A child’s hearing ability can be affected by congenital or genetic issues, head injuries, loud noise, infections or brain damage. Hearing loss can occur anywhere in the auditory (hearing) system. Mixed hearing loss is a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss. The two main types of hearing loss are: 1) Conductive Hearing Loss: This may be temporary and occurs when sound vibrations from the outer or middle ear are blocked from reaching the inner ear. Causes: fluid in the middle ear middle-ear infections, a perforated eardrum, earwax in the ear canal, unusual bone growth (otosclerosis), or head injury. 2) Sensorineural Hearing Loss: This is permanent and occurs in the pathway from the inner ear (including the cochlea) to the nerve fibres that link the inner ear to the brain for hearing. Causes: head injury, mumps, meningitis, congenital issues, acoustic trauma (loud noise), stroke, Meniere’s disease, brain or auditory nerve tumour or multiple sclerosis.
How to use this book
Children with hearing issues may often feel different to their peers due to wearing hearing-aids. Or feel left behind in games or group situations that involve auditory exchanges. This story helps all children to see the difficulties that a child in this situation might face and how certain everyday situations might upset them.
Through the main character, children who are deaf/hard of hearing also learn that it’s
OK to mention the specific frustrations and issues they experience. People around the children also become more aware of possible workarounds to communication issues or situations. The story helps to reinforce how important it is that no child is ever excluded or left out. Ben’s story offers a broad introduction to the various challenges a child with hearing difficulties may face. As with any story however, this is only one interpretation of mainstream school and the experience of all deaf or hard of hearing children will differ depending on their environment, family background or personality.
IrishDeafKids (IDK)
Irish Deaf Kids is a "for-impact" venture aimed at supporting inclusive education for deaf children in Ireland while empowering parents to develop their child's full potential. For parents, educators / teachers, deaf people and others, IDK provides an interactive website and online forum for discussion and guidance on best practice for education. Over 2,000 deaf children currently attend mainstream schools in Ireland. Parents and teachers need to network and share ideas to ensure consistent educational standards. Early intervention and language acquisition are necessary for deaf children to have a mainstream education but parents and teachers in Ireland lack key reference points. This is where IDK comes in.
web: www.irishdeafkids.ie forum: http://forum.irishdeafkids.ie/
email: info@irishdeafkids.ie Tel: 01-4903237