Introducing students to the topics of hearing loss and hearing protection at a young age can help transform attitudes and social norms for an entire generation.
Kim Marie Nicols took the initiative to develop a comprehensive curriculum to raise awareness of hearing loss at her local elementary school in Needham, Massachusetts, in the United States.
Her fun, interactive curriculum has been used for the past 11 years in the Needham public school system, which has approximately 5,500 students. Due to the popularity of her program, neighboring school districts have incorporated the curriculum into their own public awareness programs.
You can download the curriculum here.
Kim Marie was inspired to create the curriculum when her oldest daughter began elementary school in Needham, Massachusetts. The school had a disability awareness program where students would learn about a different type of disability each school year. Students in second grade, who were 7 to 8 years old, would participate in a unit about hearing loss.
Kim Marie was curious about the unit, since she has extensive experience working with deaf and hard of hearing people in the fields of social work and education. She thought that she could apply her past experience to improve the program.
"The previous curriculum was dry and technical, stressing the negative aspects of hearing loss. I wanted to do something positive and change the perception of hearing loss among the students," states Kim Marie.
To emphasize the positive aspects of hearing, Kim Marie developed an entire new hearing loss curriculum for the school's disability awareness program. Fun, interactive activities allowed the students to better grasp what it is like to live with a hearing loss. The new awareness program also includes activities where the students learn sign language and lip reading.
"The idea was to create exercises and activities where the students would bring home the fun aspect of the curriculum to their family and parents. During lipreading practice, for example, I pointed out that saying 'I love you' looks a lot like 'elephant shoes' when one looks at how the lips and mouth moves. The kids found this to be very funny. They went home telling their parents what they had learned in school," states Kim Marie Nicols.
"Since my daughters are no longer attending elementary school, I do not teach the course anymore. When I see former students, however, they often start repeating the signs that I taught them. To me, this show how making the course fun and interactive can make it much more memorable."
Kim Marie has brought her fun, positive approach to hearing loss to Hearing Care Center in Sharon, Massachusetts, where she advises patients and their families on available resources. Each week, she updates notebooks in the clinic's waiting room with comics related to hearing loss and hearing aids. She finds that people who are able to view their hearing loss in a positive, more humorous light are more likely to have a better attitude about the entire process.
Kim Marie earned a Master of Educational Administration and Supervision at the National Leadership Training Program in the Field of Deafness at California State University at Northridge. She also has a Master of Social Work degree from Boston College, specializing in Clinical Social Work with the Hearing Impaired. She is fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) and trained as an Oral Interpreter.