How many times do I have to tell everyone that I can't hear very well?? Why do some of the teachers I work with and see on a daily basis act surprise when I did not hear them? "I have been calling your name a 100 times, and you did not respond!" one would say. I wanted to tell her so bad, "Well, my back was turned to you and you were on my deaf side, stupid!" When I try to explain to them once again how I hear and how they should communicate with me, they usually seem distracted and will say, "Uh, huh. OK." or they exclaim, "Oh, really?!" as if I have never told them before.
No matter how many times I tell them about my hearing loss and how to communicate with me, they seem to forget. It worries me how they must deal with some of their deaf/hh students. Do I need to explain to them again that these students are deaf or hard of hearing?
~ Irritated Itinerant Teacher
YES!
ReplyDeleteDude, everyone is audist - show them the audiogram. Even with DEAF kids, who are profoundly deaf with no speech skills, mainstream teachers still do not understand that speaking to a deaf student will do them no good.
I swear.
I have this one kid who is a cutie-pitutie Dennis the Mennis type (gets in trouble, but so cute you can't help but like him). He is HoH, so the teachers act like he is defying them every time he says "Huh?"
Uh - hello, guys! LOOK AT HIS IEP! Documented hearing loss!
Why do we do this again? Lol.