Presentation on hearing loss allows students to reflect on its challenges

Teacher of the Deaf describes difficulties, shares ways to make a difference

Melinda Pittis asked a roomful of middle school students at Southern Westchester BOCES’ Irvington location to think about the challenge of trying to learn despite a hearing impairment.

“Imagine sitting in the classroom, trying to listen to a teacher,” said Ms. Pittis, a Teacher of the Deaf and Hearing Impaired. “You’re trying so hard to focus on what’s being said.”

It was one of several scenarios discussed during Ms. Pittis’ presentation to English teacher Kathleen Shenenfield’s class. Students have been reading El Deafo, a loosely autobiographical graphic novel about author Cece Bell’s experience growing up with deafness.

Ms. Pittis described some of the situations confronted by the students with whom she works. For example, even at home a child with hearing loss may not understand why everyone is laughing after a joke is told. And when they ask for it to be repeated in a way they can understand - by sign language or lip reading - they may be told to forget about it.

“They’re not part of that conversation,” she said. “They’re isolated in their own homes. Imagine sitting at the dinner table and you feel all alone.”

Students with hearing loss typically just want to blend in, but others in their lives can make mistakes that make that difficult. Also students with hearing loss rarely have anything in common with one another because hearing loss comes in many forms. Topics also turned to effective ways to communicate with someone with hearing loss, like facing them while speaking, using body language and keeping lights on for lipreading.

Some students in the class shared their experiences with a loved one with hearing loss. 

For demonstration, Ms. Pittis showed hearing assistive technology from decades ago and from today. She also used a website that gives students a sense of what it’s like to experience different levels of hearing loss.

“It was interesting to see students’ engagement with this book and this lesson,” Principal Alberta Grant-Johnson said. “They were very empathetic to the idea that someone like themselves might feel isolated or excluded. The book really allowed them to understand such challenges and think about ways they could treat someone with hearing loss with kindness.”