Visual hearing.pdf

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Part of Philippine Educator

extracted text: Visual Hearing Visual Hearing or Lip-Reading is one of the most important special subjects that· provides the most important means by which the deaf children can in'tercommunicate with the ii!Ocial world. The sense of hearing is closely associated with human relations and lack of it presents the greatest difficulty in social adjustments. So the deaf children should st>ek eompernmtiofi through other channels of reception -"YISUAL CHANNELS." Instead of hearing speech, he must read, not only written, but oral speech. The reading of oral speech involves the ability to derive meaning from the movements of the lips and facial expressions of the speaker. Such an ability is an art and very difficult to master. It needs special guidance and tec·hnical training. It 'calls for the full harmoni6us coordination of the physical, mental, per:-;onal, and social powers of the learner. Lip reading or speech reading or visual hearing is defined by Bulwer as a subtle art which enables an individual with observant eyes to hear what any man says by the movements of his lips. Porter, a successful educator of deaf children, employing the "Oral l\Iethod," (a modern method of demutizing the deaf-mutes) defined lip reading as "watching the mouth of a person who is speaking and understanding the thought so conveyed." He emphasized the understanding of the thought and not the seeing of sounds, nor seeing tbe words. Similarly, Nit.chie, another famous educator of the deaf, defined lip reading as the art of understanding spoken language through the observation of the speaker's lips and facial expres~ions. From the aforecited definitions, it is apparent that lip reading is a psycho-physical process which involves the coordinated functioning of the eyes and the mind in order to get a good comprehension of the speaker's speech. Before the commencement of instruction in any field of education, a cooperative and sympathetic -~.·:\.·isu~1l 1-lt-a~ing-'' n1cans con1µrchendin:..?.· speech throug-h tlw Yi!<ual rereptors - thr p~res, whieh take the place of hearing among· tlw o!eaf incliYidtwls. OCTOBER, 1957 lh Francisco C Tan ~· relationship between the- pupil and the teacher is imperativ;e. This is much more needed in dealing with children with aural infirmity or deficiency for these children are more emotionally sensitive and easily cliscouragecl. Brunschwig in her extensive research of the personality and emotionality of the deaf arrived at these conclusions: "The deaf are inclined to have an unstable emotional development clue to two main causes. First, many of our finer emotions are developed through hearing, which is affected by the modulation of the human voice, by music, and by the melodies of•nature. Second, authorities on mental hygiene are agreed that emotional upsets m:cl confusion& are caused by a child's attempting to learn two languages at the same time, attempting to think and express himself in two distinct ways. It is more trying \.vhen a child has no language with \.Vhich to express his emotions as in the case with deaf children before they come to school." The next step is optical senson' training which is a preparatory ste12 toward lip reading, from which attention, interest, memory, concentration, and critical observation are developed. Listed are some suggested ways of training sight: 1. Sight may be trained through motion. a. The. children make movements in unison, imitating and following the teacher. b. The children practice gymnastics of hands, arms, fingers, lips, tongue, etc. 2. Sight may be trained through color. a. The children match colored balls, blocks, ribbons, paper, etc. b. The children match colored objects with the colors in the charts; or they match colored squares, circles, rectangles, triangles, etc. 3. Sight may be trainee! through form. a. Children recognize geometric forms solids. b. They match geometric tablets. PA~E 39 c. They reconstruct outlines on the slate or with sticks. d. They trace forms of subjects, geometric outlines on the slate or on papers. .J.. Sig.ht may be trained through number. The chi id can learn to recognize "deffererit numbers of similar objects, marks on ·the slate, etc.: common objects in the locality may be used. The selection depends upon the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the teacher. As soon as the children are able to match different forms and different colors, charts which contain illustrations of animals, and