Georgia State University Series:

1
Georgia State University Series

• Oral Approaches and Philosophies

Part 2, Presentation 2 July 2001
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OralApproaches and Philosophies

• Dr. Easterbrooks

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Philosophy of Oral Education

• The goal of oral education is for deaf and
  hard-of-hearing children to learn to listen,
  speak, and to understand spoken language.
• Children who are educated with the oral approach
  develop listening skills with the use of current
  auditory technology, including digital hearing
  aids and cochlear implants, and specific teaching
  strategies.
• The oral approach allows speechreading to help
  deaf and hard-of-hearing children to understand
  language.

4
Elements of successful oral deaf education

• Children can maximize their auditory potential
  all day when taught in environments where they
  are expected to learn to listen and speak.
• Spoken language is the only language used by
  children at all times.
• The curriculum prepares children for
  mainstreaming.

5
History of oral deaf education

• As early as the 16th century, a Benedictine monk
  named Pedro Ponce de Leon tutored the deaf
  children of the Spanish nobility using oral deaf
  methods.
• In the 18th century, a German teacher named
  Samuel Heinicke developed the foundations of
  modern oral deaf education. He was the first
  advocate of what we now call mainstreaming.

6
Continued

• It was not until the end of the 19th century when
  educators began to develop the role that residual
  hearing could have in the oral education of the
  deaf.
• Dr. Max Goldstein developed the notion of
  audition (the use of residual hearing) as an
  integral part of oral education

7
Continued

• After World War II, when many veterans returned
  with hearing loss, the government funded research
  on hearing aids, which became powerful enough to
  benefit even profoundly deaf children.
• As a result, children were able to use their
  residual hearing as well as visual cues to learn
  to speak.

8
Auditory Training

• Auditory training activities form a major
  component of oral education.
• The goal of auditory training for children who
  are deaf or hard of hearing is to develop their
  ability to recognize speech using the auditory
  signal to interpret auditory experiences.

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Types of Auditory Training(or Spoken Language
Instruction)

• Auditory-Verbal
• Auditory-Oral

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Auditory-Verbal Philosophy

• Encourages the maximum use of hearing in order
  to learn language and stresses listening rather
  than watching.

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Essentials of Auditory-Verbal Philosophy

• Young children who are deaf or hard of hearing
  can be educated to use even minimal amounts of
  amplified residual hearing.
• Use of amplified residual hearing permits the
  child to learn to listen, process verbal
  language, and to speak.

12
Auditory-Verbal Approach

• This approach is similar to the auditory-oral
  approach except it does not encourage lipreading.
  
• It excludes the use of sign language.
• This method emphasizes the exclusive use of
  auditory skills through one-on-one teaching.
• It emphasizes the importance of placing children
  in the regular education classroom as soon as
  possible.
• It views parents as the childs primary teacher.

13
Prerequisites for Auditory-Verbal Approach

• Early identification of hearing loss.
• Early fitting of appropriate amplification.
• Emphasis on learning to listen.
• Regular therapy sessions with certified
  auditory-verbal professionals.
• Mainstreaming in education.
• Total family participation in the learning
  process.

14
Auditory-Verbal Practice

• Auditory-verbal practice is the application of
  techniques, strategies, conditions, and
  procedures that promote optimal acquisition of
  spoken language through listening.

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Goal of Auditory-Verbal Practice

• Children who are deaf or hard of hearing can
  grow up in regular learning and living
  environments enabling them to become independent,
  participating, and contributing citizens in
  society.

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Who Can Benefit from Auditory-Verbal Practice?

• With appropriate hearing aids, cochlear
  implants, and other technology, most children who
  are deaf or hard of hearing can benefit from
  auditory-verbal practice if it is begun early.
• The critical period for the development of
  spoken language (as a first language) ends by the
  time a child enters school.

17
Auditory-Oral Approach

• The auditory-oral approach is a method in which
  children learn to use whatever hearing they have,
  in combination with lipreading and contextual
  cues (speechreading) to understand and use spoken
  language.

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Components of a SuccessfulAuditory-Oral Approach

• Requires full time immersion in spoken language
• Infants and very young children need to be
  "bathed" in spoken language by their caregivers.
• Small classes and daily one-on-one instruction
  provide the intense earliest intervention that
  makes oral deaf education successful.

