Effective Instruction

Effectiveinstruction for students with disabilities draws upon methods ofeffective instruction used by general educators to facilitate learningamong students who do not have disabilities. An advanced organizer, forexample, could be used effectively with disabled and nondisabledstudents.  The differences lie in how, when, and why specifictools and techniques are implemented.  For additionalinformation on effective instructional design, see the document Ten Effective Teaching Principles.

Inaddition to these basic principles of effective instructional design,students who are deaf and hard of hearing require explicit,purposeful instruction to develop language and communicationcompetency.  These students do not acquire language incidentallythe way that hearing students do, because lack of hearing isolates themfrom the interactions taking place around them.  Listening,speaking, reading, and writing frequently suffer as a result. Instruction must include ample opportunity to practice newlyacquired skills in a variety of settings, including time to processincoming information and respond to it.  Some students willbenefit from oral instruction; some will benefit from signlanguage; some will benefit from both.  

Instructioncan be enhanced by modifying the acoustic environment tofacilitate a student's ability to access informationauditorally.  Sound reverberation can be reduced considerablythrough the use of  carpeting, sound dampening ceilingbaffles, and draperies.  Sound field and personal FM amplificationdevices help some students to filter out background noise and tofocus upon the primary sound source (usually the teacher). 

Foradditional information on instructional strategies, classroomaccommodations, and curriculum materials appropriate for students withhearing losses, contact the PaTTAN consultants who specialize in deafness.