other familiar objects may be used. All charts shoi1ld be hung where everybod~· can see them. J,)uplicate pictures should be prodded on flash cards. From these materials, a matching game can }Je given. After giving a simple direction of the game, show a card to the class~ Give a cai'd to a child, ask him to match it (picture) with one on the chart. If the child fails, ask another child . until everybody in the cla~s understands the game ven· well. It is suggested that those who fail should l.Je given one or more times to learn the game. Lip reading should start on . the very first clay of school and carried on at all times. This special pedagog~· should permeate all school activities. All oral communications ~hould be done in speech and lip rea·cling though how meager and clumsy these may be. Teachers, parents, administrators, and all those \\'h() come in c:ontact with the child should never, lll'\·er sign to the young growing deaf child because onl'e sign language is learned, it is very hard to teach him to speak for the simple rem;on that sign language is very easy to learn. To enhance the learning of speech and lip reading, every deaf child should l.Je treated as a individual learner and should be given ample opportunities to participate in all activities in the school and in the 'homes. All communications with the deaf should be expressed· in complete ancl natural conversations, for one of our primar~· aims in educating them is to teach them to speak and lip read normal speech. Pupils should be callee! by their own names - by the teachers, parents, classmates, etc. The first formal lesson in lip reading qiay start \\°ith at"tion words as young children are energ'etic and love to pla~'· These are some suggested action l'Ommancls: Un\\'. Cry. Dance. Yawn. Frown. Laug·h. .i\laffh. ·opl'n the door. Shut thl' doot". Shut y1>ur eyes. PAGE 40 Opl'll the box. Clap your hands. Sit down. · .Stand up. Fall. Couµ;h. Sneeze. Run. Hop. Roll -the ball. Comb your hair. l'ull the chair. Pull the Ltble. l'ull your hair . NaYe your hand. \.VaYe ,a fag. Wash your face. Wash )·our hands. ::ish your feet. Folcl your hands. Spin a top. Take off your shoPs. Go the window. Brush your tceth.1 l'ut on ycur shoes. Go to the dour. -, Brush you1· hair. l'ut on your sol'ks. Go to the fable. Then, the teacher should start with two objects which are familiar to the chilcl1;en, ea~y to recognize, ancl e~1sy to differentiate on the lips' such as: "top" and "basket." The first word, "top," has an initial letter that is revealed by the tongue and a final letter that is revealed b~: the lips, and its general configuration is different from the second word, for it is much shorter. The second word, "basket," has an initial letter that is revealed by the lips and a final letter that is reve<.iled by the tongue. These contrasting feafores are excell~nt guide posts in lip reading for the deaf beginners. Eac:h. ehilcl progresses in accordance with his ability ;md needs. Beio>v are some commo~ nouns which may be added to the lip real.Jing voc:ahulary of children from time to time: r:'ce b:ill dog table mdher orange rncuU1 top l'<tt chair father ('UJ"n lee th t:1blc fish papcl' si:-;fer cake tonp;ue '!ihoe cow ]l'~l'l'il brother soap lips knife goat bouk bO)' glass cars fork duck CJ';.lSC!' µ:i 1·l wd·21· "YC':-; :,;poon horse i'ulcr tr·<1cher toothbrusi1 head nip bird blal'kboard ril'C milk hair bag carabao ,lP>:k p:tp«y:t tree no:-;c l'Olnb hen chalk l"Ol'OnUt comb hands plalr~ rooster ' l'halk-Icd~-,. Jll;_lJlg'O. mirror fed :.j:i~s pig· crayons )anZOIH'S ice-cream ' (Other nouns should he added from time to time . - . upon the needs of each child in the class.) Upon mastery of. the different nouns given above, these should be incorporated into simple commands or used when ever feasible in other subjec:ts or in any social activity in the school and at home. To illustrate this, for example, the nouns learned in· concept and lip reading are: ball, top, ancl fish. Commands like the~c may be given: ' Gi\·e me a ball. Sho1r me a ball. Gin me a top. Throw a ball'. GiYc me a Jish. Holl a ball. Sho11· me a b;tll. Spin a top. Show me a top. Etl'. As soon as the children can lip rea~ the commands with .ease a.ncl f~cility, the teacher should write these commands on the blackboard and print them on flash cards, from which incidental reading from printed forms may begin. In presenting the written co~mands on the blackboard, the teacher should first reHcl each sentence with correct phrasing, inflection, and pronunciation. It is best to do it this way in spite of the obvious f~ct that t.Joie deaf pupils· cannot hear the speaker, because a correct ancl natural speech carries and conveys subtle elemenrs of naturalness and spontaneity of expression. The true movements of the organs of phonation together with the expression of the face of the speaker help give vital clues to syntheTHE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR :-·is: understanding a ·unit of thoug·ht observed in speech through contextual process and not hy part or parts or by word or hy words. The teacher should be very careful not to exaggerate the movements of the lips, the ,tongue, etc., because b~r doing so the objective of lip reading is defeated. Lip reading should he learned in a natural setting and anything unnatural in our everyday speech such as s11eaking\ very slowly for fear that the deaf child mny not underntand us or speaking to fast or speaking while we face the blackboard are pitfalls in teaching lip reading. It is through imitation and proper conditioning of sight that the beginning lip reader learns t0 recognize' and differentia:te one command or statement from another on the lips of the speake1· or as written on the blackboard and flash cards. All the phrases and sentences taken up ip lip· reading should always be followed in oral. and silent reading drills and exercises. These should be written on the blackboar<l and printed on the flash cards for speech practice a'nd incidental reading. There are no hard and fast rules in teaching lip reading; neither is there a single method because there are so many variable factors that are intricately involved in this process. There are some important principles to· oh<Jerve in teaching the art of lip r.eading for young beginners. They are: 1. Good lighting is important. Th~ teacher should sit in a good light. with the light on the J:eacher's face and n<>t in the e~res of° the children.. At the same time, the room itself should be well lighted. Such precaution should be taken, for lip reading is t\\"ice a;; difficult in a poor light. 2. The teacher Qr whoever is the speaker should face the deaf children, ·because their only mt>ans of understanding speech is by watching the varfous movements of the organs of phonation of the speaker and if the speaker face;; the opposite direction, it is impossihle for the deaf indivi<luals to comprehend him. 3. Care should be. taken that moyem,ents of the head, hands, or eyes of the teacher, do not indicate what the answer should be. OCTOBER. 1957 4 . .There should be no mouth exaggeration or the like; speech should always be as naturar as possible; to do otherwise, defeats the purposl:! of teaching lip reading. The deaf children are being- trairn·d to live in a normal speaking \\'Orld: wherein the~· are supposed to read lips, lips in their natural speaking · movement8 and shapes, and-not labored or (•xaggerated to convey thoughts and meanings. If the cleaf children learn their lip reading lessons in an unnatural manner. they will find difficulty in understanding common everyda~· conversation, a major objrcti\'e in teaching lip reading. 5. For beginning lessons, objects and actions which appeal to the interests of the children and which are in the realm of their experience, should be '-'f1Jectec1. fi. Also, words that are easily seen on the lips should ·be selected. 7. When two or more words are presented together, they should be words of marked contrast to each nther in their foi·mation, for example: ball automobile fish apple 8. All words should be spnken with expres:o;ion and meaning. -9. Care should be taken that the class· does not form the hahit of requiring r~petition. but should be trained to ex1)ect to un<lerstand whnt is spol:en the first time. l 0. Natural speech should be Pmphasized with voice ancl using words phrased or 1rrouped iii t{leir natural order 11. All words learned should lJe used in .;entences within the experience an1i comprehension of e<J.ch particular child in the classroom. · 12. Lip reading prindples are not .onl>' observed during class hours in lip reading but in all subjects and in the homes and in the community where they live. Lip reading as a· special art of comprehendinp spoken language by ob"erving the lips and the facial expression of the speaker, finds its us7fulness and importance on!~' when the deaf child gains experiPnce through it, learns through it, laughs and feels through it,. !\l1(l ga,in further happine<Js and adjus1 ment through it. PAGE 41
Date: 1957
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