Language and all the hemispheres

“Blindness separates people from things; deafness separates people from people.” -Helen Keller ** Two years ago, one of my students started school without any language.  No signing and no spoken word.  He was bilaterally implanted (two cochlear implants), but hadn't had the therapy, consistent usage, or mapping (when the audiologist adjusts settings according to her auditory...

The Life Itinerant: Glimpses of my first year as a TOD

"Are they nailed in?" a nine-year-old boy asks my student after she gives a presentation about her cochlear implants. "What?" She can't see his lips from across the room and the class is restless. "Are there nails?" "No!" She laughs. "Do you miss being able to hear, or are you used to it?" another student asks....

Reflections on my first year as an Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf

There are lots of career paths available to oral/aural TODs (teachers of the deaf) -- from early intervention (working with birth to three year olds and their parents) to schools for the deaf to self-contained classrooms and more. My program at Smith/Clarke was heavily focused on classroom instruction -- all except one of our student teaching...