Educational placement of a student is one of the most important decisions that parents will ever make for their child. It is something that requires a lot of thought and research and it is our job as educators to provide parents with all of the options available to them. There are many things that factor into the educational placement of a child such as the degree of hearing loss, the mode of communication used, whether or not the child uses amplification, and many more. If parents decide that they wish to have their child mainstreamed in the regular education classroom the great "Push-in/Pull-out" debate arises. How often should a child be in the regular education classroom with his/her peers? How often should the child be pulled out of the regular education classroom to receive direct instruction from the deaf educator? This is something that I have only recently began to learn about and hadn't given much thought to before beginning this class. However, from the information I have gathered on the subject so far, I think that I will try to "push-in" as much as possible when I become an educator. I feel that it is very important for a child to get the same experiences as his/her peers whenever possible no matter what the child's disability or difference is. I also feel that it would be best and less confusing for the child if he/she was taught the material in the same way that the other students were taught. For example, if I were to pull a child out of the regular education classroom to teach him/her about long division there is a chance that that child might return to the classroom and be dividing differently than his/her peers were taught. This is because I would not know how it was being taught in the regular education classroom and teach it the way I was taught to do it. I am afraid that the more a child is "pulled-out" the more disconnect there will be between the child and his/her peers.
Attention Span in the Regular Education Classroom
Keeping a child's attention during instruction is a difficult task in and of itself. When that child is deaf or hard of hearing and the mode of communication being used is not his/her first language it becomes even more difficult. This child is having to pay twice as much attention than the other children because he/she must try to gather all the information they can auditorally from the teacher and then look to the interpreter for any information that was missed. This would be difficult for an adult to do all day let alone a child. I think it is important for the regular education teacher to be able to spot when a child is losing attention. This would be a good time for the class to take a drink or bathroom break or maybe just stand up to stretch. This short break might give the child the rest his/her mind needs to continue to take in the information. This is not something that I have had much experience with but I would love to learn techniques to draw a child's attention back to the lesson.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteI feel like you are a little more confident with the push in method in being the best for the children. I agree that all of those things are important, but I don't know if I can agree about them learning the material the same way being vital. I think that boils down to the simple discussion of visual v. tactile v. auditory learners. I think the social interaction of the class is VERY important, but I feel that learning the content is more important. I think a simple fix to your hesitation with teaching the material differently would be to try and meet with the general education teacher ahead of time to understand how he/she is teaching it. But then again, I could be crazy! I, just like you just started learning about all of this! I think my opinions will most likely change once I get more experience with this topic!
I really like your idea of having the main teacher implement a break for the children during a lesson if children are showing signs of fatigue. This would also give you a chance to "pow wow" with the student and get an understanding of what they are getting and not getting and maybe give them some pointers or at least take some notes to discuss with them at another time to make sure they are understanding all of the content.
Good ideas! :)
Caitlyn
Shelby- I like the way you are thinking about these topics. Educational placement is a big decision whether it's in a public school or at another location like MSD. And if it's in a public school with their hearing peers, then ask the ask question "what is the student capable of doing and what will be too much?" It is good for students with hearing loss to experience similar experiences with their peers, and build on that. But if the student struggles and is not understanding then pull out is the best choice to help limit frustration and falling behind. The point is that the student get exposure to the topic no matter where that is. It will require lots of conversations with the regular ed teacher on what is taught and how she teaches it. But if the student shows he has the concept even if it's a different way, then you can build
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