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Michigan Speech Language Hearing Association

EDUCATION OF THE HEARING IMPAIRED

The 2008 Vice President for Education of the Hearing Impaired is Dorothea French.  To view the  Education of the Hearing Impaired Committee Annual Report please use the following link ed of hi report

Why NOT Sign?

Dorothea B. French, Ph. D.,V-P Education of the Hearing Impaired

At the recent MSHA conference, presenter Kimberly Jenkins described the services at Child Hearing Services, University of Tennessee: some children with hearing impairments had intervention that included use of American Sign Language, while others received Auditory-Oral or Auditory-Verbal intervention, in which sign language is not used. "Why not sign?" was asked, and echoed, and briefly answered. However, this occurrence left the impression that many professionals and/or students do not understand the reasons for not signing.

In the Bilingual/Bicultural approach, the use of American Sign Language (ASL) is emphasized, typically with little use of residual hearing or spoken English. In a Total Communication approach, ASL is used (and sometimes a form of manually-coded English) along with natural gesture, mime, audition and speech – any and all forms of communication. In Auditory-Oral and Auditory-Verbal approaches, the emphasis is on learning to listen and to speak. No sign language is used.

The rationale is as follows: People with sensor neural hearing losses listening through hearing aids or cochlear implants do not hear the clear and precise frequency information that persons with normal hearing do, even though the latest technology provides a much better signal than in the past. It is easy to tune out the fuzzy auditory input if everything is presented visually. Therefore, a child does not learn to make sense of the auditory stimuli; he does not learn to listen. Likewise, the child can rely on the visual code to express himself instead of learning to speak. American Sign Language is a visual-spatial language with its own grammar; learning an acoustic-temporal language with a different grammar (English or another spoken language) means the child is learning two very different languages, an experience not directly comparable to learning two spoken languages.

Consider the following:

The more you emphasize vision, the less you emphasize hearing and listening.

The more you emphasize a language other than spoken English, the less you emphasize English.

Therefore, Auditory-Oral and Auditory-Verbal approaches do not use sign language.

Parents should be informed of all approaches and have options in educating their children who are deaf or hard of hearing. When Auditory-Oral and Auditory-Verbal approaches are being discussed, professionals should be able to answer the question, "Why NOT sign?"

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Structure and Purpose EHI committee:  The Vice President serves as a liaison between Educators of the Hearing Impaired in Michigan and the MSHA organization.  This is generally done by reporting back and forth between the Michigan Supervisors of Public School Programs for the Hearing Impaired (MSPSPHI) and the MSHA Executive Council on a monthly basis.  The committee contributes suggestions to the MSHA Program Committee regarding speakers and activities for the annual conference.  The Committee also hosts a wine and cheese party at the conference in order for attendees to interact and discuss common issues.

What is MSPSPHI? This is an organization of supervisors (or designees) of programs for the hearing impaired throughout the state of Michigan.  This group meets on a monthly basis in order to discuss common issues and exchange information regarding the education of students who are deaf or hard of hearing.  Meetings are held at the Ingham Intermediate School District on the third Tuesday of the month during the school year.  For further information, contact:  Lynn Fontanive, President, MSPSPHI, Macomb Intermediate School District, 44001 Garfield Road, Clinton Township, MI 48038 (phone 586-228-3320).

Did you know that MSHA supports a Hearing Impaired Resource Library?  MSHA members are encouraged to borrow books from the library.  Books are sent by mail, with return postage supplied by the borrower.  The collection is currently housed at Livingston ESA in Howell. To check out a book contact the ESA at media@lesa.k12.mi.us or 517/546-5550 ext. 221. To view an online catalog visit the Livingston ESA website at http://scnc.lesa.k12.mi.us and complete the following steps:

1. Under LESA Links click on Media & Technology Resources

2. Click on Electronic Catalog. 

3. Click on Switch to Power Search to search the Media Center. 

4. Under Library click on the arrow button and choose Livingston Educational Service Agency 

5.  Under Item Type click on MSHA Collection or search for your book by typing in the title or typing in a keyword then clicking Search.

To obtain a catalog through the mail contact  Dorothea French at  frenchd@redfordu.k12.mi.us or the MSHA office at msha@att.net