Hearing Impaired (HI)

• Does not respond when called.
• A delay in learning to speak.
• A lack of clarity in speech, slurring of words, incorrect pronunciation.
• Unstressed words in speech (especially prepositions e.g. ‘in’, ‘on’, ‘up’) may be misinterpreted.
• Watches faces/lips intently.
• Reluctant to speak freely, e.g. a nod or shake of the head rather than saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
• Displays of inappropriate behaviour or temper tantrums.
• Verb tenses may be incorrect.
• Any difficulty in listening and attending to speech.
• Constantly asking for repetition — ‘pardon?’, ‘what?’, ‘eh?’
• Failure to follow instructions straight away or misunderstands/ignores instructions.
• Requires repeated explanations.
• Watches what the others are doing before doing it themselves.
• Continues with an activity when the rest of the class has stopped.
• Doesn’t pick up information from overheard conversations.
• Attempts to control and dominate conversation through talking.
• Becomes withdrawn.
• Makes little or no contribution to group or classroom discussions.
• Shouts, or talks, overly loudly.
• Speaks very softly.
• Complains of not being able to hear.
• Frequently seeks assistance from peers.
• Low results in reading and oral subjects, but may have good results elsewhere.

• Seat child near the front of the class and away from sources of noise e.g. outside traffic, noisy heaters, hum of Overhead Projector.
• Make sure that you have the pupil’s attention before starting to talk, otherwise they may not have got the first part of the conversation or instructions.
• Face the pupil when you are talking.
• Try not to do any of these things:
  • cover your face with your hands or objects;
  • walk around the room;
  • standing with your back to a window as this creates a shadow.
• Use whole sentences and not single words – if a child does not understand a word, use a different word with the same meaning.
• Do not talk at the same time as writing on the black/whiteboard
• Speak clearly, naturally and at a normal rate, shouting can distort lip patterns and also give the impression from facial expression that you are angry with the pupil.
• Allow pupils time to read or look at visual aids and/or instructions before talking.
• Encourage all children to say when they do not understand something as very often a HI child will nod and smile when in fact they do not understand.
• When planning a lesson it is vital that time is taken to brief support staff on subject matter, including the key points or new concepts to be covered, as well as the vocabulary to be used.
• Try not to presume that a pupil who is HI has certain general knowledge, check their understanding first.
• Encourage the other pupils to speak one at a time and to raise their hands before speaking so that the HI pupil knows who is talking.
• It is helpful to repeat what other pupils say, especially those who are sitting at a distance from the pupil who is HI.

• Make sure that you have their attention before starting to talk; otherwise they may not have got the first part of the conversation or instructions.
• Speak clearly, naturally and at a normal rate – bear in mind that if you shout, this will distort lip patterns and can also give the impression from your facial expression that you are angry with them.
• Face them when you are talking to them and allow some space between you and the child for signing or lip reading purposes, ideally keep a distance of between one and two metres.
• Remember that lip reading involves a lot of guesswork because different words often have similar lip patterns.
• Try not to cover your face with your hands or objects or walk around while you are speaking, as again it will make it difficult for a child to read facial expressions or lip read.
• Avoid having your back to a window as this creates a shadow and makes it difficult for a deaf child to read facial expressions or lip read.

• Use whole sentences and not single words – if a child does not understand a word, use a different word with the same meaning.
• Do not talk at the same time as writing on the black/white board.
• Allow pupils time to read or look at visual aids and/or instructions before talking.
• Encourage all children to say when they do not understand something as very often a partially hearing child will nod and smile when in fact they do not understand.
• When planning a lesson it is vital that time is taken to brief support staff on subject matter, including the key points or new concepts to be covered, as well as the vocabulary to be used.
• Bear in mind that some deaf children may not have complete auditory access to what is happening around them.

The National Deaf Children's Society has lots of free resources for teachers and other staff to help them support deaf children's learning and make them feel happy and included. This information is relevant for education of children with all types and levels of hearing loss, including those who are deaf in one ear or have temporary hearing loss, such as glue ear. Specific resources are listed separately for Early years, Primary, Secondary and Post-14 education.Anyone can view a limited number of resources online (via the link below) without signing up, however teachers can join NDCS for free as a professional member and can then have unlimited access to view and download these useful resources at no cost.

The BDA is the UK's leading membership organisation and registered charity run by Deaf people for Deaf people. The BDA delivers a range of services to achieve its aims of empowering Deaf people to overcome difficulties that they face on a daily basis.

The Deaf Roots and Pride (DRP) Project work with young deaf people to empower them to be confident individuals with positive aspirations for their transition into Deaf adulthood. DRP believe that with the right support, the possibilities and potential for young deaf people are endless.

The Mission of the Scottish Sensory Centre is to foster educational, research and development activities relating to children and young people with a sensory impairment in Scotland. They have produced a range of signs in BSL for the science curriculum.