tips for working with a student with hearing impairment

Krista Bocko started this discussion · 3/24/2012

My new student in my class has about 50% hearing in each ear. She reads lips, so it works well when I'm facing the mirror and she can see my face, or facing her. Has anyone worked with students who have hearing impairments? There are 6 women in the class, so it's a little complex as I try to demo moves from different angles, as well as working on floorwork where we're lying on our backs and she can't see my face. This is something I want to be pretty aware of, so that she gets the most from my class. Any advice? I did let her know that I'm happy to come over to her and explain the moves face to face if she can't hear/see me. Thanks :)

9 replies

Kobajo84 · 3/24/2012
Working with the hearing impaired can pose challenges. Think of movement in terms of charades. You want to exaggerate the movement so as to emphasize key elements of your teaching. There are useful tools online that will help for signing, if your student responds to the use of sign language. I have a regular patient who is deaf and his wife is also, so I've had a lot of recent experience working with hearing limitations as of recently. What a wonderful learning experience for you to develop your teaching!
Kobajo84 · 3/24/2012
I also thought of another idea- you could use a dry erase marker on the mirrors for when you're introducing a new move- write the move down on the mirror so the student gets the name of the move. This might also help with the other students and word association as they familarize themselves with the terminology. Hearing impaired rely heavily on visual attributes so the more you can incorporate the better. I also point to areas, like the shoulders, I will pause, point to my shoulders and roll them down and back then using my hands to highlight I'm focusing on that area. You have to focus on being clear and consise in your movement. You could probably teach an entire class without ever saying a word with the proper body movements. How fun would that be? People would definitely get more in touch with their movement.
Krista Bocko · 3/24/2012
Thanks, Kody! Great ideas, I will definitely incorporate those. :) What about floorwork? Hm! This is helping me to get creative in my teaching for sure!
ahlemh20014818 · 3/25/2012
I can relate as I have hearing impairement from one ear, yeah sometimes it is hard when the teacher is giving her back to me as she has soft voice, at first no one noticed that I had that issue, coz I did not want to stand out and say it loud, (it has been the result of a road accident so still pretty new to me), so yeah sometimes, I was leaning very much to the teache to hear what she was saying or trying to read her lips, then I just asked if she could speak louder, I have some others who still dont know, I'll rely very much on my visual sense, I focus a lot on visual stuff, so I just copy, I dont "listen" as much as I copy.
polefairy · 3/25/2012
Hey Sparrow that is so sweet of you to try find a way of making things easier on her. I wore hearing aids for years and over time learned to lip read without ever even realising it. I can hear most of the time but if I can't see your mouth I will not know what you're saying. It'll sound muffled. To be honest, I wouldn't worry a whole lot. Already you've done LOADS by talking to her and acknowledging that she cannot hear as well as the other girls. She knows you're approachable and that you won't respond badly if she needs you to explain it to her a second time because she missed the class demo. Also, in terms of lip reading and body language, if you can face her while demonstrating the moves and make your movements big and expressive she won't struggle much at all. She'll be well used to managing with this throughout life with people who are not half as aware as you are. You've nothing to worry about but I think you're so lovely for being this considerate!
Krista Bocko · 3/25/2012
Thank you both!! :)
amberpoledancer · 3/27/2012
Hey there I had one deaf student in my class last year. At first I was worried how I was going to teach her but it turned out that it wasn't much of a problem for her or me communicating. She could lip read so I just made sure I always faced her when explaining a move. Generally the way I teach is this. I say the name of a move. I demo it around 3 times slowly. I come off and go through points of contact on the pole pointing to the relevant body parts. Then I get the students to try, correcting them when nessary. I also have printed handouts explaining each move too. If you think about it learning pole is mostly watching the instructor and what she does so I don't think you'll have many problems teaching her. Xx
DedeJoy · 3/28/2012
I have pretty significant hearing loss, so when my pole instructor started teaching me fan kicks, I thought she was saying "pancakes" and I thought that was the stupidest name ever. One day, I heard her say it when the music wasn't so loud and, you know, *face palm* We still have a good laugh over that one. So my first tip is: please turn the music down a little bit when you're explaining or introducing tricks. That is one of the biggest impediments to understanding for me because the music is competing with my instructor's voice. Also, try to face her when you're speaking. Sometimes, that's not so easy. Often, I will physically move closer to her so I can either hear or see her face -- IF it's something that's so tricky, I actually need to hear what she's saying. Sometimes, I just glance over, see what we're doing and get to work. The main thing is, she's aware that I can hardly ever hear her, so she doesn't get offended if I don't respond when she's talking to me or if I totally misunderstand a question she asked me. You could try signing if you both know ASL, but that would be pretty unusual. I wouldn't worry about taking ASL classes or anything. She has some hearing (like I do), so try to be concious of competing noises (like the music), try to face her, and if you have to, move right over to her -- like a foot away -- and repeat yourself just for her. Make sure she feels comfortable coming over to you for additional explanation if she feels like she missed something. Should be okay and it's very kind of you to look for ways to accommodate her.
Veena · 3/28/2012
My dad is hearing impaired, has been my whole life. DedeJoy has wonderful suggestions. I'll add......Don't worry about making the student feel bad by turning the music down to describe moves, because...... I bet everyone would understand a bit better without blasting music. Don't forget to speak slowly, not crazy slow but don't rush or mumble. When I talk with my dad I have to keep my voice strong but not shouting either. Facing the person is a big one. If I don't face him he wont understand at all. I use a lot of facial expressions and gestures, to get my point across. After class you could privately ask the student if there is anything else that would make their class time better.🥂