Scott Stone was invited to post on my blog to explain why it is important to have visual aids for the deaf. I offered to share his point of view and opinions on this post. This post will benefit deaf people who need visual aids to learn effectively.
Why Is It Important To Have Visual Aids?
Visual aids are important for all kinds
of learning situations, but I believe that it is most easily seen
that they are essential for the education of those who have hearing
deficiencies. This may seem obvious at first, but most people don’t
consider it from my own observations. Because these students cannot
hear what the teacher has to say, it is all the more important for
them to be able to have some sort of visual aid to go along with the
reading material.
Because it is so essential for the deaf
to have some sort of visual aid, the quality of the visual aid must
be improved even more to compensate for the inability to use auditory
aids. Certain precautions must be taken when making a visual
aid for those with hearing problems. It may seem obvious, but there
can be no sound used in the process.
How Do Visual Aids Help The Deaf?
That means any extra
explanations must be done in a visual way; whether it is text, sign
language or anything of the sort. Most would not think too much on
this, but it is important to realize that just because you make a
video for the lesson; it doesn’t mean that your video will be able
to work without sound.
A truly effective visual aid will not
necessarily need any auditory backup to work in this situation. It is important to note that anything that applies to making a
visual aid more effective to those with good hearing goes double for
a person who does not. This means it has to attract attention without
sound, it needs to be able to explain a topic without anyone talking,
and it needs to be able to make the lesson easier without spoken word
to accompany it.
Some examples of this are obvious; when
the teacher writes on the white-board, it is usually accompanied by
an explanation as well. However; in a situation with the
hearing-impaired, there can be no audio to help. Therefore; the
writing on the white-board becomes the main focus of the lesson. It must be more detailed than usual to make it easier to
understand.