Effective Communication with People who have Hearing Difficulties

 One in seven people in the UK are said to be deaf or hard of hearing. Too often, clients are put off attending centres or have had bad experiences of services and communicating with care or teaching staff. Working through the sessions in this book will enable the reader to understand how to communicate effectively, how to treat individuals with respect and dignity in all types of settings, and how to encourage positive communication with people who have hearing difficulties.

The author has used her own experience of deafness to convey the effects it can have on individuals and to give insight into how people with hearing difficulties like to communicate and be treated.

Divided into twenty sessions for group training, individuals can also work through the book on their own. The information, exercises and case studies in this book will provide the reader with the awareness and knowledge to communicate effectively with people who have hearing difficulties.

Featuring many cartoon-style illustrations, this photocopiable manual is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with people who have hearing problems.

Chapters

Making a start
How we hear, what can go wrong - and how people are affected
What does it sound like?
The first golden rule
Hearing aids - the advantages and limitations
Lipreading - the importance of having a clear view of the face
Lipreading - difficulties with lip shapes
Pretending to hear
Other visual clues
Gesture, mime and body language
Writing things down
Fingerspelling
Sign language
Speech and language difficulties
Knowing when and how to step in to help
Difficulties in group situations
'One to one' is best
Encouraging openness
Deafblindness
Appendices
Bibliography.