DEAFNESS: a hearing impairment so severe that a child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Etiology:

Although these factors can be encountered at different periods across the life span, individuals are most susceptible to their effects during critical periods in life. 

Prenatal Period

• Genetic factors – Include hereditary and non-hereditary hearing loss
• Intrauterine infections – such as rubella and cytomegalovirus infection

Perinatal period

• Birth asphyxia (a lack of oxygen at the time of birth
• Hyperbilirubinemia (severe jaundice in the neonatal period) 
• Low-birth weight 
• Other perinatal morbidities and their management 

Childhood and adolescence 

• Chronic ear infections (chronic suppurative otitis media)
• Collection of fluid in the ear (chronic nonsuppurative otitis media)
• Meningitis and other infections

Adulthood and older age 

• Chronic diseases
• Smoking
• Otosclerosis
• Age-related sensorineural degeneration
• Sudden sensorineural hearing loss

Factors across the life span 

• Cerumen impaction (impacted ear wax) 
• Trauma to the ear or head
• Loud noise/loud sounds
• Ototoxic medicines
• Work related ototoxic chemicals
• Nutritional deficiencies 
• Viral infections and other ear conditions
• Delayed onset or progressive genetic hearing loss

General Characteristics:

• Difficulty following verbal directions
• Difficulty with oral expression
• Some difficulties with social/emotional or interpersonal skills
• Will often have a degree of language delay
• Often follows and rarely leads
• Will usually exhibit some form of articulation difficulty

Tips for Teachers w/ Students that Have a Hearing Impairment:

1. Be sure that the student wears his or her amplification device and you are wearing your microphone.
2. Keep in mind that few people are totally Most have some sort of residual hearing, and we want to utilize it fully.
3. Make sure your student has preferential seating with a direct view of your face and mouth.
4. Don’t yell at your student. Speak in a normal tone. Remember the microphone you have on?
5. If your student has an interpreter, then give him or her a copy of the lesson in advance.
6. Remember that there is no need to talk to the interpreter.
7. Don’t speak while writing on the board.
8. Use lots of pictures and graphic organizers. These kids are visual learners.
9. Repetition is key, as is the use of hands-on activities.
10. Every lesson is a language lesson. Hearing-impaired kids often lack necessary language skills, so every word counts.

Possible Techniques/Interventions:

1. Working with a professional (or team) who can help a child and family learn to communicate.
2. Getting a hearing device, such as a hearing aid.
3. Joining support groups.
4. Taking advantage of other resources available to children with a hearing loss and their families.
5. Hearing aids
6. Cochlear or brainstem implants
7. Bone-anchored hearing aids
8. Other assistive devices
9. Captioning
10. Learning ASL

Possible Accommodations:

1. Allow front row seating.
2. Avoid turning your back to the student when speaking.
3. Avoid standing with your back to a window or other light source.
4. Avoid pacing.
5. Repeat questions or comments made by other students/persons in the classroom  before answering.
6. Provide a written list of “new” terms.
7. Use visual aids whenever possible.
8. Avoid oral testing.
9. Do not assume that a student wearing a hearing aid can clearly understand what is being said.
10. Captioned media & extended time.

Resources for Support:

• Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing | Florida Department of Health. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.floridahealth.gov/provider-and-partner-resources/fccdhh/
• Homepage. (2020, December 1). Hearing Loss Association of America. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.hearingloss.org
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Hearing Loss Organizations and Associations. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.asha.org/public/hearing/hearing-loss-organizations-and-associations/
• The Hearing Loss Association of Florida, Inc. (2022, April 6). Hearing Loss Association of Florida – A Voluntary Non-Profit Organization. The Hearing Loss Association of Florida, Inc. – a Voluntary Non-Profit Organization. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.hla-fl.org
• Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.agbell.org
• Better Hearing Institute (BHI). (n.d.-b). Hearing Industries Association. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://betterhearing.org
• Audiology, Hearing Aids, Speech and Language Services | Center for Hearing and Communication. (n.d.). CHChearing.org. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.chchearing.org
• Hearing Loss Association of America. (2020b, December 1). Hearing Loss Association of America. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.hearingloss.org
• ECTA Center: Improving Systems, Practices and Outcomes. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://ectacenter.org
• My Baby’s Hearing. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.babyhearing.org

Books and novels have always illustrated a new world for its audience. The stories and characters relate to us in many ways and can sometimes leave us in tears. In the book and movie, Me Before You, we see two different individuals come together and connect. A girl in a really small town forms an unlikely bond with a recently-paralyzed man she works as a caretaker for. In this comedy/sad/romantic movie and book deals with issues of class and how they can drive a wedge between otherwise compatible people. Me Before You examines the relationship with hopes and dreams. Will and Lou are two different individuals, with different lives. Will is struggling now that his future has been stolen away from him in a flash with his motorcycle accident, leaving him paralyzed. Will was also a business tycoon with great sports adventures. Lou, on the other hand, is struggling because she’s never fought for her dreams, out of a combination of fear and insecurity. She has been living in the same town all her life. Sacrificing her happiness for others, stuck in a loveless relationship. Lou ends up a job as Will’s caretaker and their love slowly bloom. The two of them discover how they help each other in finding happiness in the little time that Will has. Ultimately—spoiler alert—Will decides to go through with his assisted suicide even though he’s found, love. Even though Lou disagrees with his decision, she still goes to visit him in his last moments where Will gives her a letter. The letter covers a lot of stuff, but the but the basic explanation is that Will knows that Lou will be a better person for their relationship, even if it causes her pain right now. To that end, he leaves her a small amount of money that will allow her to fund her school. Towards the end of the novel, Lou is shown to be in a cafe in Paris where she walks to the beyond. This represents the most important way that shows Will has changed Lou, she is now eager to explore the world without letting fear control her. Two unlikely individuals end up for the better of the other.

