Joy Pyles

November 21, 2007

This I-Search paper is the product of a long thought process and much research that changed courses several times before it came to be. When I was first posed with what topic I wanted to research, I immediately thought of aural habilitation. I didn’t have much knowledge on the subject when we were defining our research for this class, but I was in a aural habilitation class where we were just beginning to talk about cochlear implants and habilitation methods. I have always had an interest in cochlear implants but wasn’t aware of how they worked and all that was necessary for them to function. Still, I loved the idea of helping people hear and, in turn, allowing them to communicate better. 

I wanted to connect the topic of sensory devices to literacy, but coming up with an essential question to answer through my research was very difficult and required many revisions. I considered looking at literacy skills when using one hearing aid versus binaural hearing aids, which was suggested by my aural habilitation instructor. Although it was interesting, I wasn’t enjoying the research.

During this time I was periodically observing the Luke Lee Listening, Language, and Learning Lab, referred to as “The L,” on campus. The L is a preschool for children who use sensory devices, such as hearing aids and/or cochlear implants. The L uses the auditory-oral method when working with these children in therapy and in their daily routine.  I was amazed to see how well some of the children in the preschool were functioning with their devices, and how age appropriate some of them were. Thus began my desire to research more on how literacy and cochlear implants were connected.

 I met with Mrs. McComas, my instructor for this class, for a conference to discuss how my project was coming and solidify my research question. Through some re-wording of my essential question and discourse about what I wanted to accomplish through this project, we narrowed down what I would be researching. We also came up with some foundational questions I would need to address in order to answer my main question which is “What do we know about developing literacy skills in children with severe-profound hearing loss?”

This project was interesting to research and I feel I learned a lot about a topic that I love.