19
Technology Benefits of the Auditory-Oral Approach

• More recently, the cochlear implant and other
  new technology have maximized auditory potential
  of deaf and hard-of-hearing children for whom
  analog hearing aids previously provided little or
  no benefit.

20
Private oral deaf education schools and programs

• OPTION schools and programs are an international
  council of private and independent schools that
  provide auditory-oral education for deaf and
  hard-of-hearing children.
• OPTION schools and programs support early
  intervention and oral education with the goal of
  mainstreaming the deaf and hard-of-hearing child.
  
• The primary criterion for membership in OPTION is
  that the school supports and provides
  auditory-oral philosophy and practice.

21
Continued

• The leadership of the OPTION schools must be
  active and contributing members of the Alexander
  Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of
  Hearing.
• All OPTION schools have classes for deaf and
  hard-of-hearing children, and offer a variety of
  other services including parent education,
  individual therapy, diagnostics and mainstream
  support.

22
Public oral deaf education schools and programs

• The Public School Caucus (PSC) is the umbrella
  organization of public schools with oral deaf
  education programs, much as OPTION is the
  umbrella for private schools.
• Like OPTION, the PSC is independent of, but
  requires membership in, the Alexander Graham Bell
  Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing as a
  criterion for membership.
• PSC and OPTION members often work together to
  achieve their common goals.

23
Auditory Habilitation Summary

• Listening and speech skills do not emerge
  spontaneously.
• Therefore, concentrated, deliberate
  rehabilitation is required.
• Child learns to utilize the electrical signal for
  the purpose of speech recognition and speech and
  language acquisition.
• Must include participation by the parents, speech
  and hearing professionals, and educators.

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Glossary

• Amplification Provision of increased intensity
  of sound.
• Auditory-only Speech that is presented to only
  the auditory modality
• Auditory training Instruction designed to
  maximize an individuals use of residual hearing
  by means of both formal and informal listening
  practice.
• Auditory-verbal therapy An educational approach
  in which technology, techniques, and strategies
  are used to enable children to listen and
  understand spoken language, with a primary
  emphasis on the auditory modality for learning.
• Aural habilitation Intervention for persons who
  have not developed listening, speech, and
  language skills.

25
Continued

• Aural/oral method An instruction method used to
  teach children with significant hearing loss
  using hearing, speechreading, and spoken
  language, but not manual communication.
• Aural rehabilitation Intervention aimed at
  minimizing and alleviating the communication
  difficulties associated with hearing loss.
• Cochlear implant Device planted in the skull
  that permits persons with deafness to receive
  stimulation of the auditory mechanism directly
  stimulates the auditory nerve by means of
  electrical current.
• Hard-of-hearing HOH having a hearing loss
  usually not used to refer to a profound hearing
  loss.

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Continued

• Lipreading The process of recognizing speech
  using only the visual speech signal and other
  visual cues, such as facial expression.
• Mainstreaming Reassignment of children with
  disabilities from a special education classroom
  to a classroom in the regular school environment.
• Residual hearing The hearing remaining in a
  person who has hearing loss.
• Speechreading Speech recognition using auditory
  and visual cues.

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References

• Reference for slides 6, 9-11
• Estabrooks, W., Marlowe, J. (2000). The baby
  is listening An educational tool for
  professionals who work with children who are deaf
  or hard of hearing.Washington, DC The Alexander
  Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of
  Hearing.
• Reference for slides 2-3, 23-26
• Tye-Murray, N. (1998). Foundations of aural
  rehabilitation. San Diego, CA Singular
  Publishing Group, Inc.

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Continued

• Reference for slides 12-16, 18, 20-22
• http//www.oraldeafed.org/library
  /about/index.html
• Reference for slide 8
• http//www.nciohio.com/prerequi.htm
• Reference for slide 17
• http//www.bradingrao.com/auditory1.htm
• Reference for slide 4
• http//www.listen-up.org/options1.htm
• Slides 5, 7, and 19 are unaccounted for, but Im
  positive they came from one of the above sources
  or from the following website
• http//www.auditory-verbal.org/