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Qualls, students speak about GISD deaf program

Tue, 09/24/2019 - 9:13 am
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    Graham ISD special education teacher Kelly Qualls holds up a FM system while student Jasmaine Jimenez speaks about how to use the system. Qualls and her students spoke to the Graham Noon Lions Club about the GISD deaf program on Wednesday, Sept. 18. (Leader photo by Nathan Lawson)
news@grahamleader.com

With September being Deaf Awareness Month, Graham ISD teacher Kelly Qualls and some students spoke to the Graham Noon Lions Club on Wednesday, Sept. 18, about the learning experience for children with hearing loss.

The teacher began her program talking about the statistics and facts around hearing loss.

“Hearing loss can be mild, moderate, severe or profound,” Qualls said. “It can effect one ear or it can effect both ears. It leads to difficulty in conversational speech and loud sounds. You wouldn’t think that a person who has hearing loss would struggle with a loud sound, but it is very uncomfortable, very disturbing for some to hear a loud sound.”

She said people who are hard of hearing or deaf can communicate through spoken language, sign language or both. Those who have hearing loss can use hearing aids, cochlear implants, FM systems, amplification systems and closed captioning.

The teacher said approximately 12% of the population has significant hearing loss reach requires aiding equipment. She said there are 32 million children who have hearing loss and one in of three people over the age of 65 have hearing loss. She said, on average, people with hearing loss wait seven years before seeking help.

“Noise is the leading cause for hearing loss in our nation,” Qualls said. “(…) Only one out of every five who can benefit from wearing a hearing aid actually wear one.”

Qualls said she has been a part of GISD for 20 years with the last 14 years being at Pioneer Elementary School helping with special education.

“All across the state, all across the nation there are different programs provided for students who have hearing loss,” Qualls said. “It might be a public school just as we have here in Graham. It might be a regional day school, there is one located in Wichita Falls and we actually have a Graham student that travels and continues her education at that regional day school for the deaf. There are itinerant teachers that travel to communities and different schools that don’t have a regional day school. I am kind of the program here in Graham.”

She said there are currently eight students, from Pre-kindergarten to the 10th grade, in GISD with hearing loss and she has been with some of them since they were three-years-old.

“Two of those eight GISD students know and use sign language,” Qualls said. “Seven of the eight know how to use and use daily an amplification device. Five of the eight use school issued FM systems or a microphone system. Two of the eight have unilateral, or one ear, loss, while the other six have a bilateral loss.”

She said in larger cities, like Lubbock where she attended college, there are large separate deaf communities.

“Here in Graham we have some fabulous parents, we have some great administrators, we have a community that is a part of a community,” Qualls said. “It is not separate. It is not of its own. I am so impressed with how integrated we are.”

Student Experiences

Jasmaine Jimenez, a seventh grader, was the first student to speak. Qualls said she started as a three-year-old in her class before going to the Wichita Falls Regional Day School for the deaf.

“For the last six years, she traveled to Wichita Falls back and forth everyday to attend her public school education,” Qualls said. “This year, she has decided to rejoin her community, her town, her church, her family right here in Graham and she is doing a fabulous job. It has not been easy and we have some challenges and obstacles, but we are ready to meet that challenge.”

Jimenez talked about the FM system she uses while she attends school to help her hear the instructor.

“I wear it because that way I can hear better,” Jimenez said. “If the kids were talking, I really can’t hear. I give the (FM system) to the teacher and they put it on their neck. That way I can hear them speaking.”

Qualls added that the microphone on the system sends the teachers voice without outside noises directly to Jimenez’s hearing aid. She said the teachers have a mute button to prevent her from hearing private conversations.

“It is challenging as a student with hearing loss when people speaking to me are behind me,” Jimenez said. “When there is no closed captioning sometimes it is hard to understand videos and movies. (…) There are three things that makes me different from my friends. First, they do not have to wear hearing aids. Second, my friends have speech that is more clear and third, I have to give my teacher a microphone.”

She said she also uses a video phone so that her friends can use sign language. She said she is proud of being able to perform well in school.

For the rest of the story, see the Wednesday, Sept. 25 edition of The Graham Leader.