Receptive and expressive vocabulary for deaf and hard-of-hearing children is typically an area of weakness. By implementing strategies that will help children with vocabulary, teachers can expect less difficulty during class instruction.
Pre-teach important vocabulary, terms and concepts before the lessons.
Select vocabulary words that are related to one another to help the deaf or hard-of-hearing student learn the new words in meaningful categories and in different contexts.
Choose vocabulary terms that are interesting to the student and are a part of his daily life.
Have the child keep a vocabulary book or folder with learned vocabulary words for practice.
Don’t assume the child knows simple vocabulary terms. Check vocabulary for comprehension. Listen to the child’s spontaneous language so you can help him with words that are being omitted.
Work on expressions, slang, and idioms that people use everyday. These make learning fun but are a learning experience for the deaf or hard-of-hearing child. These may include words or sayings such as: “Cool,” “It’s raining cats and dogs,” “You look blue,” etc.
Work on multiple meanings including synonyms and antonyms.
Participants