents in a more proper way. Some of the most important areas that need to be paid attention include that of learning support, getting to know the benefits that are associated with that of learning, understanding the developments with regard to learning and the interactions that need to be carried on both at school as well as home (Marschark and Hauser, 2011). Methods of Learning for Deaf Children As per the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD), a lot of factors can be used in order to teach the deaf child and one of the most beneficial means is that of the audiology (Hauser & Marschark, 2011). It is an association that mainly aims at providing continuous support to educate those with hearing impairment. One of the most crucial factors with regard to learning by deaf children is the kind of support that they will be getting while learning. It becomes absolutely necessary to provide a more clear guidance and assistance in getting to make the deaf children learn. First of all, it is important to know the area of interest of the children and then to get them know that they can go ahead with the learning. Make sure that you do not thrust anything in the name of teaching on the deaf children. It is necessary to give them their required space and attention in order to get them going. If too much is put on them, then they would lose the interest to getting to know and learn (Swanwick and Knight, 1999) The book Deaf and Hearing Impaired Pupils in Mainstream Schools provides clear cut guidance on teaching deaf children efficiently. It also clears all the misconceptions that teachers have about deafness. It brings out the fact that there are different types of hearing loss and includes the strategies that can be used to treat and teach the children belonging to this space. Cochlear implants and the problems that are associated with learning are also addressed. It also brings out the real fact that learning through signs needs not be the most comprehensive learning and they need to learn sign alongside other languages. Most of the important areas such as acoustics, medicines, electronics, social administration, audiology and rehabilitation need to be adequately addressed (Watson, Gregory and Powers, 1999). Making the deaf child learn is a step by step process that requires you to take out some time and spend on the learning initiatives. If you spend some time in researching as to what are the necessary tools that are required, then you will surely succeed in providing the best kind of coaching to the deaf child. There are a lot of interesting techniques and methods that could be used for the better advantage of deaf child. One of such interesting means of learning is that of the Manipulative Visual Language (Jung, 2008). This is one great technique that helps the deaf child to visualize the sounds that they cannot hear for themselves as a part of their disability. This is a effort that helps the children to learn through the process of imagining the sound that they were not able to hear. This technique has garnered a wide spread attention and support for its most innovative approach that helps the deaf child in their educational journey to a great extent. UK Research on Deaf Education is one of the most significant one in recent times and has proved to be a trendsetter. The research was conducted on 25 deaf children over a period of one year by creating two different settings based on sign bilingual. It was found through this research that children learnt better this way and were way smarter. It was also proved that English is an important factor that contributed greatly towards the hearing sphere (Watson, Gregory & Powers, 1999). One can get to learn more on the MVL concepts and there are lots of additions that are made to it quite often that facilitates effective learning and writing on the part of the deaf children. It is to be noted that only after hearing, visualizing and concluding; the deaf child will be able to put it down in the form of writing. (Swanwick & Knight, 1999). There are many journals, posters and also guides that are available for the deaf children who are in their spree to practice writing. If only they get used to the words, will they be able to produce in the form of writing. There are different kinds of products and services that are being manufactured now that caters specifically to the needs of the deaf or hearing impaired children. These kinds of products are really helpful most of the time and are changing the way academicians viewed education for the hearing impaired. Technical Means of Learning to Write Innovative means such as computer software that will provide for specialized stories and games for the deaf children also proves to be important and helpful. Since the deaf child cannot read out or hear the sound of words, some other methods needs to be applied in order to get the best results. There are different strategies for learning and it becomes absolutely necessary to make use of the best methods, one of them is to connect oral language to that of writing (Flemming, 2002). The thought that writing is another form of communication needs to be put into the deaf child and gradually they will start liking the writing tasks. Yet another effective way of teaching the deaf child seems to be that of finger spelling. By making use of these signs on a regular basis, the students will start associating the sign with that of a particular written word. This is yet another major motivator when it comes to writing (Eccarius, 2010) The writing skills can be inculcated on the deaf child by making use of different materials and objects. In order to acquire the interest of the deaf child over what they are going to learn, one need to know the tone of teaching and the ways to put it across in a more comprehensive manner. It