hearing impairedMultiple routes exist to specialize an education degree to work with the hearing impaired. Career goals typically determine the type of degree earned in the field and whether it will be educationally or clinically based. The most prevalent route for specializing an education degree to work with hard-of-hearing or deaf populations involves earning degree credentials at the master’s level. A key factor concerning which degree level to earn is often determined by state certification requirements to work with deaf or hard-of-hearing students.

Effects of Hearing Loss on Communication Skills and Education

The Hearing Loss Association of America estimates that 30 out of every 1,000 children in schools experience some kind of hearing loss. Hearing loss prevents the normal transmission of sound waves from reaching the neurological pathways to the brain as a result of genetic factors, disease processes or auditory-induced trauma such as prolonged noise exposure. Even mild hearing losses can interfere with how the brain processes auditory information and affect understanding, communication, language development and socialization skills. Related learning difficulties can include reading, writing and speaking disorders, problems following directions, social isolation, and behavioral concerns that result from the frustration experienced when a hearing impairment interferes with everyday interactions.

Degree Types and Outcomes

Anticipated career goals can be important factors in determining how to specialize an education degree to work with the hearing impaired. An associate’s degree in early childhood education with emphasis on sign language and language development can prepare candidates to assist in preschool hearing-impaired programs. Alternatively, those aspiring to be lead teachers of hearing-impaired students need to earn a Bachelor’s or Master’s in Special Education that emphasizes hearing disorders and deaf education. Concentrations for special education degrees may also include options to become professional sign language interpreters who provide services to deaf students in school settings. Candidates might also choose clinical degree pathways to become audiologists or speech pathologists who assess and train hard-of-hearing students to improve auditory, speech and language skills. Finally, doctorates allow professionals to work at the university level in speech and hearing programs as professors of future special educators and researchers who conduct studies focusing on how hearing loss affects auditory processing and learning in school environments.

Content to Specialize an Education Degree to Work with the Hearing Impaired

Regardless of the degree type, specialized content explores similar foundations with differences being in the depth and breadth of knowledge examined. General education courses and requirements for the major are earned first with additional studies providing further information targeting the specialization.

  • Educational history and perspectives on teaching deaf or hard-of-hearing students
  • Types of hearing loss and their impacts on communication and learning
  • Early childhood interventions for children with hearing losses
  • Speech and language development for those with hearing losses
  • Therapeutic programs for auditory and speech training
  • Evidence-based methods for teaching reading, writing and academics to hearing-impaired students
  • Approaches for working with behavioral and social issues created by hearing loss
  • Assistive technology devices to improve audition
  • Transitions from school to work and post-secondary settings

Related Resource: Jobs in Speech Language Pathology

Besides working in public or private schools, graduates with the appropriate credentials can also find employment through hospitals, therapy and counseling centers, universities, social service organizations, government agencies, residential facilities or mental health clinics. With so many possible degree outcomes, aspiring special educators should explore their career goals to determine how to best specialize an education degree to work with the hearing impaired.

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