The specific changes that you need to make here are:

  • separating whatever you are presenting or demonstrating (including PowerPoint presentations) from what you wish to say or explain
  • provide the deaf student with soft or hard copies of any materials
  • provide any support staff [see more] with soft or hard copies of materials – if they have these before the class, they can prepare
  • use captioned DVDs whenever possible
  • avoid using the auto caption on YouTube clips

In addition, for a deaf student who is lipreading and/or using technology to access your spoken words, please be mindful that you:

  • need to face the students whenever you speak (that is, you cannot make notations on a whiteboard whilst speaking – complete all writing before turning back to the students to elucidate; however, it is not necessary to constantly maintain eye contact with your deaf student); similarly, making comments as you move about the room is not advised as the deaf student has not been cued to look at you to lipread
  • may need to wear a special transmitter (similar to a microphone) that interacts with the technology used by the deaf student
  • may need to re-phrase something you have said, if the student asks for clarification

Also be aware that background noise can significantly interfere with a deaf student’s ability to access the spoken word.

For further information about specific learning environments, please see the following pages on this website: