The Deaf Child Speaks (1972)

[Music] The sounds that you hear, my voice, the children shouting and laughing, the sounds of traffic, these are all common place to you and me. But they're not common everyday experiences to these children. Most of them are severely deaf and can hear nothing of any of this. Some of them can hear a little, but the sounds are distorted and mostly unintelligible to them. >> Amy, do you want to jump? >> Do you want to? Do you want to jump? Okay, go around. >> Go around. Educating such children is considered very difficult if not impossible. But here at the Oral Education Center of Southern California, a group of dedicated teachers is doing just that. Nearly the impossible. >> Good. [Music] Ready? >> Okay. Okay. Good. >> Listen. Going to feel for the music. Feel the music. Wait. [Music] Because they are visually oriented, deaf children have difficulty understanding time. We who hear have no trouble understanding yesterday or tomorrow or that words must be said in a certain order. For these children, however, a sense of time and space must be developed for them. Among the best ways of accomplishing this are dancing and exercise. This stage is virtually one huge loudspeaker specially constructed with speakers attached to the bottom facing up. When the children sit on it, they can feel the music, the beat and dynamics of sound. [Music] >> They are encouraged to move in response to the music, to the sensations they feel. [Applause] Good. [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] >> With smaller children, drawings help them understand the ideas behind the movements. And then I tie my scarf around my neck like a cowboy bandana and I'm happy cowboy galloping over the galloping galloping galloping over the star and I are awake >> different like a wave >> up and down Dancing for fun is also important for these youngsters. Before long, they will be teenagers and want to share the pleasures of their hearing friends. Even more important, these activities are related to the development of language and speech skills. And regardless of intelligence or native ability, a child cannot progress in learning without language and the ability to communicate. The vocabulary of deaf children is limited. Their capacity to learn trapped by their inability to hear and to express what they know or what they do not understand. The hearing child learns by imitation. At the oral education center, visual and tactile methods are used to teach language with the children imitating what they see and feel. >> What's that? >> In this special project, Yael is learning fundamentals of language structure. Yeah, >> the plastic pieces represent objects and actions. Repeatedly performing the actions called for by the arrangement of the pieces provides Yael with a basic understanding of the relationship and order of words in a sentence. >> Remember? >> Mhm. Okay. Color >> success puts her one step closer to intelligible language and speech. Yeah. Look. >> What does it say? >> Mhm. That's right. >> Look. Look. Look. >> That's right. Okay. What? >> Go. >> You do it right. >> You do it. [Music] Teaching the children to speak effectively is heavily emphasized at the center. >> And here too, visual and tactile techniques are used. >> I e I >> E >> O >> very nice. What's your name? Okay, very good. Give me a >> A. >> Feel this. A me. >> A B. >> Wait, >> feel me. A me. >> A >> A me. >> A me. >> Rose. >> Rose. >> Very nice. How old are you? This is say I'm six. >> I'm six. >> I'm six. >> I'm six. >> Very nice. Okay, want you to count for me. One >> one. >> Let's feel it. One >> one, >> two, >> two, three. >> With older children, reading is combined with speech training. They look at the words and lipre as the teacher speaks the words. Then they expressed the words themselves. >> We went to the post office. We went >> to the post office. >> We saw >> lots of mail boxes. >> Look, lots of mailboxes. >> An interesting experience they have had is the basis for a lesson. Taking advantage of concepts and vocabulary they discovered on a field trip to the post office. right here. This mailman showed us >> some letters. >> Letters. >> Letters. >> Good. Look at all the packages. >> Good. Deanna and Mark >> are standing by a hand truck. >> Come on, everybody. Deanna and Mark. [Music] are standing >> by a hand truck. >> You remember the hand truck? Bridget, can you read this one? >> What did it say? >> The post office. >> Reading is complicated for nearly all children. It is particularly difficult for a deaf child. >> The average deaf high school graduate reads at a third grade level. Many of these youngsters have already attained that level as a result of intensive training with special approaches. >> Good. Look, you see this day? It's all over. I'm going to cross it out. It's passed. >> What day is that? It's all over. I crossed it out. >> Is it yesterday, >> today, or tomorrow? Which one is it? Saturday. >> When I count to three, I want you to tell me what you think that day is. If it's yesterday, today, or tomorrow. Okay? When I count to three. Three. One, two, three. >> Happy. [Music] >> Okay. I'm going to count. Let me get some mice. Here's two mice. I have two. >> With the attainment of language and speech, other subjects are open to them. >> They are no longer trapped in a silent world. >> We got one mouth. >> One. >> One. >> Get four. >> Four. Look. [Applause] Try. Four. >> Three. Going to do three >> on three. >> Now we'll do five. >> We got five mice. Here are five. >> Yeah. It's your turn. It's your turn. I want you L to take two. You get two. Two. That's two. Good for you. I want you to take three. You take three. >> Stephanie will take three. Good. Look. There are three. Yeah. Can you take one? Find one mouse. >> One. >> Here's one. >> Can you find four? >> Four. [Applause] >> Four. and do our paper. >> Here are the numbers. >> Okay, take one sticker. Good. >> It's your turn. >> Okay. Pick two stickers. Found two. >> That's right. There are There are three. Find three stickers. >> That's three. Stephanie's turn. Stephanie, what number? >> Okay, take four stickers. Wait. >> Take one more sticker. >> That was four. Good for you. We're going to talk about balance. Remember the balance. >> Recent tests conducted at the school indicate a tremendous improvement in the children's general academic skills. >> When they entered, most of them scored in the lower 30% on standard national tests used with all elementary school children. After their first year here, many were scoring in the upper 25% and some in the top 1%. I can balance this eraser and I can turn it upside down and balance it. Right. Can you balance an eraser? Here are some erasers. Let's see who can balance an eraser. >> Beautiful. That was really fast. You see? Okay. Now, let's turn it over and balance it on the other side. What? >> You can balance it on the other side. >> Beautiful. Remember, we balance things in the middle. We don't balance it on the end or on the end over here. We balance in the middle. >> In the middle. Okay. I want all the erasers. >> One more. No, we're not going to balance erasers anymore. Let's balance spoons. >> There are about 3 million children in the United States who have a hearing loss that impairs their learning in regular classrooms. >> The capacity to learn is there, but they cannot learn by themselves. The knowledge and techniques are available, but few schools like this one bring all of it together. >> Better. The Oral Education Center is the educational affiliate of UCLA's Hope for Hearing Foundation. >> The foundation supports scientific research in the field and makes available to the center medical, educational, and technical skills from UCLA. >> Thank you. >> That's not quite the middle. Look, that ends shorter and that ends longer. this part of the spoon. >> Can you balance it upside down? >> Can you balance it upside down? >> No, it won't work that way. >> It's not working. >> The achievement of these children and their teachers is spectacular. They're learning math, the principles of science, and they're learning how to read. But most important of all, they're learning how to speak and developing the language skills that will help them function fully in the speaking, hearing world of you and me. See here.