Again, it has been way too long since I have posted in my blog. Excuses could be I just haven't had time, I have not had anything significant to say, I have lacked motivation....but the truth is that I just let other things get in my way.
But recently, I have had some thoughts in my heart and mind that I wanted to share with the general public. Therefore, I figured my blog would be a great place to share these thoughts, observations, and personal experience tied to them.
Some of you reading this blog may know that I work as an Early Interventionist with families of Deaf and Hard of Hearing children. I LOVE IT! I love helping the families navigate the Deaf and Hard of Hearing world that can be confusing sometimes. I love helping the family and child adjust to using listening devices, learn about different communication strategies they can utilize with their child, giving all the little tips about caring for amplification that sometimes audiologists don't always share with them, help them to see the full potential in their child and focus on the whole child, walk with some of the parents through the grieving process, and so much more!
In the process of working with these precious children, I am not only learning more about Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education, the impact of different hearing levels on child development, etc....but I am also learning more about how important visual access is for children and individuals living with any level of hearing loss.
A personal revelation I have had is how much of a lip reader I am. I can't say this is true for ALL individuals who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Not one shoe fits all, but I can say that there is probably a good percentage of Deaf and hard of hearing individuals who benefit from visual access and accommodations to spoken language. I am definitely one of them.
There are many deaf and hard of hearing individuals are lip readers. And I truly believe teaching young deaf and hard of hearing children how to utilize visual communication tools (reading lips, looking at the individual's face, asking the speaker to look at you) is a beneficial tool/strategy to teach them. But this doesn't mean that it is the only communication methodology for deaf and hard of hearing children. Many children do use only listening and spoken language methodologies to communicate effeciently.
Deafness (which is a term to include all range of hearing levels), in my opinion, is an "indivisible" disability. It is easy to misunderstand it. Wearing hearing amplification to make environmental and spoken language louder and more accessible is a logical solution, correct? I wear hearing aids, so that should make it better, right? I mean, louder is better, correct? In fact, many people who ear cochlear implants or hearing aids communicate well with individuals talking to them, participate in group conversations and enjoy music. It is true we can often hear well with our amplification-but it isn't always clear.
Think about this-when you hear someone talking through the use of a megaphone or microphone, do you understand the speaker perfectly? Or is it a little more disoriented and unclear?
I would also ask you to think about this-is it easier to get a little distracted when talking on the phone because you don't have a face to look at? When you talk with someone one on one, the conversation is more engaging and clear when you can see the face of the person talking? Do you have to occasionally ask the speaker to repeat what they said because you didn't fully understand the speaker?
If your answer is yes, then think about someone who always needs to see the person's face and or lips to understand fully what is being communicated to them.
It is true, I can hear many things and don't need to see the source of that sound to understand it clearly all the time. Like birds signing (with the assistance of my hearing aids), dogs barking, music playing, phones ringing, most keys on the piano playing. (Although the phone ringing depends on the frequency of the tone. If the tone is too high, I won't be able to hear it. In fact, my parents' first cell phones had very high pitches and I couldn't hear the phones even if they were right next to my ear. The pitches were too high). I love to play the piano (I can hear most of the notes, except the last 5 notes on either end of the piano), I can even play the flute, and I am always listening to music (at home and in the car). But I know I don't hear music the same way those with typical hearing levels do-I enjoy music in my very own way.
But it doesn't mean I hear everything playing into my ear or in the environment. And it especially does not mean I always understand when people talk to me. I am not able to hear several high or low frequencies, including frequencies of various letters in spoken language. And when people talk to me, and I miss some sounds in the words people might say to me, it is as if I were reading a passage in a book that has key words and letters missing, with either enough context clues in the passage to understand what it means or not enough that I totally miss the context of the statement/conversation. That is where the lipreading comes in.
Just let me clarify-not every individual who is deaf or hard of hearing can read lips. That is a misconception. But I believe that those of us who do read lips and are very visual when it comes to communication benefit greatly when those who interact with us assist us to use visual clues and face us when talking.
For example, it helps when the speaker looks at us who read lips so that we can use our lipreading "superpowers" and other visual clues to fill in the gaps where our ears and auditory passages miss. It doesn't mean that when we are spoken to by people not facing us we don't hear-we just may miss key words. Often times, I may hear that someone speaking to me, but I don't fully understand what they are saying. As a result, I often say "What?". I don't say "What?" out of laziness, or to interrupt you or because I wasn't listening (although there may have been an occasional day when I was tired or not paying attention that did result in me saying "What?"). I say "What?" because I need you to look at me, and repeat EXACTLY what you said at the same pace you originally said it (most likely). I will do the extra work-I will read your lips. And most likely, I heard part of what you said when I couldn't see your face/lips. So now I will pay more attention to what you say based on what I missed you saying when you were not facing me.
In addition-sign language and gestures. Sign language is extremely helpful! Not to mention that American Sign Language is a beautiful, concise, and helpful language. I admire those who can sign fluently and totally enjoy time with my Deaf friends. For me, sign language helps me to understand what you said when our ears and the auditory part of our brain misses what we hear. My brain doesn't have to work hard to listen, which can reduce stress on my end with understanding what is being communicated. My eyes work fine so communicating is easier when using signs or gestures while communicating. I have also noticed I get less exhausted when signs and gestures during a conversation.
Having worked with over 70 children who are deaf and hard of hearing in the past few years, I have definitely witnessed that visual language and cues are helpful for many individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing. The language and social-communication skills of many of my kids thrives when either gestures, sign language, or using some type of visual language is used with the kids. Teaching the families how to maximize their gestures and look at their child when communicating and teaching their child to look at the speaker has been very helpful to maximize their child's language development and social-communication skills. I often witness a larger vocabulary in the child, less frustration, and ability to clearly communicate what they and others need or want to others. I am not saying that focusing on listening and spoken language methodologies only with deaf and hard of hearing children is bad or unhelpful. In fact, having a child focus on his or her listening skills without the use of visual language/clues is very helpful to help him listen carefully, and respond to someone speaking to them. It is important to teach them how to notice auditorial clues of someone talking to him or her. However, having said that, I also believe that simply making sounds louder through either louder voices or amplification is not always the best solution for each child. Some children (and adults) also need the visual access to language to enhance their ability to communicate.
There is also a story behind the title of this blog post. When I was a young girl, approximately 7 or 8 years old, my family learned the extent of which I am a lip-reader, visual communicator. There was moment when my mom and I were talking, probably in the kitchen (the warmest room in the house). I couldn't understand what my mom said to me when she wasn't facing me, so I, in my 7 year-old innocence, said "Mommy, turn around I can't hear your lips".
