What Educators Need to Know About Their Students with Cochlear Implants
- Cochlear implants do not make hearing normal.
- Benefit of an implant depends, in part, on the
- type of communication training
(total communication, auditory-oral communication, cued speech, etc.)
a student used before the implant
- type of communication the student uses
after the implant
- To get maximum benefit from a cochlear implant, a
student will need individual training, such as
- speech training
- lip reading training
- auditory training
- To progress with their classmates, students with
cochlear implants may still need
- special accommodation in the classroom
- preferential seating
- a note taker
- a quiet environment, away from air handlers and other
noisy
- a sign-language interpreter or cued speech interpreter
- Students
need time to adjust and accommodate to their cochlear implants.
The amount of time they need varies. During the accommodation period,
students need language input from all sources they used before
their implants.
- Educators should treat their students with cochlear
implants as individuals, each having particular communication needs. Students
don't get equal benefits from cochlear implants.
- Students with cochlear
implants may find it harder to
- digest new and difficult subject matter
- interact in unfamiliar and
complex social
- Educators should be aware that frequent changes to educational
programs involving students with cochlear implants (program hopping)
may impede learning.
- Educators can help their students in other ways
to achieve full benefits from cochlear implants,
- intervening early when
there appears to be a
- promoting family counseling
- promoting specialized speech and language
therapies
- explaining to families that speech and language are not the
same thing, and that education is based on language development
- getting
more information and support from local and national organizations
of teachers of the
- To assure that students with cochlear implants don't
fall behind their classmates, educators should frequently evaluate
them and their educational settings.
- Particularly for their younger students,
educators need to assure that external cochlear implant components are
securely attached or removed during active school events. The components
are expensive and are easily lost or damaged.
- Students will often need extra
batteries, either new or recharged, for their implants to work.
- Students
with cochlear implants are usually not able to interpret complex auditory
signals, such as those in music.
Updated November 8, 2004
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