Hearing Impairment and Specific Communication Needs Essay

In the table below list features in the environment that may help or hinder communication. Then describe in detail how these features may help or hinder communication. Features in the environment How may this help or hinder communication? Lighting People with a hearing or sight impairment need good lighting as they may need to be able to see your face features to see what you are saying to them. (Reading lips). Distractions People would not be able to hear you if you are in a busy and noisy area. For example; if you have a few friends and everyone is talking at once the person who can’t hear well won’t be able to hear the conversation. Positioning You need to be facing each other so you can read the other persons facial expression and body language. To help understand what they are saying to you. Barriers Barriers block are view of the other person and it can impair on us understanding and hearing the person. You can also feel uneasy. For example; when you go to the bank and you have a separated glass in between you. Space You don’t want someone to be too close to you as you would feel uncomfortable and uneasy. We need to feel comfortable with the other person to communicate well. 1. 4 In the table below list and describe the reasons why an individual may have specific communication needs. Then identify a Learning difficulties like down syndrome will have an effect on people’s communication because it can impair the hearing and speech. They can find it hard to form certain words which are hard for others to understand. They also make their own way to communicate to others. Depending on how much their disability takes over them. Physical disability such as Cerebral palsy which is damage to the brain can compare someone’s hearing and speech it all depends on what areas of the brain have been damaged. Also other physical disabilities affect the body such as loss of head control or facial muscle which is making it hard to communicate to others or for them to understand. A mental health condition like dementia is hard to communicate with because they may start to hallucinate and see things that we cannot. We have to remind them of certain things as their short term or long term memory has been affected. They may start to not understand what we are saying because they have forgotten what certain words mean. Hearing loss affects people’s communication because some people can be completely deaf also some people can be slightly hard of hearing. Either way to communicate with others is hard they need to see and face the person they are talking to so they can read lips or watch your body language. People who have lost their hearing in later life will find it harder to adjust as they have always relied on their hearing to communicate. Others that could have been born with deafness they would feel that they haven’t lost something but would have learned new ways of communication such as sign language. Sight difficulties have a huge impact on people’s lives because you are missing out on a lot of communication such as people’s body language to get the full effect of communication. When we lose are sight at a later stage in life it is hard to accept and can sometimes stop people wanting to learn new communication skills. Deaf and blindness is a major concern as they have lost most ways of communicating. They can feel and touch but they haven’t any more senses then that. Social development is important as it is everyday life from when we are growing from child to adult. We need to socially interact with people as this is how we develop are communication skills. 1. 6 Describe the potential effects on an individual of having unmet communication needs The effect of unmet communication is that an individual can become withdrawn and have a low self-esteem or even depressed. Their behaviour can change and become angry and violent or even frustrated because they cannot communicate like everyone else. Also, if that individual does not have any support they may believe that they do not need to communicate on their views or debate on a conversation. They start to believe that there is no point in it anymore. Some individuals that have been born with communication difficulties as above and have grown will the impairment does not mean that they understand it or be able to cope with it. By not support these people we are denying them their rights and by doing this we are abusing them. 2. 3. How and when would you access information and support about identifying and addressing specific communication needs? We access information and support when we give others support in their lives as everyone is different and we need to know different techniques. Such as having photographs or pen and paper to communicate with people. When we look into peoples records we must follow correct policy and procedure. Keep confidentiality. If the information we need is not there then we look on the internet, books, journals and reports. When we support people we may need to work with other professionals. Such as; occupational therapists, psychiatrists and speech and language therapists etc.