Another teaching question... this time, the hard of hearing

[chev]

Freya, my 6 year old, has finally got boots that fit (£16 on e-bay :) ) and is supposed to be going for lessons now. Thing is, she has glue ear, and right now it's very bad - to give you an idea, she's profoundly deaf in her left ear and has maybe 60% hearing in her right. She can't hear what is said to her from 8 feet away in the living room.

Does anyone have any experience of teaching hearing impaired riders? How do you overcome the difficulties? It sounds like an easy thing to get round, but believe me, it's not. Even walking alongside, she doesn't always hear what is said over the noise of horse/tack/background. To further complicate things she has a tendency to nod and smile as if she's heard even if she hasn't.

Any ideas on ways to communicate that I can offer her instructor? (Who also has no experience of this but is very sympathetic!)

[Mehitabel]

i had the same thing when i was younger - it also buggered up my balance centres in the inner ear, so as well as being deaf as a post i used to fall off a lot! luckily for me it improved after several operations and many many sets of grommets and now i have about 60% hearing - enough to get by most of the time. is her balance affected?

how is her lip reading? i got a lot from doing that. also, try having the instructor stop her and come and stand next to her to explain things or give instructions for the next movement so she knows what's going on in advance for things like working as a ride all in trot. she could also get freya to repeat back what she's going to do to make sure she's heard it.

freya also needs to stop the nodding and smiling - harder than it looks for her as i still use it these days, rather than going 'pardon' for the millionth time! even if you can get her to stop it for riding - explain how important it is for her safety.

will think back to my sprog-hood and see if i can remember anything else... i do sympathise with you and freya - it's no fun.

[lisae]

When I was substitute teaching last year I was in my son's class, they had one child with the same problem. School district owns the following: an earpiece receiver for the boy, that picks up the voice of the teacher, who wears a small microphone on a cord around her neck, that connects to a battery/transmitter on her belt. The other kids thought it was pretty neat. Perhaps your school system or other local agency that works with the deaf could loan you out something like this.

Or, our state law changed, now all cel phone users must use a hands-free ear piece with their phones while driving in the car, very cheap to buy. How about a cel phone for the teacher, and call your daughter who could tuck her cel phone into her jacket and run the earpiece right to her good ear? That would depend on how expensive your minutes are for cel phone use!

[anuvb]

The biggest disadvantage in the long run she's going have is if you can't find an instructor who is sympathetic to her hearing problems. Get an instructor who is used to dealing with it and she shouldn't have problem - especially as she has a Mum who can help her through it outside of lessons. From the otherside of the fence from Es, the thing I found with teaching deaf children was that visually they have to concentrate more on you as an instructor rather than where their going etc. and in a group situation that can be hard when they first start riding. As a result I had to keep going up to them showing them how to do things as I spoke through what I was trying to explain and had to walk beside them a lot of the time. As long as I kept their "visual" concentration on me I didn't feel they were at any disadvantage.

Would she be having group lessons or private? Do you have a local RDA? The only advice I can offer you is that find out who the instructors are for the local RDA and see if you can get lessons with them - not necessarily in the RDA slot but they usually teach outside of RDA lessons as well. They should have more experience of dealing with it and should be better equipped to cope with it and alter their teaching style accordingly. Plus in my experience the RDA instructors are extremely good fun, and probably some of the best at teaching kids.

[chev]

Thanks everyone. anuvb - hadn't thought of RDA; I know there used to be a group here years ago (I used to help out a bit!) but not sure if it still exists... will find out.

es - I had glue ear too - no grommets but lots of ear infections and balance problems. I had my adenoids out in the end which solved the problem but didn't start riding till later. Freya's balance is a lot better than mine was but her lip reading isn't so good (poor kid was also very long sighted so lip reading didn't really develop). Definately need to work on the nod and smile routine though.

Unfortunately round here we're a bit short on good qualified instructors. The place we're looking at offers group and private lessons and are pretty understanding - it's where Nige went when he was learning so although they've no experience of this type of thing they're very willing to help how they can. I'm thinking private lessons is the best way to go - from what anuvb said I can see others in the group getting a bit fed up if the instructor is constantly beside Freya apparently giving her more attention. Initially I thought she might be better off in a group but maybe not.

lisae - cell phones (or at least mine) are pretty expensive but I'll look into the earpiece thing - the thing that concerns me is that once she's trotting it's going to be difficult to keep running alongside shouting instructions!

