Anat's Story: the Net-Shema virtual community for hearing impaired children

Author : Tali Ilani &Hagit Lavi
Date added : 2000-09-01

Brief Project Background

Results

Anat’s Story

A hearing impaired girl communicating and learning via Net-Shema-
A virtual community for the hearing impaired children and youth.

Since we started the Net-Shema project for the hearing impaired children last year ,many children,their families and teachers have communicated this site.
We have, ourselves, been amazed at the response we have received.
Rather than speaking in generalities we would like to offer you the story of how Net-Shema have impacted the lives of a hearing impaired child, her family, her friends and her special-ed teacher.

Ruthi: ( Anat`s mother)
One day, at the beginning of the third grade, Anat came home from school all excited and asked me to open the computer and go into a site called Net-Shema. I had no idea whatsoever what she was talking about! What is Net-Shema?
Anat went on to tell me that at school, during her lesson with Hagit, her special-ed teacher, she learned about the internet and about a special internet site, one for the hearing-impaired, called Net-Shema.
Anat insisted that I call Hagit and get the URL of the site so that she could show-off what she had written with Hagit. With great pride she showed me what she had written:

Anat :
`Shalom! My name is Anat Agasi
I am in 3rd grade. Name of school Tefen. I live in Carmiel .15 Carcom Carmiel. I love the city Carmiel. The most I love to play with computer And also to ride a bike. `

Hagit: (Special-ed teacher for the hearing-impaired)
I met Anat 5 years ago, when she entered nursery school at Tefen. Anat was born with a profound bi-lateral neural hearing loss. She wears two hearing aids. At the age of 4, the family decided to try and mainstream Anat in a regular nursery school. That is where my job began, to help Anat acquire language and to integrate her with the children in the nursery and later on, in elementary school at Tefen.
Anat is now in the third grade and knows how to read and write. Her speech has improved but it is still quite difficult for her to understand her surroundings because of her profound hearing loss. This is the reason why I tried to switch over to written communication.
Luckily, just at that time, Tali Ilani had begun her work on the hearing-net site. Together with Anat, we both learned how to get into the Internet and prepared our first introduction piece. At the beginning, it was strange to go into the site and communicate virtually with unfamiliar people. So as to adjust to this new medium, we initially began corresponding via e-mail. By working on the computer, we gained the knowledge of a new medium, in addition to learning from our regular lesson plan Once we felt secure enough corresponding via e-mail, we began communicating on the hearing net.

Anat:
To Tali,
I was glad that you write to me a letter from you I wanted to see to you but I never see you
You I do not remember you.
See you Anat Agasi

Ruthi:
Since then and until today, a day does not go by without Anat going into the Net-Shema site. She excitedly waits for responses from her friends, teachers and immediately replies.
As time went by, the site grew, new corners were added and accordingly, her interest in the site grew.
Although Anat is only in the third grade, she took a special liking to the love corner and relations between boys and girls. She asked different questions and received replies.
Life at home centered on Net-Shema. All those who came in contact with Anat ,her speech therapist, teachers at school, friends of the family and other friends all had to go into the site and see what she had written.

Anat:
Hello Tali!
I wanted to ask you if I could send my cousin
A letter via the Net-Shema?
Do you agree yes or no?
So send me a reply.
Thank you from Anat Agasi

Ruthi:
We were very pleased at home. After so many years in which we, together with many caretakers, had assisted Anat in acquiring the language and taught her to use it correctly so that she could communicate with the world at-large, years in which Anat was not always co-operative and willing to learn, all of a sudden we saw a huge change in our daughter. She wanted to learn new words, check the syntax of her sentences, wanted to know how to ask a correct question, which preposition was appropriate and if she had any spelling mistakes.
At that moment we felt that the moment had come. All those who had worked with Anat for so long will now reap the harvest -our daughter is communicating!

Hagit:
It is not easy for a little girl to learn, from a very early age in special lessons, what every child learns naturally from life itself. Also in my lessons with Anat, I encountered great opposition. Many times she was bored by the tedious drilling and would just close-up when something was not to her liking. I determined the goals of the lesson according to my knowledge of the development of the language and her needs as a pupil in the classroom. Anat chose to study just what interested her and many times would not choose what I had planned.
When Anat became familiar with the site, she worked independently and her own desire to communicate and enrich her expression grew accordingly. She wanted to write and communicate in a way that she could be understood. This naturally caused her to ask for more and more assistance , to write and rewrite until her piece was just the way she wanted it. The improvement in her language was obvious in only a few months. This we can see in what she wrote on the site.