When did my generation become the ‘slacker generation’? Numerous recent studies have shown that millennials suffer from anxiety at a much higher rate than generations that preceded them. The most anxious generation. The irony of millennials expressing anxiety about real life social situations is there because our lives are on the internet. Simple explanations tend to revolve around the modern day obsession with technology. A lack of sleep is caused by watching one too many episodes of the latest binge-worthy Netflix series; stress comes from an obsession with social media, which either paints the picture that everyone is out having fun but us, or has us checking how many likes our latest selfie has. Millennials are the first generation to be raised with the Internet. So when teens are in social situations they are seen on their phones with headphones plugged in. But then when you see their timeline on social media, you would see many pictures and post them having fun or having a completely different persona. Users only post their accomplishments, never their failures. Millennials tend to compare themselves to the lives presented by their peers on social networks. For a generation as permanently connected as millennials, seeing the constant successes of peers posted on social networks can become unbearable. Although anxiety disorders are a serious thing and should not be taken as a joke or “irony”. These are just some examples that the simplest in the form of irony.

Have you ever wondered how our world would have been different if we had the technologies we have today back in the day?  If we access to smartphone technology then a lot of the things in history would have turned out differently. For example, the famous Paul Revere’s slogan of “The British are coming!” No need to ride in panic through the Massachusettes countryside to announce the coming of the Brits. Paul Revere could have had the luxury of sending a mass text and broadcasting “The British are coming,” via text message or social media like Twitter or Facebook to tell his followers(civilians) to get ready. Another example is Christopher Columbus using the maps or GPS app on our phones. With GPS, the New World might have been just a stopover on the way along the satellite-guided path to the East Indies, the place Columbus intended to sail to. With this, there would’ve not been such a bad treatment of Native Americans. These opportunities with a smartphone would have set a totally different course of these historical events. Technology makes history happen.

Through the slips of my fingers

The oily smudges of your screen

The little scratches on your on the home button from my anxiety

My phone has been with me and the soul of it lingers

Till one day it’ll be like polytetrafluoroethylene to me.

 

Our phones are said to be controlling us.

We use it for everything…

From cat videos to the circumfrence of Earth.

Its right in our fingertips.

How can that be a bad thing?

Why is there such a fuss?

 

My phone is like a child’s security blanket.

Even though I dont depend on it, its with me everywhere i go.

Rings me with notifications like bells on an anklet.

My phone is like me sometimes…One can call me

and one can talk with me;

one can charge me with energy

and keep me alive,
for we could die too
and lose our signal
with the rest of the world;
one could change a phone’s ring
but not that of mine.

Thank you phone.

We come across many individuals in our lifetime. People who are from different places and a different background from us. People with untold stories and secrets. But sometimes we connect with these people who we might have thought to never have anything in common with.

A time when I had an unlikely connection was in Bangladesh, listening to my great-grandfather talking about his life when he was younger. During his teen years, the Bangladesh Liberation War was happening. I remember my 4-year-old self-sitting on the soil hard floor and admirably listening. A lot of the things he talked about are very blurry now but I still remember how in depth and emotion he spoke. He spoke about the conditions and patriotism there was to all the people of Bangladesh. It reminds me of our conditions now. People of all colors and race coming together for one cause. Two different times but still connects us.

May he rest in peace.

Below is a what if… What if authors Azar Nafisi, Marianne LaFrance, and Ann Friedman were all friends and in a group chat speaking on topics of women.

Read from left to right…

Great reads from the authors:

“From ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’” by Azar Nafisi

“Smile Boycotts and Other Body Politics” by Marianne LaFrance

“Can We Just, Like, Get Over the Way Women Talk?”  by Ann Friedman

Texters:

Rodoshi as Ann Friedman

Brandon as Azar Nafisi

Trezmon as Marianne LaFrance

AHHHHHH YOU GUYS! IT HAS BEEN MONTHS!

I’m now a high school freshman and I also moved! I miss writing blog posts but what to do. I am super busy with AP and Honor classes! Ugh, I miss this! Also if Mr. Hays views this:  “HIIIIIIIIIIIIIII MR.HAYS! I ACTUALLY REALLY MISS YOU! I HOPE YOU’RE DOING WELL!”

But that is all that I have for now. I hope I can post soon but let’s see. Till the…

Lots of love, Rodoshi ❤