Communication Strategies for Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Exhibit Multiple Disabilities...

Communication Strategies for Students who Communication Strategies for Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing are Deaf/Hard of Hearing

and Exhibit Multiple Disabilitiesand Exhibit Multiple Disabilities

“A Modified Journey”“A Modified Journey”GDEAF

Wednesday, July 20, 2004Peggy Allgood, PhD StudentMelody Stoner, PhD Student

Georgia State University

Who Are We? (Part 1 of 3)Who Are We? (Part 1 of 3)• Peggy:• Teacher of high school students at AASD

– Special needs– Functional curriculum– Vocational objectives– Coordinator of Project VOICE

• Doctoral student at Georgia State University in Special Education– Concentration in mental retardation with deafness

• Taught for 35 years in deafness • Taught for 12 years in multiple disabilities

with deafness

Who Are We? (Part 2 of 3)Who Are We? (Part 2 of 3)• Melody:• Teacher of high school students at AASD

– Special needs– Language delayed– Functional curriculum– Vocational objectives

• Doctoral student at Georgia State University in Special Education– Concentration in language development of

students who are deaf/hard of hearing• Former secondary English teacher in general

education setting

Who Are We? (Part 3 of 3)Who Are We? (Part 3 of 3)• Melody:• Mother of a beautiful two year old daughter

Who Are You?Who Are You?

Why is this information important to you? Why is this information important to you?

• We already know it’s tough enough to teach a child who is deaf to communicate effectively and efficiently, but important

• As a teacher of the deaf with multiple disabilities, effective and efficient options for your students to communicate with others are critical

• How???

What can we as teachers provide?What can we as teachers provide?(Part 1 of 2)(Part 1 of 2)

• Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Teaching pride in and respect for all forms of communication

• Communication boards• Writing With Symbols 2000 (WWS2000) Software• Communication skills instruction in real situations and by

virtue of student observation

What can we as teachers provide?What can we as teachers provide?(Part 2 of 2)(Part 2 of 2)

• Adapted literature • Environmental arrangements forcing students to initiate

communication• Writing and reading notes on the job• Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, by Steven

Covey• Provide instruction in identification of personal emotions

and identification of emotions in others• Comic strip stories and experience stories

Teaching pride in and respect for Teaching pride in and respect for all forms of communicationall forms of communication

(Part 1 of 9)(Part 1 of 9)• Just a few examples:

• Writing with a variety of utensils in a variety of ways• “Driting”

– Drawing and writing combination

• Computer: • Microsoft Word• Mayer-Johnson’s Writing With Symbols 2000 (WWS2000)

• Reading:• Textbooks• Newspapers • Internet pages• Word and alphabet letter identification• Functional sign recognition


(Part 2 of 9)(Part 2 of 9)• Sign Languages

• ASL– Don’t forget non-grammatical markers

• Pidgin• MCE• BSE• AMESLAN

• Drawing– Maybe can’t spell, but can draw

Teaching pride in and respect for all Teaching pride in and respect for all forms of communicationforms of communication

(Part 3 of 9)(Part 3 of 9)• Body language

• Eye gaze, blink, and wink• Head nods and shakes • Posture: leaning forward and drawing back• Facial expression

– Teach to recognize others’– Learn to control own


(Part 4 of 9)(Part 4 of 9)• Gestures

– Over there– I don’t know– I don’t care– Come here– Oh, go on or Oh, get out of here

• Speech– English– Spanish– French


(Part 5 of 9)(Part 5 of 9)• Watching and interacting with ASL story videos

• Here are a few to get you started:

• Gallaudet University’s Shared Reading Project– http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/Literacy/srp/index.html

• Kansas School for the Deaf video series– http://www.aslaccess.org/storyrd1.htm

• Dawn Sign Press, Once Upon A Time video series– http://www.dawnsign.com/k12/index.html#Video


(Part 6 of 9)(Part 6 of 9)• Watching and interacting with ASL story CD-ROMs• Here are a few to get you started:

