Abosolutely Not!!! The first time I faced the situation I felt strongly
that this would be the case. Experience taught me that it is absolutely
NOT TRUE!! (I can not emphasize this strongly enough!) Indeed I discovered
that the inclusion of such a student in my class forced me to review my
entire delivery (As Dewy pointed out the general aids for these students
should apply for all students!) The first time I had a signer in my class
some of the other students in the class privately approached me and
expressed concern that the hearing impared student was getting special
treatment and would get special consideration etc. After two weeks we were
all so used to the signer that we often forget she was not a member of the
class. The class ended up being little different from any other class. At
the end of the class I questioned the students who had approached me during
the first couple of weeks and asked them about how the felt at the end of
the class. ALL of those students indicated that they felt that the hearing
impared student had to do more work then they did to get the same grade.
As to intrusion on teaching style some suggestions may cause changes in a
teaching style BUT what suggestion would force you or anyone to change
their teaching style for the worse? Writing key phrases on the board?
Facing the class while speaking and enunciating clearly? Making sure the
student's comprehensive of the subject is the same as yours? Worring about
safety in a lab situation? Again Dewy pointed out that all of the
suggestions could and should apply to all students.
As I indicated I had to remember to quit moving around so much. BUT I did
not tell the entire story. The signer was the person that suggested I
moved too much. She also said it might help to have a lecture videotaped
so I could see for myself the effect of my motion. When I did so I
discovered that my habitual pacing was not only disruptive for the hearing
impared student but also annoyed the heck out of me as a viewer. I quit
pacing as much the net effect I believe was an improvement for all
students.
"Rick Tarara" <rtarara@saintmarys.edu> on 10/21/98 03:34:26 PM
Please respond to phys-l@mailer.uwf.edu
To: phys-l@atlantis.UWF.edu
cc: (bcc: Don Mathieson/SciEngTech/tcc)
Subject: Re: Hearing problem
Does anyone else view many of the remedies that have been discussed as
ultimately a strong 'intrusion' on one's teaching style and almost
certainly
a detriment to one's presentation to the rest of the class? This seems to
me to be the dilemma of these equal access requirements--they can easily
turn out to have negative effects on the non-handicapped students. Such
seems to be the case in the so called 'Inclusion' techniques now so popular
in public schools (popular--I believe--because they reduce the Special
Education budget). The distractions and restrictions on the 'regular'
students seems to outweigh the good intentions of full inclusion of the
handicapped. It is also the case (crystal clear to me and many others)
that
often the handicapped are not as well served by such inclusion as they
would
be in special classes. This, of course, is more true for the mentally and
emotionally handicapped than for the physically handicapped, but certainly
few schools and instructors are really skilled at providing for the blind
or
deaf and as this thread shows, the needed adjustments can really intrude on
one's teaching style.
Rick
{The need of the one outweighs the good for the many?}