meme from The Princess Bride where Inigo Montoya is talking to Fezzig Inigo says You keep using that word I do not think it means what you think it means
Our theme for November is vocabulary! Continue reading for some great resources, information, and news!
Language Only
A graphic has text that reads With learning being the foundation for literacy and literacy being the most basic currency of knowledge B Obama we must do whatever it takes Communication Language Access Knowledge ASL Only is stricken and Oral only is stricke
“Vocabulary, or lack of vocabulary, is the biggest roadblock that students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) encounter when learning to read. Whether it is because of lack of auditory access, lack of robust language models, or late identification, students who are DHH often arrive at school with a vocabulary deficiency that borders on profound. The task of teachers and service providers is to close the vocabulary gap to promote literacy and communication skills that rival same-age and same-grade peers.” ( Language Reading Connection for Deaf/Hard of Hearing in the BEESS PD Portal , Independent Study Course).
As seen in the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE)’s Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Principle #4, “Early language development is critical to cognition, literacy, and academic achievement.” Lederberg et al. (2013) concluded, “there is no evidence that children cannot learn language via multiple modalities or that using a visual language will hinder the development of a spoken language, but there is strong [emphasis added] evidence that not having access to language has long term negative developmental effects.” We have seen this to be true for many children who are deaf/hard of hearing. But, what about the 90% of parents who are hearing who do not know sign language and therefore cannot be “good” language models for their children by using sign language? Research has shown, “Parents of young deaf children who are learning sign language do not need to achieve immediate and full fluency during this timeframe for their children to benefit from early exposure to ASL.” (Allen, 2015; Allen and Morere, 2012; Allen, Letteri, Choi, and Dang, 2014.). In other words, language is language. The brain craves language. Without language, there is no vocabulary development. Without vocabulary development, there is no literacy development. Without literacy development, there is no knowledge. Educators and parents of children who are deaf/hard of hearing must do whatever it takes to ensure language acquisition and, in turn, neurological development.
Building Vocabulary Through “Listening”
Do the math 85 percent of learning is missed if the child only wears hearing aids at school
Vocabulary is often acquired through incidental learning. Listening to language all around, whether through eyes or ears, causes incidental learning of new vocabulary. When referring to students who use listening and spoken language, one of the most crucial and foundational factors for literacy development is hearing assistive technology (HAT) usage.
Students who only use their hearing aids at school miss 85% of incidental learning opportunities by not wearing them at home, as well ( Anderson , n.d). This same statistic can be said of those who use ASL and only have language models at school. For this reason, it is crucial for hearing teachers of students who are deaf/hard of hearing (TODHH) to always provide equal access to the communication environment. Even if another hearing professional enters the room who does not know ASL, the TODHH should continue to sign, so that the student has an opportunity for incidental learning. Likewise, parents of children who use listening and spoken language should be encouraged to have their children wear their HAT during all waking hours.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “put your ears on,” when making reference to hearing aids? Although it may help a child to know what one is referring to, it is actually misleading to refer to hearing aids as “ears,” when really, hearing happens in the brain. Dr. Carol Flexer puts it this way, “think of your ears as the doorway that gets sound to your brain, which turns what you hear into meaning.” (Hearing Matters, n.d.) As Oticon (2019) states,“If your brain is not getting the right sounds to work with, it takes intense effort to create meaning.” So, instead of saying, “Go put your ears on,” try saying, “Go put your brain on!”
News from RMTC-D/HH
Since our theme this month is on VOCABULARY, we are so excited to announce that Flagler College, FEDHH, and RMTC-D/HH will be hosting a training on Explicit Contextualized Vocabulary for Deaf/Hard of Hearing (ECV-D/HH).

The video to the left is an introduction to ECV-D/HH, a research-based intervention based out of CLAD .

Be sure to register !
The DEAFinition Competition
The St. Johns County Schools' Deaf/Hard of Hearing team is gearing up for their 5th Annual DEAFinition competition! The competition is open to all students grades 5-12 who are deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH). The competition is a fun way for students to learn vocabulary words that are found across all subject areas, literature, and/or statewide assessments. Students are provided a guide to prepare for the competition. Participants are invited from other school districts, which makes it a great place for students who are D/HH to meet new friends. Families are invited to socialize and interact during dinner before the competition begins, making this a super fun event for the entire family!
Each year, the participation in this event has continued to increase. Last year there were over 30 student participants and the winners walked away with gift cards from Walmart. St. Johns County Schools would love to have more participants this year! The DEAFinition will be held again in the spring of 2020. For more information, you may contact Julie Conger .
spotlight
Expanded Skills Spotlight
Traci Clark with students spelling words with their feet
SP.PK12.DH.2.3a Identify previously learned academic vocabulary, skill, or content in new skills and concepts. (Elementary)
SP.PK12.DH.2.3b Explain how previously learned academic vocabulary, skill, or content is used in new skills and concepts. (Secondary)
SP.PK12.DH.4.5 Express the meaning of complex vocabulary, concepts, and figurative language through explicit strategies, such as drawing, role play, fingerspelling, and recognizing visual markers. (All levels)