Anat:
Shalom!
Do you know that there is a dance festival in Carmiel I think there is an amusement park in Carmiel.
Do you like to go to amusement parks? It is fun to go there I love the mountain train.
And you like to watch dancing? I also love to watch. Are you coming to the dance festival in Carmiel?
If someone is coming to the festival write me a reply
See you Have a pleasant vacation from Anat Agasi

( At Ina`s love corner :"Let`s talk about feeling ashaned or embarressed")

Shalom!
I went to the store and wanted to buy Tumuguchi and I was embarressed a littleto talk with the seller but I know that I should not be ashamed so I talked to him and understood him and I was happy that I heared what him.
Anat

Ruthi:
As a result of her interest in Net-Shema her interest in the computer was a natural by-product. She wanted to learn how to cut and paste, how to download pictures, how to add an attachment and how to prepare a power-point presentation. In addition, Anat learned all about search engines and thus was able to find, on her own, sites that interested her on the internet.
In class, Anat became the expert on computers.
Also at home, she got the entire family involved and we too found articles on the site about the hearing impaired which were of interest to us as parents.
The Net-Shema enabled us to keep in contact throughout the year with Shema-the center for the hearing impaired.
In June, Anat underwent surgery for a cochlear implant and friends on the net from all over Israel sent her their wishes on the Net -Shema.

Anat:
Shalom!
On Sunday I am going into the hospital
And I am undergoing an operation.
Because I want to hear better.
Next week I will not come to Shema.
I am staying in the hospital for a week
If you want to come and visit in the hospital in Haifa
So please come
If you do not know where
So call our cell-phone
See you from Anat Agasi

Hagit:
Following this moving letter, responses were sent by children, teachers and caretakers at Shema. The day after the operation, Anat opened her eyes to a mass of responses from those close to her and also those whom she had never met but knew virtually who felt the need to show support for this sweet and brave girl who opened up to a great extent thanks to the communication she found in the global world.
From my point of view, as someone who has known Anat for many years, this was a year of revelation of a new world with endless oppurtunities to learn and communicate. What an impact does this world have on children who find difficulty in verbal expression!

Ruthi:
Now it is vacation time and Anat misses her virtual friends on the net. Most of the children do not have an internet hook-up at home and were able to write only when they came to Shema.
This project should continue and grow and every hearing-impaired child should be given the possibility of enjoying communication.

Lessons

The Net-Schema project

Net-Shema is devoted to the needs of hearing-impaired students, in order to enable them to become better integrated and more functional in society, through the creation of a virtual study community.

Goals:

Net-Shema creates a non-territorial community of hearing-impaired people ,their family and the staff of their school that integrates a professional support setup to fulfill their special needs. Net-Shema was planned to expand the support system of the hearing-impaired student beyond the regular support meetings with the teacher supporting the hearing-impaired, (usually one to two weekly hours per week).

Net-Shema will enable every person in the virtual community to expand his or her horizons and to enrich their personal world. Net-Shema will nurture the independence of the participants in the project as students and active and beneficial partners in the community.

Net-Shema will initiate changes in the study habits of the hearing-impaired, through the acquisition of proficiency in the use of the computer and exposure to all the possibilities it has to offer as a tool for work and communication.

Net-Shema will enable people with normal hearing to become acquainted with the world of the hearing-impaired and to connect with them.

The project began in the north of Israel (nov. 1999)and serves as a model for the rest of the country. There are 100 hearing-impaired students in the elementary schools in the northern area. All over Israel there are more than 4000 hearing impaired and deaf children.

The first phase of the project was to construct an internet site that provides the user with the following services:

1. 
   
2. Forums -
   
   • Student / student: A forum that enables meeting and discussion of relevant topics and mutual assistance in studies.
   • 
     
   • Students / teachers: Meeting and a moderated discussion of topics selected by the teachers and students
   • 
     
   • Teachers / teachers: Clarification of professional problems, technical and professional instruction, exposure to new study materials, professional articles, etc.
     Communication clinicians: A forum for professional discussion between clinicians and parental guidance.
   • 
     
   • The Wonder - Worker: a discussion group about a play about Helen Keller
   • 
     
   • Parents and family: A support group forum.
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   • Virtual tutors - Students and academically educated
   • 
     hearing-impaired adults, to support the children who are members of the community who will act as role models for the students to identify with and serve as support. The forum will encourage communication among the tutors themselves.
     
   • An inter-disciplinary forum - brings together the relevant professionals: Social workers, psychologists, ear, nose and throat doctors, pediatricians, etc.
3. 
   
   
4. The site's resource center - Articles and links on topics of audiology and hearing, education for the hearing-impaired, a sign- language dictionary and spell-checker, Internet and attentiveness, etc
5. 
   
   
6. A gallery containing the children's' artwork on various topics. The purpose of the gallery is to encourage the children to create and expose themselves.
7. 
   
