Have you ever wondered about...
Growing Up Without Hearing (Series 1)
KATE'S SCHOOL
Meet Kate. She goes to a residential school for deaf children. She is nine years old and in the fourth grade. Her favorite
subjects in school are art, math, and reading. She likes to ride her bike and roller skate after school.
Kate was born deaf. Her mother and father are deaf, too. Her deafness was inherited. Kate and her parents use sign language at
home to communicate with each other. In Kate's school, all her friends and teachers also use sign language as they talk.
 | A dormitory counselor tells Kate and some of
her friends a story in Kate's dorm
room. |
A residential school is both a school and a home for deaf children. They live at the school from Monday to Friday. They go
home to
be with their families on the weekend and during vacations. At school Kate sleeps in a dormitory with other girls. A dormitory
counselor takes care of the children before and after school. Kate goes to her classes during the day. She eats all her meals
in
the cafeteria. After school she practices with the soccer team or plays with her friends. The school has a gym, playground, game
room, and snack bar.
At school Kate has times for eating, going to class, studying,
watching TV, and playing with friends. She studies the same subjects as other fourth graders. She has classes in math, reading,
writing, social studies, and science.
But some things about her school are different. Kate also works on special skills, such as speech. She learns to make certain
speech sounds. She even learns to make sounds she cannot hear. Learning to talk is a hard job for a hearing impaired child. Kate
is learning to speech read (lipread), too. She watches people's mouths and faces when they speak to see what they are saying.
 | | Kate and her classmates are studying geography. They sit in a circle so they can see each other
easily. The microphone and special hearing aids amke it possible for some of them to hear each other's voices. |
 | | Kate is practicing making the sound "n" with a speech therapist. |
Some things in the classroom are different for hearing impaired children. It's important for the children to be able to see well
for speech reading and signing. It's important to be able to listen through hearings aids. So Kate's classroom has:
- special amplification systems to make sounds louder.
(See Maria's story for a description).
- headsets at the desks for listening.
- microphones for talking.
- desks arranged in a circle facing the teacher for better vision.
- carpets, drapes, and ceiling tiles to cut down on noise.
KATE'S FAMILY
Kate's parents are deaf, but her brother is hearing. On weekends, Kate
and her brother play with their neighborhood friends. Kate can usually understand what her friends are saying through
speechreading. Some of the children on her street have learned a few signs, too. And sometimes Kate's brother interprets when Kate
doesn't understand. This means he signs what the other children are saying.
 | | When Kate and her parents see the doorlight flash, they know they
have a visitor |
Kate's home has some special devices in it for deaf people. The doorbell is connected to a light. The alarm clock has a flashing
light. The phone can be connected to a special machine called a TDD (Telecommunication Device for the Deaf). Kate and her parents
use the TDD to type phone messages to their friends. The family TV has a special decoder on it that prints words of certain
programs across the screen.
These programs are captioned. Kate can read what people are saying on TV. Kate's parents let her watch TV after she finishes her
homework.
Have you seen this sign on TV or seen the letters "CC" on the TV schedule? They tell you which programs are closed captioned for
hearing impaired people.
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