• ASL Tales and Games for Kids: Teaches community concepts through stories and provides practice in vocabulary, fingerspelling, and multiple signs for one English word

• Paws Signs Stories: Focuses on story concepts, vocabulary, and early education skills

• Available from Adco Hearing Company --http://www.adcohearing.com/childyouthcomputerprog.html

• Spanish, English, and ASL CD-ROM with Mexican-American stories, games, questions, and vocabulary for various reading levels

• Read about it at http://hal.lamar.edu/~andrewsjf/cdpublication1.html– Available from Curriculum Publications Clearinghouse --

http://www.wiu.edu/CPC/htmlfiles/products/category/special.html


(Part 7 of 9)(Part 7 of 9)• Providing access to ASL websites on the Internet

• There are so many, we couldn’t possibly list them ALL…

• http://www.lifeprint.com/• http://library.thinkquest.org/10202/• http://www.aasdweb.com/mysignlink/• http://www.aasdweb.com/mysigntv/• http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/• http://www.masterstech-home.com/ASLDict.html


(Part 8 of 9)(Part 8 of 9)• Internet Video Relay System (VRS)

• Lots of providers, a growing technology• Again, so many, we could not list them ALL…

• Sorenson -- http://www.s-vision.com/• Hands On Video Relay Service --

https://secure.hovrs.com/vrs_ssl/hovrs.aspx• IP-Relay --http://www.ip-relay.com/index.htm• Club Deaf -- http://www.clubdeaf.com/


(Part 9 of 9)(Part 9 of 9)• Multiple meaning sign language videos and

bridging concepts videos

• Developed from a pilot reading project at the Mississippi School for the Deaf

• Available at: http://www.fairviewlearning.net/index.php

Communication boardsCommunication boards(Part 1 of 4)(Part 1 of 4)

• From Mayer-Johnson’s BoardMaker computer software• Provides visual support for students struggling with print

alone• Easy to learn for both teachers and some students• Students enjoy the use of technology

• Get student input– Promotes interest and ownership– Teach students how to make their own boards– Students may want more than one board for multiple settings

• Get parent input– Find out what the communication needs are in the home and the local

community– Teach and encourage parents how to use in the home and local

community


• Pre-teach, teach, review– Provide opportunities for students to use in the

classroom, on the job site, in the local school community, in the home, and in the local home community

• Add new vocabulary in topical format– Supports organization of and learning new concepts– Lots of pre-made CD options available from Mayer-

Johnson• Fast food restaurants• Community services• Sexuality• Holidays


• Set up boards in traditional left-to-right structure– Supports instruction in practices of reading and

writing in English– If basic conversational communication board, put

openers on left and closers on right to highlight left-to-right schema

• Visual cues for conversational turn-taking– May have to teach eye contact with conversational

partner– It is clear that it is or is not the student’s turn; either

the student is pointing or the partner is pointing• Here are some examples being passed around

now

Communication boards Communication boards (Part 4 of 4)(Part 4 of 4)

• Example available from http://www.mayer-johnson.com/software/index.html

Writing With Symbols 2000 (WWS2000)Writing With Symbols 2000 (WWS2000)SoftwareSoftware

Also from Mayer-JohnsonAlso from Mayer-Johnson

• What can you do with this?

• Create stories with pictures for emerging readers• Create classroom, work, and home schedules to promote

organization• Create visual behavior programs for use in the home• Create picture strips to help with reading• Create directions for promoting independence • Create picture recipes for promoting independence• Create word lists for vocabulary• Create social stories• Also reinforces concept of multiple meaning words

Writing With Symbols 2000 (WWS2000)Writing With Symbols 2000 (WWS2000)SoftwareSoftware

Also from Mayer-JohnsonAlso from Mayer-Johnson• Example available from http://www.mayer-johnson.com/software/index.html

Communication skills instruction in real situations Communication skills instruction in real situations and by virtue of observationand by virtue of observation

(Part 1 of 3)(Part 1 of 3)

