Students learn lesson out loud

Jeff Benson

Fifth- and sixth-grade students in Caryn Weinstock’s class can barely

hear their teacher, but to someone walking by her classroom, it

sounds like she’s somehow getting infuriated over language arts.

She pointed Monday morning to the overhead projector, where a

passage contained a misspelled word and some capitalization problems.

“The boys listened to papa grande tell stories out lowd,” she read to

them at a near yell.

Her students, part of the Oral Auditory Deaf and Hard of Hearing

program at Kaiser Elementary School in Costa Mesa, never flinched as

Weinstock’s New York accent heightened.

They barely heard her tone, but they understood her well enough

that they spelled out the word “loud” -- and out loud -- without any

problem.

“I can hear a little bit and read lips,” said Ashley Swann, 11, of

Orange. “She talks very loud. But I’ve learned to read lips a long

time.”

The class practiced language arts Monday, splitting time between

spelling their vocabulary words and dissecting their reading

assignments. They also learned that a “sequence” is an order into

which things are put.

“When you guys woke up this morning, didn’t you get up, take a

shower and get dressed before you came to school?” Weinstock asked.

“That’s a sequence. You might’ve even put gel in your hair, eaten

breakfast and put your hearing aids in. Isn’t that a good feeling?”

Weinstock knows exactly what they’re going through. She, too,

suffers from extreme hearing loss. She speaks with a bit of an

impediment but only enough to make someone question whether she has

any difficulty at all.

“[My teachers] didn’t find out I was hard of hearing until ninth

grade,” she said. “I had to teach myself to read lips. I wanted to be

the one to help children because I didn’t feel like anyone helped

me.”

Weinstock’s students certainly aren’t in that predicament. Their

teacher would rather teach them to read lips and words at high

decibels than to read fingers in complete silence.

Students with auditory disabilities are drawn to Kaiser’s program

from seven Orange County school districts. Those who require sign

language are enrolled at Taft Elementary School in Orange, she said.

Weinstock’s students, in turn, are tuned in through their hearing

aids and keen attention spans. Even though most deaf or

hard-of-hearing students are at as much as a five-grade discrepancy

in reading level, she said, Weinstock’s students are reading at

fourth-grade level. That’s no small feat when normal communication is

difficult.She later explained that their shared disability even has

certain advantages. Sometimes it’s beneficial not to hear anything,

she said.

“The greatest thing about being hard of hearing is that you can

get a restful night’s sleep,” Weinstock said. “I used to live in the

middle of Manhattan, with cars going by all night and people

screaming. I slept like a baby.”