Newbie Developments!

As I mentioned in my last post, I got a new student in my class.  He's a very "special" friend.  He came to our school with an IEP and, as previously mentioned, is super low.  I am so determined to help this little guy learn his letters, sounds, and words.  I would be so proud of him if he left first grade knowing just those three things.

Last week I was noticing that he wouldn't respond when I called his name.  I'd have to say it 4 or 5 times.  I'd make sure I was pronouncing it right.  I'd say it louder.  I even tried jumping up and down while saying it (just kidding).  I was pretty much shouting his name all day.  I sent him to the nurse to get his hearing checked because, ADHD or not, I've never met a student who never responded to his/her name being called.

The poor guy is deaf.  The nurse said that he couldn't hear any of the little beeps no matter how high it was turned up.  We ended up getting more paperwork from his previous school that mentioned something about hearing aids (say what?!)... and his disability was labeled as deaf (among other things) on his ETR.

What shocks me the most is that his mom never mentioned anything about any of this to the school.  We had to call her to get some more answers and she admitted that the hearing aids are crucial to his learning...but he didn't like to wear them so he never took them to school.

One of the hearing aids is broken but he was sent with the working one today.  He just played and played with it all day - took it out, put it in, covered his ears, and cried because everything was too loud.  He basically spent the whole afternoon hearing aid-less with his hands over his ears (...which I think was more of a defiant behavior than anything else...).

I really feel like I have my work cut out with him this year.  It's a whole different disability that I've never had to accommodate.  Have you ever had a child with hearing loss in your classroom?

Thanks for reading!