Vocabulary knowledge is an important underlying component of literacy. Two key components to improving reading comprehension are word knowledge and fluency. A student must learn multiple meanings of words in order to read with conceptual accuracy. In order to learn a word, a student must interact with that word multiple times in a variety of means to own it. Students with little or no background knowledge must learn vocabulary through explicit instruction.

Next month, our Tech Notes theme is on captioning. Have an idea or lesson plan for Expanded Skills standards related to this topic? Email your idea to Candace McIntire.
Spotlight
Teacher Spotlight
Traci Clark is a 20-year veteran teacher of students who are deaf/hard of hearing (TODHH) from St. Johns County School District. She graduated from Flagler College in 1998. She is also a former president of the Florida Educators of Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing (FEDHH). Traci works as an itinerant teacher where she serves students of all ages and communication modalities. 
Traci also completed training in all four research- based interventions/curricula for students who are D/HH offered by RMTC-D/HH: Fairview Learning, Foundations for Literacy, Visual Phonics, and Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading.


Know a teacher of students who are deaf/hard of hearing who is doing amazing things in their classroom? Email a description of what they are doing to Candace McIntire to be added to the next Tech Notes!
Teacher Toolkit
News from Loan Library:   The  RMTC-D/HH Media and Materials Loan Library   has DVDs and books related to Vocabulary for you to check out. In the search box, type in the title or number and add it to your queue. Once it’s added, Laura will ship it directly to your school. That is all you have to do! There isn’t a submit button. Here is just a sampling of what you will find: 
  • #186 Conceptual Accuracy In Idioms
  • #264 Language Arts Signs Vocabulary
  • #267 IEP Vocabulary
  • #530 ASL Practice Series- English Idioms
  • #594 ASL Vocabulary Series: English
  • #1173 Language Arts Vocabulary
  • #1207 Basic Course In ASL - Vocabulary
  • #1867 Idioms Workbook
  • #1913 100% Curriculum Vocabulary Grades K-5
  • #1914 100% Curriculum Vocabulary Grades 6-12
Teacher toolbox
Other resources:
  • The Florida Department of Education has released the ELA Standards Implementation Guide. Page 57 of this resource provides a list of academic vocabulary included in Florida Standardized Assessment (FSA) testing and goes on to outline the standards and grade levels in which the words are introduced. Students who are DHH would benefit from intensified instruction in the vocabulary being used on these high-stakes tests.
  • FSDB Pineapple PD ASL Mouth Morphemes: Learning target-Increase students’ awareness of ASL adjectives and adverbs and to expand their English vocabulary.
  • DeafTEC has an online ASL resource related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) signs. These dictionaries have Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary available.
  • Make Beliefs Comix has launched six new comic starters features for educators to use with students. They offer scores of writing prompts and story ideas to help users explore their wonderful imagination and communicate their ideas by creating comic strips. In addition to the comic generator, the educational resource includes hundreds of graphic printables, greeting cards, a writing blog known as Something to Write About and many free interactive e-books.
Did you know?
FDLRS offers professional development for research-based Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) learning strategies. You can request a training from FDLRS on the LINCS Vocabulary Strategy . This strategy helps students learn the meaning of new vocabulary words using powerful memory-enhancement techniques.


AG Bell’s Concurrent Session Proposal deadline is November 20th for the 2020 Global Listening and Spoken Language Symposium .
This year Hug a Runner , an annual fitness challenge, is donating their proceeds to the American Society for Deaf Children . Be sure to register for their virtual challenge and receive this year’s medal which depicts the word “hug” in American Sign Language.
Upcoming Events: Save the Date!

Check out the  RMTC-D/HH 2019-2020 Calendar  for more upcoming events!
Do More. Be More. Achieve More.
RMTC-D/HH provides Tech Notes as a free resource to teachers, professionals, and parents around the state in order to pass along potentially useful information and expand the knowledge and opportunities available to educators and families of children who have hearing loss. This email was funded by the Florida Department of Education Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services through federal assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), Part B funds. The information included does not reflect any specific endorsement by any parties involved.