Let’s Listen to Our Children

Despite our children’s deafness, René and I have always wanted their lives to be as normal as possible. Since school is an essential part of a child’s life, we absolutely wanted to make the best choice to help our children learn. We wanted to choose a school that would meet their needs and allow them to flourish.

We visited a first school and knew from the start that it wasn’t the right one. It didn’t have the atmosphere that we were looking for. We continued our research and finally found a second school. We fell in love with it! We really felt that this school would meet our children’s needs. There were regular groups, but also small groups of deaf children. In our opinion, this happy mix would allow our children to integrate better.

When you look for a specialized school, you need to feel good. You must feel the staff’s professionalism, structure and kindness. It was essential for us to involve the teachers in our children’s educational path. Whether we like it or not, in a classroom, a deaf child means an extra workload for the teacher. That is why we always made sure to meet the teachers before the start of the school year. We wanted to explain to them what deafness is, especially for a child enrolled in a regular school. We wanted to do everything in our power to help the teachers so that they could have the right resources to support our children. In my opinion, it is essential to develop a good relationship with teachers and administrators.

It’s up to us, as parents, to make teachers aware of the realities of deaf children, since they learn differently. This means that teachers need to use different techniques to make sure the children understand. For example, if they explain a concept to a deaf child, they shouldn’t just ask if it’s understood. They also need to ask the child to repeat what they understood, in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Teachers are highly involved and can use many tips and tricks to help children with hearing loss integrate and learn. For example, did you know that you should avoid sitting a child with hearing loss in the first or last row of a classroom? Why? Because in the first row, the child can’t see what other students are doing. If they don’t understand a task, they won’t be able to observe their classmates. In the last row, it’s more difficult to lip-read and hear the teacher’s voice. A seat facing a window should also be avoided, since the sun can interfere with lip-reading.

Another trick to facilitate understanding was introduced in our children’s classroom. Tennis balls were placed under chair legs to reduce noise. These details may seem trivial, but they make all the difference in the life of a deaf child, and teachers love the less noisy environment.

I also really liked the fact that integration was gradual in our children’s elementary school. When everything was going well in a subject, they were transferred to a regular class. Then, once everything was fine in the regular class, we had the opportunity to transfer them to a regular school. It followed the children’s learning pace.

Transitions, such as changing schools or starting a new school year, are greater challenges for deaf children. That is why we must ensure good support right from the start.

When they started to go to the local school, our children met other children in our neighbourhood. It allowed them to develop their language and make friends with kids who lived near our house.

It’s a good thing to count on the support of teachers but we, as parents, must also listen to our children’s needs. My children were lucky enough to study in an environment that met their needs. However, I do know that some children may have undetected mild to moderate hearing loss. In school, this can have a significant impact on learning. Making an appointment with an audiologist to have a hearing assessment before starting school can therefore have many benefits. It took us almost a year to find out that Olivier was completely deaf. Imagine how hard detecting hearing loss can be!

Take care of yourself and talk to you soon!