Teaching Communication to Deaf Students so as to Help Then Live Independently

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Living Independently
Teachers are often looked at, by their students, as a second mom or a second dad. Our job as teachers is going to be, not only to teach students academics, but to care for them and make sure they are well rounded. Teachers have to ready students for the future so that they are able to live independent lives as adults. Deaf students tend to struggle with living adult lives more so than their hearing counterparts. As Deaf Education teachers, our duty should be to promote functional living, social-interaction, and self-advocacy skills for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. It is especially important for Deaf Education teachers to promote this because the amount of support a deaf child receives at home may be minimal. In a classroom, there may be a student who has deaf parents to guide him/her through life. On the other side of the spectrum, there may be a deaf child of hearing parents whom show no interest in interacting with their deaf child. Those who have deaf parents are more likely to develop a strong sense of independence because they have their parents as role models. Unfortunately, those with hearing parents may not have much of a support system. There are many cases where hearing parents don’t learn their own child’s language and don’t care to communicate with them. These children may have a low self-esteem and no high hopes for their future. This is why, as teachers, we must show that we care by sharing our knowledge and promoting these skills, so that these students know what the future has to offer.
Most people are born into a family and culture that they just automatically become a part of. They learn the language, the customs, what is acceptable, what is not and can relate to one another. Man...

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Luft, P., & Huff, K. (2011). How Prepared are Transition-Age Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students for Adult Living? Results of the Transition Competence Battery. American Annals of the Deaf, 155(5), 322-338. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_annals_of_the_deaf/v155/155.5.luft.html
Scheetz, N. A. (1993). Cognition and Intellectual Functioning. Orientation to Deafness (Second Edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon
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