Support Services Handout Series
Number 4011 Communication Sheet
Variables in Training: Factors to Promote Auditory and Speech Development

Development of communication skills with deaf and hard of hearing children necessitates understanding of the numerous variables which influence a child's success with listening or speech development tasks. The difficulty of auditory and speech activities can be modified by changing one of the variables that impact on how challenging a task will be for a child. Understanding these factors is integral to the success of planning and implementing strategies and activities that will challenge yet not frustrate a child as they develop auditory and speech skills.

Amplification

Consistent use of properly functioning amplification is an influential factor in the development of useful auditory skills . Amplification provides deaf and hard of hearing children access to sound. Each child's benefit from amplification will be different. Some children will utilize sound only at a basic level for awareness of sound while others may benefit from a hearing aid to process complex spoken language information.

Speech and hearing professionals working with a child, the classroom teacher, the student, and family should be responsible for monitoring daily hearing aid use and functioning. The monitoring program should be twofold and include a check to assure the aid is functioning properly (visual and listening check) and an evaluation of the student's functioning with the aid.

Signal to Noise Level

The ability to be aware of and comprehend sound is related to the loudness of the sound in relation to any competing background noise. For deaf and hard of hearing children to have success in listening, efforts must be made to provide an optimal signal-to-noise ratio. This means that the sound the child is trying to hear should be significantly louder than the background noise in the environment. The difficulty of any listening task can be controlled by modifying the distance of the sound source and the loudness and type of background noise.

Contextual Cues

Any communication task is easier when the message is easily predictable. For example, if a child is being asked to go get their coat, this may be easily understood if the child is near the door and ready to go outside to play. It may be more difficult for the child to understand this same message if it is spoken out of context. Context is also helpful to help others understand what a child is saying. For example, if a child is trying to discuss their favorite food for lunch, the child may be more easily understood while sitting around the table eating lunch, rather than in a situation where there is no context to what the child is discussing.

Size and Content of Response Choice Set

A child's understanding of a message is directly influenced by the size and content of choices that are offered to a child at a specific time. It may be difficult for a child to understand a message when there are unlimited choices regarding what might be communicated (open set task). The task can be made significantly easier when the size of the response choice set is limited (closed set task). For example, if a child is asked to find a toy airplane? This is an easy task if the child only has the choice of 1-2 other items to pick from. If they have an unlimited choice set, this same task may be very difficult.

The difficulty of a task can also be controlled by modifying the types of response choices within a set. If response choice items are similar either acoustically for listening tasks, or visually for speechreading tasks, that task will be more difficult than providing response choices that provide very different acoustic or visual characteristics. For example, when developing listening or speechreading skills, it is easier for a child to identify the word "cookie" when the other possible choices are banana or milk. These choices sound different, differ in number of syllable, and look different on the lips. It would be more difficult to understand the word cookie if other possible choices were, candy and coffee. These choices both start with a "c" and have the same number of syllables.

Familiarity of the Material, and English Grammar

The ease of a communication task can be related to a child's familiarity with the material being communicated. Students are more likely to be able to comprehend words, and sentences familiar to them rather than new material. The ease of listening comprehension is also related to a students' knowledge of English grammar. Students familiar with English structure and sequence may find it easier to make successful predictions about a message even when they do not receive all of the components in a message. Familiarity with English grammar may help a student fill in the pieces that are missing.

Rate of Presentation

The speed at which messages is presented is a consideration for a student's success in understanding a spoken message. Messages should be presented at a natural pace, so the message is not distorted. Messages should be presented as they would appear in the natural environment. Every effort should also be made to have students learn to speak at natural conversational rates of speed.

Relationship Between ASL and Spoken English

For children who use American Sign Language (ASL), ASL can be used to explain concepts and skills related to a child's development of listening and speech skills. For example, once a child understands the sign for "ball" the corresponding speechreading and auditory components may be more concrete to the child. Or, if a child understands the signs and concepts related to "long" and "short" these signs can then be used to facilitate a child's understanding of these same concepts related to spoken language.

Access to Sign Language

Various strategies can be utilized to modify the availability of sign language cues to assist in development of listening or speechreading skills. For example, during the development of speechreading , it may necessary to provide the words/sentences in sign language and then fade out these cues, thereby encouraging the child to attend to the message on the lips only. In a similar fashion, when developing listening skills, sign language and speechreading may be provided and then removed to facilitate attention to the auditory cues only.

Developed by: Debra Nussbaum, Audiologist, Bettie Waddy-Smith, Communication Specialist/Speech, and Stephanie Marshall, Audiologist, Kendall Demonstration Elementary School

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