|
May 24, 1999
RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS MAKE MOVE
TOWARDS INCLUSION
New Campaign Makes Jewish Schools
Deaf-Friendly
New York, NY: 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 across
the country mainstream hearing-impaired children.
"Jewish day schools and yeshivot, for the most part, lack the proper funds, training
and support necessary to cope with educating 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 Rabbi Joshua Fishman, Executive Vice President, National
Society for Hebrew Day Schools. "It provides educators with invaluable insights
into the different types of hearing impairments as well asguidance in successfully
integrating hearing-impaired children into the classroom," he 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.
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.
###
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
###
Comments?
|