   
8. Corners devoted to the areas of interest in the site - following the meeting in the forums, the groups crystallize according to areas of interest.
9. 
   
   
10. Field activity for exposure to and assimilation of Net-Shema - the operation of the project necessitates physically (and not virtually...) meeting all the potential participants in the virtual community and exposing them to the activity and possibilities within the virtual community.

How The Project Came About

I am a teacher of hearing-impaired people. I grew up at home with my brother who has C.P.and hearing loss. We were raised from an early age to integrate our brother into the family life and accept those who are different from us. I have worked as a teacher for the hearing-impaired in integrated classes in central Israel. When I relocated to the north, I wanted to join the professional staff there.

I found out that the care center for children with hearing disabilities was just being organized and localized. This year, I have joined the team as the first traveling teacher for the hearing-impaired in the north of Israel.

My job description involves the support of approximately 10 children who are learning within the framework of individual integration, each child located at a different school, for 1-2 hours each week. As one who uses the computer as a tool for work and communication, I understood that in actuality, the computer is the most appropriate work tool to enable the provision of solutions for many of the problems encountered by children with a hearing impairment and for those supporting them.

Throughout the period of my work as a teacher, I have placed much emphasis on the environment in which I operated and made an effort to make sure that it holds the visual stimuli and ambiance that will stimulate learning and allow both me and my students self expression. When considered the position of a traveling teacher I understood that the one thing that was so important to me is impossible. But when I come to work and work on the computer site I can shape the children and the environment in which we operate. In the act of transfer to the periphery I feel that I have detached myself from the team of instructors which I had as a teacher in central Israel. The distance from academia and from other professionals caused me to consider my own needs as a teacher and to look for ways to extract benefits from the computer for professionals as well.

The hearing-impaired form a community with specialized characteristics and needs that can maintain a social life in and amongst themselves. I thought it was only right to give that community access to an environment that will provide the conditions suitable for communication.

After consultation with the manager of the Tiberias Beit Shema we decided to submit the proposal to the Ministry of Education in the northern region. The project was approved and I am working on constructing and maintaining the site, instructing the students, the inter-disciplinary team, as well as teachers and families. This is concurrent with my work with my personal students.

I encounter many difficulties but every day I am happy to see the enthusiasm of the children and supporting staff, especially at Beit Shema. I meet new additions to the community on a daily basis.

Difficulties:

The difficulties are in 2 areas: Technical difficulties and human difficulties.

At the technical level, there is a gap between the ideal and reality. Most schools are not equipped with computers that would enable effective work: some of the schools are not connected to the Internet, have outdated and poorly maintained computers, the software is outdated (Word) and the computers are not integrative learning tools. In order to overcome this main obstacle I find solutions outside of the schools (a nearby college, etc.) This, of course, is a temporary solution that does not enable the child to respond between sessions.
If the child has access to a fax machine, and received responses through the forum, I fax him a printout of the messages that he stores on a diskette.

I was unsuccessful in finding financial resources or in borrowing a laptop computer so I can work more efficiently. Some of the parents have joined the project and are connected to the Internet themselves.

Many of the students in the north of the country come from weak socioeconomic backgrounds and their families are unable to purchase a computer for them. I have not been able to acquire funding for these students.

Some of the teachers are also not connected to the Internet.

The human difficulty: The hearing-impaired student integrated into a class with 30 other students encounters many difficulties both social and educational. One difficulty we have encountered is the degree of cooperation with the form masters in the home room classes. Some of them have difficulty understanding that in order to help a student to become integrated in the class the teaching method must be changed from listening-based frontal teaching to active group learning around areas of interest according to the student's needs.

The school teachers are reluctant to use the computer and to integrate its use in class. The technical problems are the determining factor and prevent them from making the change for the single student (there is no doubt the change is desirable for the whole class). The teachers are over loaded with work and at times the project is perceived as another chore and they resist the change.

The staff of supporting teachers see in their work a goal to be achieved optimal integration conditions for the hearing-impaired in the classroom, and we believe in the process and not in a resistance-creating change brought about by compulsion. We begin by contacting the student and his or her supporting teacher. When the student begins to integrate and show scholastic improvement, his or her self-image is bettered and a more open attitude is created in his or her teacher as well.

The Uniqueness of the Project

The project uniqueness is in the holistic view of the hearing-impaired community.

The Internet is a dynamic instrument that enables thought and change and can be adapted to the needs of the individual. On the one hand, the community is a unique population with special needs, but the internet provides equal opportunity for integration in the hearing society. The community member can ignore the hearing impairment when seated opposite the computer screen in virtual communication. Even if the limitation is reflected in the writing abilities, the participants are more accepting of the difficulty. The writer can feel equal and free to discuss topics he or she cannot discuss with their hearing classmates.

