How to Get a Deaf Person’s Attention

• Tapping. Gently tap your fingers on the Deaf person’s shoulder or arm. Never touch his/her head or turn it toward you.
• Rap the Table. Hit the table where the Deaf person is sitting. If he or she is touching it, the person will feel the vibration and will turn towards you.
• Waving. Use this technique when across the room and out of physical proximity.
• Flashing Lights. Slowly turn the lights off and on to get a Deaf person’s attention. Please note that rapid flashing indicates an emergency. These strategies may have to be explained to hearing individuals in the classroom, who should be expected to use them with respect and prudence.

Do’s

• Use plenty of visual aids.
• Allow time for participants to read handouts/materials first.
• Commence with a brief overview first.
• Use a lot of interaction with the information through hands-on exercises, questioning etc. Deaf learners need to see and feel the information.
• If you are note writing, keep to your usual style. If this is not understood, switch to a simpler shorter style, which is not condescending. Use gestures or pointing to clarify points.
• Draw on the experience of the learner – relate it to work experiences or personal experiences as much as possible in order to create the links to known concepts.
• As with hearing people, Deaf learners have different learning styles – try to identify these and capitalize on them (See Boeing’s Effective Learning Module 1, Parts 1 and 2 for more information.)
• Understand that in the Deaf community, decision-making is often done by consensus. Try to use a collaborative approach as much as possible, and expect the Deaf learners to want to take major decisions back to their community.
• Peer teaching in the Deaf community is both acceptable and highly successful.
• Ask Deaf people how they prefer to communicate – speech reading, note writing, or using an interpreter.
• Use the ◊ discourse style.