Deaf Education and Hearing Science is a vital, exciting and rewarding profession. Children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing have been taught to speak for several centuries but many do not have this opportunity because of the lack of qualified professionals. In Deaf Education and Hearing Science you will be trained in special techniques to help children learn to listen and speak using the latest in hearing technology.
Deaf Education and Hearing Science prepares professionals to work with children with hearing loss in a setting that emphasizes listening, speech and language. The emphasis is on the development of listening skills without the use of sign language. This approach is known as “Auditory-Oral” or “Auditory-Verbal” education.
Hearing loss is the most commonly diagnosed “disability” among newborns. We can test a baby’s hearing at birth and put hearing aids on the baby immediately. The baby and his or her family then need an expert to teach them about how to use that hearing aid so that the baby learns to talk.
The expert watches the progress of the child and makes recommendations about the need for an exciting surgical procedure called a “cochlear implant.” In this operation, babies as young as twelve months have a series of electrodes on an ultra-thin “wire” inserted deep within their inner ear. This electrode array is connected to a miniature device that is embedded under the scalp. A magnetic external device takes the information from a lipstick size computer that the child wears and transmits sound to the array in the child’s ear, enabling the child to hear sounds.
With digital hearing aids, cochlear implants and expert help, children with hearing loss can participate fully society. This program will prepare you to help children and their families make the best of current knowledge and technology so that the child learns to speak.
Areas of Work and Emerging Areas of Specialty
You will find career possibilities for helping children in homes, clinics, regular schools, and special schools. The services they provide include:
- family-oriented therapy services for infants and toddlers,
- preschool or elementary classrooms,
- individual therapy sessions or
- helping children succeed in the mainstream (providing services that enable students to participate in the regular class work and courses that you took in school).
Deaf educators who work in a public school setting often are itinerant teachers who travel much like speech pathologists, from school to school providing consultation and individual services. They can serve as resource room teachers, providing academic support for children mainstreamed into the regular education classes. When there is a magnet program with a large enrollment of deaf and hard of hearing students, deaf educators teach self-contained classes similar to other teachers in the public school setting. Some graduates who majored in Deaf Education have become transition specialists who work with students who are transitioning from school to work. Others function as educational interpreters and academic tutors in inclusive settings. There are many other areas in which deaf educators expand their careers such as speech language pathology, career technology, audiology, school counseling, social work and educational administration.
Job Outlook
Certified teachers for children with hearing loss are in high demand.
Teaching placements are available at all age levels. The need increases every year for caring professionals to teach every child with hearing loss to listen and talk. Hospital screenings at birth have led to more infants being identified with hearing loss. Deaf education is considered an area of critical shortage, meaning that each year there are jobs that go unfilled.
Salary range
$35,000 - $40,000 a year (beginning salary)
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