The activity enables each child to be suited in his or her own way, at his or her own pace and with choice of contents. The child may enter the site and receive assistance from all the participants. The feeling of loneliness that sometimes grips the child in the individual integration turns into partnership and friendship. Sometimes the child feels lonely because his or her hearing impairment and the teacher does not have the time to reach out to him or her.

Here, the child is at the center, receives relatively rapid attention in a variety of styles: from teachers, students, parents and tutors. The integrating teacher of the class, by the speed of her response, can reach a hearing-impaired student. She is sometimes unable to do this in a classroom with many students. The exposure to the use of the Internet as a learning tool.(if the physical conditions exist) can bring about a change in the teaching methods and enable hearing-impaired students to overcome the hearing impairment and by that increase the rate of integration in the processes occurring in class. The change from learning based on hearing to interactive learning increases the interaction of the student with the rest of his or her classmates and teachers.

The Family :Membership in the virtual community enables the parents to become involved, updated and to be participants in their hearing-impaired child's world. Today, the parents' level of responsiveness is very weak, due to problems of distance from the Shema center. In addition some of the parents are hearing-impaired themselves and this, in actuality, is an opportunity for them to interact amongst themselves as an adult community, while having the option of receiving services through the use of the Internet and be equal participants in the virtual activity.

Plan of Action:

1. To overcome the technical difficulties by raising funds to purchase equipment and to pay for instructional services.
2. 
   
3. To encourage the assimilation of the use of this equipment in the community both during school hours and in the afternoons.
4. 
   
5. To broaden the areas of activity on the site.
6. 
   
7. To center this service in the northern district: to broaden the age range to include all ages from kinder garden to adulthood and to lay the foundation for a larger amount of professional support.
8. 
   
9. To enlist the non-Jewish population of the area in the project.
10. 
    
11. To extend the project to other areas until it is operating on a national level.
12. 
    
13. To research the project from all aspects.

1&2 - I believe that once we have succeede in overcoming the technical difficulties, when, in the first stage, every pupil and every teacher that supports them will have daily, easy access to the Internet we will be better able to encourage the assimilation of the use of these tools in the classroom.

My intention is to provide every child in the project with an internet connection at home and at school. I hope that in the near future other schools will acquire the proper equipment ad begin to change their methods of instruction.

3. To broaden the scope of activities of the site it is necessary to improve the appearance because it is important to provide significant visual stimulation to the hearing impaired pupil, i.e. Introduce trivia, index of subjects, activities concerning study material, chat room for pupils.

4. As soon as the parents realize that a child is hearing impaired they need support and instruction, these are the critical stages, even before the child enters the education system, therefore I intend to enlist the assistance of the institutions providing such support and service such as The Mother and Child Clinics and the Ministry of Health.

I believe that in order to bring about a change it is essential to work with the student teachers at the universities. At the present time we are establishing contacts at the Bar Ilan University and at the Kibbutz Seminar College. The University support for these pupils will be accompanied by academic instruction as a part of the teachers' training.

Families: I believe that when the use of the Internet is familiar in the home then the parents, some of them hearing impaired themselves, will be able better to communicate with the community of the hearing impaired as well as with the community at large.

The multi-professional team: I see that the activities of the multi-professional team enrich the professional discussions and am sure that additional professionals will be assimilated into the community as a part of the assistance they provide.

5. I believe that this project is suited to the needs of the Jewish population of the area and that it needs to be broadened to include the large non-Jewish population in the Galilee. Here we have the possibility, also, of a meeting between the two populations by way of their mutual interest which will bring them closer together and possibly, through this virtual community, help them to better understand and appreciate one another.

6. We already have children from other parts of the country who are making contact with us through the Internet and to help them realize their potential we need to extend this program to include all parts of the country. (With all that this entails)

7. We intend to accompany this project with academic research through the Bar Ilan University.

What can others learn from us?

• Recognize the real needs of the community.
• 
  
• Start working even when your dream about `the` budget.
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• Make it simple and easy to use.
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• Don't change the basic design often .let your community feet `at home`.
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• Be available: Answer or make others answer any massage- as soon as possible. Don't let the children wait too long for response.
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• Leave your ego `small` when you lead a forum -put the others in the center.
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• Make members of the community lead corners and forums according their fields of interest. In the virtual community everybody is equal.
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• `Listen` and `talk` about the subjects that are raised by the community.
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• Let the children use their natural language and don't correct it. Answer a simple answer and encourage them to response.
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• The virtual community is real. Meet them and organize real activities.
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• Make your supervisors be a part of the community.

Project Information

Total budget in US$ : -

Contact Information

Tali Ilani &Hagit Lavi

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