Hearing Age Equivalency in Mainstream Schooling

Hand hold a hearing aid

 Standards and curriculum are an important factor within any classroom and any age. There is a pressure on both the teachers and students to meet and exceed all expectations associated with grade levels. However, how does this work with students who started hearing devices later in life compared to someone born with hearing ability? This is where it is important to learn and consider hearing age. In order to understand how to be properly accommodating, one must be familiar with the term speech language pathologists use. Basically, hearing age is the actual age of a child minus the year(s) hearing assistance was introduced. For example, if a student does not start using either a hearing aid or cochlear implant until they are two years olds, once they start Kindergarten (around 5 years old), their verbal language development status expectations are the same as a 3 year old.  It is important to take into consideration this in order to not overstimulate. But to also balance and ensure they are on track at the same time. 

To me, this mature is incredibly personal. There are not many conversations circling in the education community about this topic. While it is absolutely a possibility that not every Hard of Hearing child I encounter will run into this issue, some might be impacted. ELL are taken into heavy consideration and met with specialists independently during class time to maintain learning both English and being on track. However, in my experience, I have not seen this extra attention drawn into a classroom with HOH students. Perhaps it is lack of resources, lack of need, etc., but conversations regarding hearing age need to be considered in order to properly accommodate. To bring back the example provided earlier, a 3 year old is not expected to write or read fluently, but TN state standards do insist a level of this with Kindergarten. Therefore, it is important to approach Hard of Hearing students similar to English as a second language students. Some might be with ASL being the home the language as well.