Chatting away on the CEC board

On 12 January I spent over an hour responding to an inquiry posted on the community forum of the Council for Exceptional Children. I was responding to an inquiry from a director of special education named Kari who asked,

Does anybody know of any scholarly research in support of, or against, early elementary students with bilateral, mild/moderate hearing loss, who experience full inclusion throughout their school day utilizing an FM system, as it relates to participating in homework? Either for or against? I just need research to support a position one way or the other.

I thought I ought to share my notes for readers of Special Education Today, so here ‘tiz:

Hi, Kari. deafness or hearing loss isn’t my focus in special education, but I know a bit about research and practice, so your question got me thinking. First off, I’m really encouraged that you’re searching for research; I think people charged with making decisions about practice of special education too often do not predicate their decisions on research, so it’s great that you’re starting out with this question instead of making a decision and then seeking to find research to support it.

I was intrigued by the specificity in your question about homework. Not that you have to answer this question here in the chat, but I wonder if it will help to guide your decisions or subsequent questions. Does the child need access to the sound environment to do her homework? Is there something special about the environment in which she completes homework that makes hearing someone’s (an adult) talk? If little Juana is supposed to do homework all by herself, solo, no help…then I’d wonder why she’d need someone with a remote microphone speaking over an FM system. If, however, she needs to interact with someone during the homework time so that she can ask questions, get feedback, and so forth—if she needs to have access to the sound environment—then it seems RMHAT makes some sense.

Perhaps your issue isn’t so much about homework as it about whether the child’s school should provide FM-RMHAT in the environment where she or he does homework…maybe at home? Should his IEP specify providing hearing assistance technology in environments where the child does academic work? That issue seems to me to be less about whether FR-RMHAT “works” for homework and more about whether it just flat out works…i.e., do children have better outcomes academically when they use FM-RMHAT in environments where they complete academic (and social) activities? (I said “children” there because some of research about the effects of RMHAT has been done with children who have disabilities other than bilateral hearing loss; I wouldn’t ignore studies about kiddos with unilateral loss, autism, or other issues if one is concerned about whether RMHAT helps.)

Beyond all this verbiage about the nature of your question (maybe my yack-yack is just popping out because I am a retired professor who doesn’t get to talk about this stuff as often as I once did?), I encourage you to scour the Web sites of some professional organizations and research centers that provide help about issues like this. I bet you’re aware of these, but in case you (or someone else who reads this) need links:

• DCD (Division for Communication Disorders of CEC; it’s really hard to find on CEC’s site) is reworking its Web site, but you might find someone whom you could ask for help among its board; its “contact us” page invites phone calls and email (and I hope the data there are accurate!).

• ASHA (American Speech and Hearing Association), especially its publications resources (ASHA publishes some very good research journals)

• Western National (Canadian) Centre for Audiology, especially the Protocol for the Provision of Amplification

• American Academy of Audiology may have some help; I might check its “practice resources” section.

• The CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) maintains an extensive list of jumps to Internet accessible services and supports about hearing loss.

There are almost surely government groups similar to the CDC and professional organizations like ASHA in other countries (e.g., Great Britain, Australia; non-English-speaking countries, too) that might have some help.

Now, a post-script back on the topic of homework: I hope the folks who are assigning the home work are following research-based practices in doing so. CEC’s Division for Learning Disabilities published a guide of “dos and don’ts” about homework (Effective Practices for Homework by Kathy Ruhl and Charlie Hughes) that may be useful to you and your colleague.