Well, any more suggestions or experiences would be welcomed. In the meantime I'll let you know how we go on...

[lisae]

from the tech side is two way radios - about $80 a pair over here but they also come with an ear piece. My husband and brother inlaw them for hunting, the guy beating the bushes for the deer uses the radio in hand, and the guy who needs two hands free to aim at poor little Fawn has the earpiece in to hear from the beater when the deer is coming his way.

Private lessons would be the best bet, i would think, then teacher can concentrate on her.

[Wally]

I teach some deaf kids, but I can muddle through with the odd sign....but glue ear kids don't often sign!:(

The kids who can hear a bit - I try to make sure I am facing them all the time when I speak and than I wait until they are near me before I try to tell them something. Okay so I end up runnig round with them as they ride, but at least they can hear.

[Nickie 2]

maybe the teacher could give you an idea before she goes in to the lesson what will be covered - and develop the odd hand signals for stopping, walking and trotting or change the rein?

SOrry thats not much help but I think the two way radios are a good idea - I think argos sells them fairly ok price wise

Nic

[Lgd]

You can get little 2 way radios that clip onto clothes. Just leave hers on permanent receive and the instructors on permanent transmit.
One of my trainers uses one if she's teaching outside on the 60m arena and it is really windy. Think the make of hers is either panasonic or motorola

[chev]

Thanks again folks. Wally, signing would be great but this girl is such a chatterbox (just ask Monty! ;) :D ) she'd never have her hands on the reins!! It might be an idea to introduce some basic signals for stop and so on though.

Her first lesson is booked for Sunday morning, on her own, in an indoor school. The yard manager is the girl who taught Nigel and she's very adaptable, flexible and understanding so we'll just have to see how it goes. Well, I hope, at £15 for half an hour!! Watch this space...

[anuvb]

Photos please! :) How cute is she going to be in her first lesson - not doubt she'll make her mum proud! I love teaching the little 'uns, most people I know don't like it but I think it's great fun; I wish I had time to do it these days. They really love all the silly things like games and stuff that you can't get most of the grown ups to do.

[kyanya]

Where abouts have you booked the lesson, chev?

[chev]

At Tal-y-Foel, in Dwyran on Anglesey. They were so good with Nige when he was learning that it seemed like the best place.

anuvb - the camera is charged and ready!! Things have suddenly become slightly complicated in that Nige's grandaughter is staying with us overnight which means I will have five kids to look after (:eek: :eek: ) and since they won't all fit in the car Nige will have to stay home with at least one :( and thus miss her first lesson. So I've been told I have to take lots of pics for him too!!

[S_F_S]

Maybe it would help her to start off with a couple of one on one lessons? If it were me- I would take her for a couple of lessons with ME leading the horse rather than shouting from the middle of the school, until she gets the basics; and could cope in a ride, then allocate a 'special' helper she could get to know well to stay near her (not necessary leading if she doesnt need it but keeping an eye on her so they could communicate) to explain what to do when I give instructions to the whole class.
I think the important thing here, particulary in a class situation- is not to make an example of it. Children at that age lack in subtelty!!

[chev]

Thanks Scraffie. She went for her first lesson yesterday, on her own in the indoor. We explained the problem before we started and the whole thing went very well. The instructor walked alongside to explain what was wanted, and stopped her after each exercise to tell her how well she'd done and what she needed to do to do even better.

We found that keeping things very simple was the best idea - we found that with more than two instructions to remember Freya forgot, and it was difficult to get her to hear while she was concentrating on rising trot for example. The best solution seemed to be to just get her to do one change of rein, or circuit of trot, and then catch up and talk about the next step.

The instructor also introduced some hand signals, miming pulling to remind Freya to pull the reins to stop, and pointing the way she should turn. We feel that private lessons will be better for her at least for a while because of the stop and start style of lesson she needs and the level of communication needed to make sure she's understood.

She had a really good lesson, thanks to the understanding of her instructor and the infinite patience Freya was shown. Back next week for more! :D