Millions of Americans struggle with hearing loss. While you might think most of those who can’t hear are seniors, 2 to 3 in every 1,000 children can’t hear, and live with the effects of hearing loss. Hearing loss is often called an invisible disability, because unlike being in a wheel chair or having a prosthetic limb, people with hearing loss don’t have any visible markers of their disability. In children with hearing loss, early diagnosis and treatment is the key to normal development, and if you’re a teacher, there are a few things you need to know about hearing loss.

Recognizing the Signs of Hearing Loss

If you’re a teacher, you’ll work with many children with hearing loss in the course of your career. For many, you might be the first person to recognize these signs, and noticing that a student has hearing loss as early as possible will change their life, and help them learn along with their hearing peers.

Do you have a student in your class who asks you to repeat things all the time? While you might think that student isn’t paying attention and that’s why they didn’t hear, you need to consider that rather than having an attention or discipline issue, they might actually have hearing loss. Other signs include struggling to follow group conversations, or even not responding when you call their name.

How Hearing Loss is Affecting Your Student

Hearing loss is a serious issue, especially among children and teens. Children with hearing loss have higher rates of dyslexia, and have difficulty reading and writing. They learn slower than their hearing peers, and struggle to speak clearly and learn new words. Speaking and reasoning skills are also affected, they’ll feel socially isolated, and have a hard time making friends. For a child with hearing loss, interacting with other students, or even the teacher, can be confusing and uncomfortable, cause distress, and lead to problems with social and emotional development.

Children learn so much about life during their first few years of school, and hearing loss doesn’t just affect their ability to learn new skills, it can have serious consequences when it comes to developing life skills and being accepted by friends.

What Can You Do in the Classroom?

If you have a student with hearing loss in your class, there are a few things you can do to facilitate their ability to learn and grow along with your hearing students. You’ll need to sit down with your student and their parents, and make a plan to provide the best support for them in their situation. Focus on vocabulary development with your student, and make sure they’re able to keep up with the course work.

To help your student hear, place them at a desk at the front of the class so they can see and hear you clearly, and have an unobstructed view of the board or any other learning materials. Face them when speaking to the class, and avoid delivering any important course material with your back towards your student with hearing loss. Does your student have a best friend who’s willing to help? Sit them together, and let the hearing student help your student with hearing loss. Not only will this help your student follow the lesson, it will build social skills that might have been slowed when your student wasn’t aware of their hearing loss.

Seeking Treatment

If you think one of your students has hearing loss, they need to visit a hearing health specialist. You can refer them to the school nurse, have a discussion with the parents, and encourage them to visit their family doctor.

At Orange County Physicians’ Hearing Solutions, we provide help to students with hearing loss. Encourage your student to seek treatment as soon as possible to make sure they’ll be able to learn in your classroom. Hearing aids for children often include features designed for the classroom, like directionality microphones, speech enhancement, and background noise reduction. Connectivity features will also allow your student to stream learning materials directly to their devices, so they’ll get the most out of your lessons. You can even recommend an assistive device like a radio aid. You’ll wear a small microphone, and your voice can be streamed directly to your student’s devices, so they’ll hear every word you’ve said.