HEARING IMPAIRMENTS/VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS
Use the chart below to discuss strategies for effective teaching and learning in the classroom. You will
discuss at least 10 strategies for each impairment.
Hearing Impairment Suggested Strategies
Allow hearing-impaired students to sit where
they think best, as sitting close to the teacher will
help the child to better understand the context of
your words by observing your facial expressions.
Enhance lessons with visuals, as hearing-impaired
children tend to be visual learners.
Repeat words, directions, and activities.
Only speak while facing forward. Do not speak
with your back to hearing impaired children. They
need to see your face for context and visual cues.
Give interpreters copies of lessons in advice. This
will help the interpreter prep the student for the
vocabulary used in the lesson.
Focus on the child, not the interpreter. Teachers
do not need to give interpreters directions to give
to the child.
Use the child’s residual hearing, as the total
hearing loss is rare.
Don’t shout. If the child is already wearing an FM
device, your voice will be amplified, as it is.
Make sure hearing-impaired students wear
amplification devices, such as a frequency
modulated (FM) unit that will connect to a
microphone for you to wear.
Make every lesson language oriented. Have a
print-rich classroom with labels on the objects
inside.
Visual Impairments Suggested Strategies
Choose a circle-time seating arrangement that
places the student with visual impairment in
close proximity to instructional materials and
actions. In this way the child will experience the
activity more fully, and teacher support will be
nearby when necessary.
Use the names of children consistently so that
the student with visual impairment will know
who is called on or involved in an activity.
Use precise positional terminology during
instruction
When presenting new ideas and concepts, link
them to the child’s prior experiences and
knowledge.
Encourage the child with visual impairment to
participate during circle-time activities by calling
on him or her regularly, with the expectation that
the child can participate fully.
Avoid asking if a student can see something
Don’t ask a student, can you see this? They often
can see it, but that does not mean that they can
access it or read it.
Use assistive technologies designed for children
with visual impairments
Read aloud using stories and books that are
interesting and appropriate for the child.
Reduced visual distractions if there is too much
information in front of them or around them,
they are more likely to get lost visually, leading to
more time needed to complete tasks and
increases in errors when copying or missing
written steps.
Don’t gesture, always verbalize
When writing on the board, always verbalize
what you are writing so the student has access to
that information and can follow along.