June 16, 1999

RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS ACROSS THE COUNTRY MAKE MOVE TOWARDS INCLUSION

New Campaign Makes Jewish Schools Deaf-Friendly

Just in time for Deaf/Blind Awareness Week (beg. June 21), Our Way -- the only national program serving the needs of the deaf and the hearing-impaired -- is launching a nationwide campaign to help the nearly 1,000 Jewish day schools from Bangor, Maine to San Diego, California, mainstream hearing-impaired children. Deaf/Blind Awareness Week is celebrated annually in commemoration of the birthdate of Helen Keller (born on June 27, 1880).

"On the anniversary of the birth date of Helen Keller, it is only appropriate that we continue her tradition of sensitizing people to the needs of the deaf and blind in our community," said Rabbi Eliezer Lederfeind, Director of Our Way, the OU program for the deaf and the deaf/blind.

"Jewish day schools and yeshivot, for the most part, lack the proper funds, training and support necessary to help educate deaf students," said Batya Jacob, Program Director of Our Way. "It is not surprising that there are only about 100 deaf children who are mainstreamed in Jewish schools. The rest are either in public schools or in private schools for the deaf. We want to change that," she added.

In launching its deaf awareness campaign, Our Way is offering schools, yeshivot, Hebrew schools and youth groups The Hearing-Impaired Student in the Jewish Classroom, a trailblazing new handbook designed to help the Jewish school integrate the deaf. The comprehensive manual offers practical advice and information on mainstreaming the deaf or hearing-impaired and features chapters on diverse and wide ranging topics from "Amplification Systems" to "Socializing Hearing-Impaired Students."

The only book of its kind to be published by a Jewish organization, the 30-page, soft-covered manual includes an appendix with classroom charts on Troubleshooting a Hearing Aid; Classroom Acoustics Checklist; Checklist for Parents and illustrations of various blessings and prayers in sign language. 

"This handbook fills a vital need in Judaic Studies classrooms," said Jacob. "It provides educators with invaluable insights into the different types of hearing impairments as well as guidance in successfully integrating hearing-impaired children into the classroom," she added.

Jacob, the author of the book, has more than a professional interest in deaf awareness; she is the mother of Avi, a 9 year old who is deaf and mainstreamed in a Jewish day school in New Jersey. An 18-year veteran audiologist and Jewish Studies educator, Jacob based her book on more than five years of research in Jewish day schools across the country. "This campaign is the result of years of painstaking work and research. But for me, it was a labor of love. Raising deaf awareness is my passion and my life’s goal," said Jacob, who became an audiologist long before her deaf son was born.  

"I have always been fascinated by sound and its absence – silence. After giving birth to a deaf child – which was unexpected as there are no deaf individuals in my immediate family – I felt deaf education was not simply my profession; it was my destiny," added Jacob. 

Jacob received her MS in audiology from the University of Connecticut where she specialized in classroom mainstreaming. In addition, she earned a teaching degree from the Jewish Education Association of America and presently works as a audiology consultant at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in New Jersey. 

As part of the campaign, Our Way will host in-service training for principals and educators in Jewish day schools across the country. "Without a basic understanding of deafness, teachers remain unaware of the most obvious things; for example, you can’t lip read and take notes at the same time," said Rabbi Eliezer Lederfeind, National  Director of Our Way. "Hopefully, through ongoing training and education, we will help catapult Jewish schools into an era of greater understanding and openness," he added.

The book is available for $5. Proceeds from the book go to the Our Way Scholarship Fund.

For Editors Only: If you want to receive a complimentary copy of the book, please call (212)-613-8127.

Our Way, a division of the National Jewish Council for the Disabled, is a leader in promoting deaf understanding. Established in 1969, Our Way is a national movement with chapters throughout the United States and Canada that provides a vast array of educational, recreational and religious programs to help combat the acute social and spiritual alienation of the Jewish deaf population.

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Excerpt from The Hearing-Impaired Student
in the Jewish Classroom

Appendix A
You may want to hang a copy of this up in the classroom as a quick guide.

DO:

• Use as many visual aids as possible.

• Seat the student in the front of the classroom.

• Ask the student if he/she is hearing the information.

• Encourage the student to ask the teacher to repeat what he/she has not heard.

• Encourage the student to ask questions and raise his/her hand.

• Use attention-getting signals that have been set up with the hearing-impaired student. Hand signals or flashing classroom lights are effective.

• Seat the student in front of the auditorium and use the auditory trainer, interpreter, or transliterator during all assemblies.

• Use the auditory trainer, interpreter, or transliterator on field trips.

• Send home a written schedule of assignments and tests.

• Send a copy of new vocabulary words and new topics of instruction to the student’s supplemental teacher and to the student’s parents at the beginning of each week.  This will help familiarize the student with unknown vocabulary. 

• Allow the hearing-impaired student to use a tape recorder to record classes.  Parents can then help transcribe classroom instruction and discussions.  This will help the student get the complete message. 

• Set up a buddy system to help ensure that the hearing-impaired student takes accurate notes of classroom instruction and discussion and gets assignments.  Students can take turns doing this chessed.

• Communicate daily with the student’s parents through a written journal.

DON’T:

• Speak in an excessively loud voice.  Loud speech can be distorted and hard to understand.

• Talk excessively slowly or slur words.

• Talk with your back to the classroom or with anything blocking your mouth.

• Walk around the classroom while speaking.

• Assume that the hearing-impaired student has heard everything that is communicated to the class.  Ask frequent questions to verify that the whole message is being received by the student.

Appendix D
Classroom Acoustics Checklist
_____ Area rugs or mats distributed around the room.
_____ Bulletin Boards hung on walls.
_____ Posters, projects, and calendars hung on walls throughout the classroom.
_____ Cloth banners covering windows and  metal window treatments in classroom.
_____ Partitions set up to section off centers in the classroom.
_____ Locate sources of ambient noise (air conditioners, heating systems, etc.)  Seat hearing-impaired student as far away from the noise source as possible.
_____ Review

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