• Provide social situations/chat times and set up problems to solve

• Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Daily break time

• Watch the students, you will be pleasantly surprised• You will see higher level language at “play” than in the classroom• Often students have understanding of concepts and conversational

etiquette, but no vocabulary for it– Thus, they’re thrown when you introduce it into the classroom

• Teach each one in his own zone of proximal development (ZPD)– Not so low that he’s bored and not so high that he’s frustrated– Just out of reach, but attainable

Communication skills instruction in real situations Communication skills instruction in real situations and by virtue of observationand by virtue of observation

(Part 2 of 3)(Part 2 of 3)

• Weekly classroom meetings– Take time to chat with the students in a neutral location, away

from the classroom, about whatever topics are on their minds– You will see conversational skills expand outside of the

constraints of the classroom, but you’re still TEACHING

• At any time, provide a variety of levels of communication skills in a variety of areas, mix the students…– Everyone will learn something, none of the students are experts

at everything– It’s the power of the peer!

Communication skills instruction in real situationsCommunication skills instruction in real situationsand by virtue of observationand by virtue of observation

(Part 3 of 3)(Part 3 of 3)• Model, model, and model some more

• Always talk about what you did, what you’re doing, what you’re planning to do, how you plan to do it, and your thinking processes

• Deluge your students with language and out-loud thinking processes, and include them in your “conversations with yourself”– Just keep a running monologue going, as you would provide for an

infant learning the native language– Describe everything, leave nothing to wonder about

• Model your use of language to show them how to use their language to communicate and problem-solve

• Model, model, and model some more

Adapted literatureAdapted literature• Have a higher level language student

“translate” a piece of literature into simpler language with Boardmaker software support

• Magazine articles• Newspaper articles• Internet pages• Short books

– See the example being passed around now

Environmental arrangements Environmental arrangements forcing students to communicateforcing students to communicate

• Problem solving situations work well

• No planned schedule for the day (have a backup schedule)

• Desks and supplies are in disarray and need to be straightened

• You have “forgotten” a critical supply for the lesson planned (not really)

Writing and reading notes on the Writing and reading notes on the jobjob

• Many adult deaf communicate by writing on the job

• Students who are deaf want to be like typical adults

• Higher functioning deaf with MR may feel that picture communication boards make them look more retarded

• One way to fix that is to use picture/word communication boards

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens,Teens, by Steven Covey by Steven Covey

• Teaches self-pride

• Teaches goal setting

• Teaches problem solving

Write a personalized book with the Write a personalized book with the student or class based upon a book student or class based upon a book

already readalready read

• Once you have read a book and student(s) are familiar, you can re-write the book to apply to the students’ own lives

• Add in pictures of the students themselves

• They will re-read these books over and over again

Provide instruction in identification of personal Provide instruction in identification of personal emotions and identification of emotions in emotions and identification of emotions in

othersothers

• Often students lack empathy and an emotional vocabulary word bank

• Model your own feelings while explaining causes, point out other students’ feelings, and teach new feelings

• Take pictures of events that cause certain feelings and write a short book to support learning

Comic strip stories and experience Comic strip stories and experience storiesstories

• This also plays off of teaching feelings• Sometimes students have difficulty stepping outside of

themselves• Provide a comic strip assessment of the situation• Four blocks in left-to-right format, and draw stick figures

(or use real pictures of the actual event) to represent what happened, how each person felt, what was the actual result, and how the result can change next time with a different decision

• Articles on this are being passed out now

What are your questions and What are your questions and comments?comments?

Feel free to contact either of us at Feel free to contact either of us at anytime:anytime:

• Peggy:– [email protected]

• (home)– [email protected]

• (work, August-May)• Melody:

– [email protected] • (home)

– [email protected] • (work, August-May)

• Please e-mail us with any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, and successes!

Assignment? Yes, assignment. Assignment? Yes, assignment.

• Make one goal for the 2004-2005 school year based upon this workshop and support each other in achieving this goal by contacting and replying to each other at least once a month via e-mail. Copy both of us to each of these e-mails.

Communication Strategies for Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Exhibit Multiple Disabilities...

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