Strategy Spotlight: Optimal Position
In my experience with IEPs, one of the first accommodations listed for a child is almost always Preferential Seating. Also based on my experience, most General Education teachers don’t fully understand what Preferential Seating means. By the end of this post you should have a better understanding of Optimal Positioning for a child who is deaf or hard of hearing. (And follow the link at the bottom to download a handout to share with other professionals you work with!)
First off, let’s define Optimal Position. Optimal Position is when the proper position and distance between the speaker and the listener which enables the child with hearing loss to have the most optimal access to spoken language through audition. The ideal position for a young child is sitting in the adult’s lap such that the adult’s voice is six to eight inches from the microphone of the child’s equipment. However, it is not practical (or possible!) to have the child in the lap at all times (Crandell & Smaldino, 1994). We also have to consider that each ear is individual and does not have identical needs.
When there is a noticeable difference in configuration of loss, the speaker should be positioned closest to the ear with better access to sound. This means I often change seats and locations in my therapy room. Sometimes we are across the table, sometimes we are side by side, sometimes we are on the floor, and sometimes the child is in my lap. When I teach a class, each student has an assigned seat so that they are in their Optimal Position based on their amplification and where the sound sources are. These positionings can be replicated in the home. Adults and children interact in all of these configurations throughout their day. Families tend to have preferred seats at the dinner table or when riding in the car. The next step is to become aware about which side; left, right, or across; is the best side to be on in each of those settings.
First, let’s talk about classrooms and therapy settings.
In the first image on the left, there is a therapy table across from a door with a small window, but no other windows in the room. For a child with amplification only on the left, I would have them sit in the purple chair while sitting in the blue chair. If the opposite were true, I would have the child sit in the yellow chair while I sit in the red chair. If the child has bilateral amplification, we can be more flexible and consider more elements of classroom acoustics and work on unilateral skills if appropriate. A bilateral user may sit in the green chair with the adult in the yellow or blue chair. The green chair is also great for kiddos who are distracted visually by the window in the doorway.
In the therapy room in the middle, the adult typically sits in the red chair with a right unilateral user in the yellow and bilateral users in the blue and green chairs. Students work independently at desks against the wall, oriented so that the unilateral user has access to their peer in the blue chair. There are large windows that are kept with coverings over them to minimize reverberation and visual distraction.
The image on the right shows a preschool classroom where adults are seated in the red chairs during group instruction. Children with need of clear access to visuals, including the adult’s face, would sit in the green or blue chairs. Students with unilateral access might sit in purple or yellow chairs according to their needs. A child who has sufficient auditory skills may sit beside the teacher so they are more reliant on their audition than their visual access.
In the image above, an example of a General Education classroom, gives a variety of options for the multiple children who are deaf/hard of hearing in this class. The child who sits in the blue or yellow chair may have unilateral amplification. These students sit at desk pods in groups of 3. Depending on the activity, they may have their amplification closer to the teacher or closer to their peers- which ever is of higher need for the moment. The student in the green chair has bilateral amplification and is a proficient user of the FM (frequency modulation) system so they are not necessarily in the front most desk pod. At times, he engages in group work with a desk pod in the back of the room. All students in this class are nearing mastery of independent use of the FM system for group work, where a peer uses the transmitter instead of the teacher.
This example illustrates that “Preferential Seating” does not always mean the front row. Certain seating arrangements can help provide children with enhanced visual and auditory cues needed for communication (Flexer, 1995). Finding the optimal position for each child, especially when there are multiple children in a group. Classroom acoustics are an evolving issue as children move from room to room each year.
While planning, keep in mind that every time the distance between a speaker and listener is decreased by half, the sound signal increases by 6 dB (Ling, 1989).
Although optimal positioning will take some thought and practice, the benefits are worth the time and effort.
Now let’s change the scene and discuss what Optimal Positioning looks like for a younger child with a parent or other caregiver. Another example could be a parent with two children, an infant and a toddler. Both children are suing bilateral amplification. The infant is in an optimal position, close to the adult’s voice, with joint attention on the toy the toddler is holding. The infant can also see the sibling’s face to gain important cues and facial expressions.
We often spend most of our time cradling newborns, gazing into their sweet faces. A parent or caregiver should not be concerned that a newborn is gaining visual information from watching the speaker’s face, as this is how all newborns learn. The caregiver can, however, find time to continue auditory input when the infant is not looking directly at the caregiver’s face, such as during tummy time or when walking in the stroller or carrier. When a child and adult are both looking at the same object, they are said to have shared attention or joint attention.