Thread: Hearing imparired students

Hi

I just had class one of a new beginner session and have 2 students who cannot hear. I don't know any sign language, but we managed OK

Does anyone have suggestions on helping them learn. They actually did as well as other new students, just by following me - I tried to use more hand signals than usual, and held up fingers for the number of steps, or drops or what ever.

Devra,

You might ask your hearing impaired students for their input on this. As lip readers they will be able to follow your verbal instructions as long as they can clearly see your face. They will know what they need to be successful.

I started wearing hearing aids last summer after many, many years of knowing that I had a hearing impairment. I coped for decades by reading lips and body language, repeating instructions, asking detailed questions to make sure I understood. After getting my hearing aids I realized just how much I had been relying on the visual part of communication and it explained why I always instinctively put myself in the first row at a meeting, watched people's faces, took notes (or danced) without taking my eyes off a teacher, etc.

My sister has been a deaf educator and is now an audiologist (having one deaf and one hearing impaired child--it runs in our family!) I would be happy to ask her for any suggestions she might have as well.

Souzan

I am partially deaf, with some hearing only in my left ear, none in my right. I learned to dance through the vibration of the music, I would put my feet on the stereo speakers to learn my rhythms, I still dance to vibration a lot. I also read lips so my guess is they will do well with that, but getting them to feel the beat will be very helpful. Most people who don't know me are not even aware of my hearing impairment, we learn to adjust quickly to fit in!! Please keep us posted on their progress, I'm interested in how they will progress!!

Aradia,

I will be front and center in the first row at your workshop in Orlando in May!!!! Want to pick your brain as a hearing impaired dancer!! My hearing aids have a music module which helps me a lot to "hear" the rhythms my feet are feeling by filtering out and ambient sounds. One of the things I noticed after getting hearing aids was that my timing was better. I think I was feeling the changes in vibration with rhythm changes and reacting to them before hearing the change or before others were hearing the change. So I was often told that I was slightly ahead of the music. This always perplexed me immensely. That, thankfully, has improved greatly since getting the aids.

Looking forward to meeting you in a few months!

Souzan

What a wonderful thread.
Just being conscious of your students need to see your face as much as possible (whether it's facing them or facing the mirror) will help immensely.
When cuing with hands- I add in direction, too- for example traveling 4 steps to the right- I'll hold up 4 finger on my right hand AND angle the fingers pointing to the right. Little things like that help- and trying to catch their eyes right before important transitions, too.

These ideas (holding up fingers, pointing etc) are great, and it seems like they would help not only with hearing-impaired students but also with visual learners or people with limited English comprehension.

Originally Posted by SaraKat

These ideas (holding up fingers, pointing etc) are great, and it seems like they would help not only with hearing-impaired students but also with visual learners or people with limited English comprehension.

Yes, absolutely. It's also hugely helpful in BIG workshops. When people aren't used to it at first though you'll have a couple students mimicking along with your cues. They eventually stop though.

Interesting tips.

I taught a beginner workshop once and had a blind woman as a student. I was perplexed at first because it was clear that my verbal instructions weren't really enough for her to understand how to do the movements. After a while, it clicked to me that I should let her feel what I was doing. So, I stood in front of her and allowed her to put her hands on the part of my body that was driving the movement. It worked! I was so proud - it was the first time that I ever thought, "I can do this teaching thing!"

I used to volunteer for the Canadian Hearing Society. (I also spent a few years learning ASL, but I'm pretty rusty now.) Here are some tips I learned there that might help:

If they do partly rely on their hearing, it would help if you turned the music off while you're explaining the technique or combinations you're going to be working on. Even if you raise your voice over the music, the background noise interferes with the sound of your voice, making it more difficult for someone with hearing loss to tell what you're saying.

It's also helpful to rephrase your statements, rather than repeating them. So, if you said "start by lifting your right hip" and your students didn't understand you, you might try saying "we'll begin by raising our hips on the right side" instead of just repeating your original statement. Only 50% of the movement your mouth makes when you speak is actually visible on your lips, so that lip reading, especially if you're profoundly deaf, involves a lot of guessing at what's being said based on the limited amount of the conversation you can see. Rephrasing rather than repeating yourself provides new visual information that someone who's deaf or hard of hearing can use to interpret what you're saying.

Originally Posted by Souzan

Aradia,

I will be front and center in the first row at your workshop in Orlando in May!!!! Want to pick your brain as a hearing impaired dancer!! My hearing aids have a music module which helps me a lot to "hear" the rhythms my feet are feeling by filtering out and ambient sounds. One of the things I noticed after getting hearing aids was that my timing was better. I think I was feeling the changes in vibration with rhythm changes and reacting to them before hearing the change or before others were hearing the change. So I was often told that I was slightly ahead of the music. This always perplexed me immensely. That, thankfully, has improved greatly since getting the aids.

Looking forward to meeting you in a few months!

Souzan

That's great that the hearing aids are working for you, unfortunately I'm not a candidate for any type of hearing aid or surgery, they said the surgery they are working on is about 20 years out, my hearing loss is one of the more rare kinds, and they have to grow ear filliments in a petrie dish?!
I Look forward to meeting you as well!

Originally Posted by Aradia

I would put my feet on the stereo speakers to learn my rhythms, I still dance to vibration a lot.

if there aren't good speakers available-
maybe a small drum or balloon to feel the vibration?

When I was working in an elementary school-
I taught all my student sign language-
mostly just finger spelling, but some words too.
I had the sign language alphabet laminated on their desks.
During spelling lessons I would also finger spell words.
With kids being that young-
sometimes we/they are unaware of any hearing loss.
(until their grades are suffering)
The sign language in the classroom also helped to run things smoothly-
They would sign if they needed water or bathroom,
I could quickly see-
who needed what, and who was raising their hand to answer my question!

anyway. .
Please keep us updated on this!!!
~Zayna : )

Deaf people have a very hightened feel of vibration, so even if they put their hands on a little boom box, they will feel the dum-tec. I never thought of a balloon, but that might work too. I can feel the drummers vibration through the floor in my feet, it took a little while to develop that sensitivity, just turn up the music LOUD!