Many students with hearing disabilities rely partly or fully on facial expressions, body language and lip-reading to understand their daily lessons. Making adaptations to your lecturing style, like always facing the class when speaking, using visual aids and written announcements often, enabling captions on films viewed in class and getting the attention of the student before addressing them, all help students with hearing difficulties succeed in your classroom. Consider asking the student where they would like to sit in your classroom rather than simply placing him in a seat. If communication is particularly difficult, write notes back and forth with the student.
Students with less impairment may be able to succeed in a regular classroom by paying extra attention to nonverbal cues and enlisting your help in aiding their understanding of material, but this strategy won’t work for students with extreme impairment. Get an interpreter into the classroom if other strategies aren’t working. An interpreter can communicate more effectively with the hearing-impaired student, and can serve as a messenger between the student and teacher.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires educators to provide lesson plans, notes, presentations and other curriculum and materials in alternate formats whenever possible. Sometimes this is not possible, but often a few minor adjustments can be a big difference for the student. For example, enabling captioning on videos, transcribing auditory materials into written words and using visual aids regularly are all alternate formats that can help students with hearing impairments better learn and understand the material.
During question-and-answer sessions in class, identify which student asked the question by name or by pointing to them, and repeat the question before answering so a hearing-impaired student understands what's going on. During group work sessions, sit students in a circle or semicircle to facilitate face-to-face discussion. Always encourage students with hearing disabilities to speak up about any issues they may face in your classroom, and encourage them to participate in class discussions as well.