How to Effectively Reach Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in the Art Room

The summary after reading the article, How to Effectively Reach Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in the Art Room by Abby Schukei

  - Check out these 5 strategies your students who are deaf or hard of hearing will benefit from in the art room.

 ​1. Build a relationship with interpreters in your room.
The role of a sign language interpreter, or SLI, is to translate for and speak for your students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

​2. Caption everything.
 It’s important that all videos shown are closed captioned.  If you’re using a site like YouTube and a video says it has closed captioning, make sure to preview it ahead of time.

3. Encourage peer learning.
Encouraging them to work in groups with their classmates when possible will benefit students socially and enable them to rely less on their SLI.

​4. Over-exaggerate your instruction.
Slowing down and over-exaggerating your instruction can really benefit your students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Being expressive with your hands and body will help students to focus on the main points.

​5. Use visuals.
Along with over-exaggerating instruction, creating instructional visuals can help your students.