can be said that all children are fond of stories and hearing bedtime stories as well. One could make use of this particular interest in order to derive the maximum benefit and providing the right kind of platform to teach the kid. Moreover, providing them with some attractive stationary items in different colours would grab their interest. If a particular stationary item is attractive and easy to use, then they will naturally use it (van der Kooij, 2002). A new kindled interest will arise in such a case, making it easy for the teacher to go ahead with the teaching area. One could also display some large boards bearing one alphabet at a time. In such cases, the child will get used to that particular word for that particular day. After this, one can go ahead with making them use the particular word in a more appropriate manner. Thus, you could encourage them to develop their writing skills in an entertaining manner(Swanwick, 2001). Teach the Way They Like Generally, learning capacity is high in children and it is proved to be even higher in that of hearing impaired children. This can be used to tune them to the process of learning and writing all throughout. Making them to use charts and figures quite often will bring out their interest in these areas. In terms of teaching numbers to the child who are deaf, a careful method should be taken. There are number of software that will help you get the numbers into the screen on a regular basis, thereby encouraging the deaf child to get used to it (Swanwick & Gregory, 2007). A practical application will do great help in case of using the numbers. For example, you could make them count the number of chocolates, toys and so on and make them to write an account of each object separately. Make use of the objects that interest them most so that they will start learning with some more interest. Dr. Ruth Swanwick is a senior lecturer in Deaf education emphasizes that sign bilingual learning should be focus of teaching the deaf children. Educational achievement will reach its peak only if English and sign language are taught to them (Kenstowicz, 1994). She stresses on the importance for high quality, technology lead teaching for deaf child. Sign bilingualism is sure to make the communication ability of the children better. There are a few fundamental issues with regard to the literacy uplifting which includes the importance given to interactions in their early period, the literacy development in them and the access to the language they get. Linda Watson and Ruth Swanwick are two of the pioneers in this field and have brought out a wealth of information through their books and articles. Conclusion In the early days of teaching, it is important to split up complicated words and then teach them how to use it. This is where the concept of morphology comes into play. In this form of teaching, the words are broken into smaller parts which help them learn. It is not possible to make the deaf child learn longer words at the first instance itself and a lot of practicing is required to get it right. In the beginning, the deaf child may go wrong in writing like that of normal kids but that does not mean that they did not have the capability to read or write. It’s just that they will take some more time to understand and know the concepts like that of the other normal kids. Thus a more comprehensive, innovative and elaborate form of teaching will be of great help to the children with hearing impairment. References Brentari, D. (1995). ‘Sign Language Phonology: ASL’, in J. Goldsmith, ed., Handbook of Phonological Theory, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, UK, pp. 615-39 Eccarius, P. (2008). A Constraint-based Account of Handshape Contrast in Sign Languages, Ph.D.dissertation, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. Flemming, E.(2002). Auditory Representations in Phonology, Routledge, New York Gregory, S., Knight, P., McCracken, W., Powers, S. Watson, L. (1998) Issues in Deaf Education, London: Fulton Hara, D. (2003). A Complexity-based Approach to the Syllable Formation in Sign Language. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL Hauser, P. C., Marschark,M. (2011)How Deaf Children Learn: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know, Oxford: Oxford University Press Kenstowicz, M. (1994). Phonology in Generative Grammar, Blackwells, New York Jung, Ashley. (2008). Retelling of Events: Responses From Native Signers and Hearing Gesturers, MS thesis, Purdue University. Marschark, M., Lang, H.G. & Albertini, J.A. (2002) Educating Deaf Students: From Research to Practice, Oxford University Press, New York Powers, S (2002) Concepts to Practice in Deaf Education: A United Kingdom perspective on Inclusion in Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 7:3 Sandler, Wendy and Diane Lillo-Martin. (2006). Sign Language and Linguistic Universals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK Sandler W, Aronoff, M., Irit M. (2005). ‘The Paradox of Sign Language Morphology’,Language, 81(2), 301–344 Swanwick, R & Gregory, S. (2007). “Sign Bilingual Education: Policy and Practice”. Coleford: Douglas McLean Swanwick, R & Knight,P (1999). Care and education of a deaf child: a book for parents, New York: Multilingual Matters Swanwick, R. (2001) The demands of a sign bilingual context for teachers and learners: an observation of language use and learning experiences in Deafness and Education International, 3(2), 62 - 79. van der Kooij, Els (2002). Reducing Phonological Categories in Sign Language of the Netherlands: Phonetic Implementation and Iconic Motivation, LOT (Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics) Utrecht, The Netherlands Watson. L., Gregory, S. & Powers, S. (1999) Deaf and hearing impaired pupils in mainstream schools, London: Fulton Read More