Week 10

If you are having a student who is struggling to pay attention in their regular education class, what are some strategies you can use to help the student attend?

I have a student who is struggling to pay attention in their regular education class room I will first have a discussion with the regular education teacher. Together we will assess what might be causing the problem. I will make sure that the child is sitting in an appropriate spot based on their hearing loss. We will then assess whether or not the child is understanding the material. This could be an underlying reason for the child's difficulty to pay attention. If all of these things are addressed then I will then give the teacher strategies she can use to help the child pay better attention such as capturing the student's attention before the lesson begins. This can be accomplished by using a motivating introduction. Another way to ensure that the child pays attention is providing lots of opportunity for the students to participate. Praising students who are being attentive will also motivate the inattentive child to do so as well.

Positive Behavior Supports or PBS is a program some districts or schools implement. Complete a mini-research regarding this program. Do you think this is a beneficial program? Why or Why not?

I think the PBS program is beneficial. I think it is beneficial because it really focuses on what is causing the undesired behaviors. It is important to understand the underlying reasons the behaviors are occurring before we can correct the problem permanently. In order for this program to work the techniques must be feasible, desirable, and effective. I really think this program is beneficial for not only the students but the educators as well.

Week 9

While I was searching for strategies to teach Science and Social Studies I ran across several ways to teach vocabulary. One strategy I found was having the child look up the word and then use it in their own sentence. This ensures that they not only know the definition but also understand how to apply it. When teaching these subjects I think it is very important to pre-teach the vocabulary so that the students are not lost during the lectures. It is important to incorporate vocabulary activities using the new words before prior to teaching the actual material.

I think one of the most important ways you can prepare to teach these two subjects is to know the subjects yourself. We cannot expect to teach students to understand something if we do not understand it ourselves. I think we as teachers need to know the material well enough that we can alter and modify it in ways that our students will better understand.


I think a good way to expand on similarities and differences and get our children to the level of creating metaphors and analogies is providing lots of modeling. It is important for the children to see this kind of language being used. I think our students will require more explicit teaching of these things than children without a hearing loss. I think a good way to start this could be making a list comparing two things and then plugging those words into a sentence. The teacher could provide several examples and then ask the students to create their own.

Week 8

The authors noted the lag in development of mathematics concepts is due to delays in language development, lack of exposure to life-based problem-solving, and inadequate pre-service teacher preparation in the area of mathematics. Do you agree or disagree.

I agree with this statement. The language used in mathematics is sometimes difficult for us as hearing people to understand and it is especially difficult at times for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. I also think that children who are deaf or hard of hearing do not get as many opportunities to problem-solve in real life. Some of this is due to over protective parents and lack of incidental learning.

 I think teaching math to students who are deaf or hard of hearing requires a lot of pre-teaching of vocabulary terms and concepts. This isn't always possible in larger classes and many of these students are mainstreamed into the regular education classroom. I think teachers need to be made aware of this language barrier that our students face when it comes to math and provide individualized instruction whenever possible or consider sending these students to the deaf education classroom for math.

Week 7

The CAEBER sounds like an awesome program. I had never heard of it until I went to complete this assignment. From the research I did it seems to be a program that teachers attend and at the end they are qualified to be on-site ASL/English Bilingual Professional Development (AEBPD) mentors at their respective schools/programs. According to www.gallaudet.edu CAEBER promotes a national collaborative effort among educators, parents, and researchers who work together to respond to the educational needs of deaf and hard of hearing children through these strategies

Promotion of the appropriate use of scientifically research-based language planning in educational settings

Promotion of the acquisition, development, and use of both ASL and English for academic purposes for deaf and hard of hearing students as well as their parents and educational staff 

Training for educational staff in the strategic use of ASL and English as languages of instruction in educational settings 

Promotion of an understanding and appreciation of language and cultural diversity

These strategies could be easily incorporated into any deaf classroom. I think it is important for children to have a good solid foundation in English for academic purposes even if they use ASL as their main mode of communication. I think this is what we have been taught to do all along. However, if we do have a child who uses ASL I think it is important to be fluent in both and to have an appreciation for the language and the culture itself.