Outcomes of Children
TEACH
Teachers’ Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children
The TEACH is a diary kept by teachers about how children are using their listening in everyday life. There are questions asking how children are listening when it’s quiet or noisy, listening to sounds around them and on the phone and many more. First, teachers write down examples of a child’s behaviour in the diary, and then they discuss their examples with a researcher. The TEACH is scored on the number of examples and so the more examples the better!
We know that completing a TEACH diary takes attention, time and it is extra work but it gives you and us lots of very useful information about a child’s hearing. You get to keep a record of how a child’s listening skills develop over time. This information is also useful for guiding audiological management of your child.
A lot of teachers have reported that they have difficult observing children in noisy environment because their sessions with the child are quiet times. Here are some suggestions on how to look at listening in noisy situations during your lesson.
- During playgroup
- In the waiting room area before or after the therapy session
- While the child is playing with noisy toys such as skittles, rain sticks, musical toys, musical instruments, noisemakers, noisy puppets
- While there are people talking in the session such as the therapist and the parent conversing
- If there are any loud outside noises such as trucks going past, airplanes
- If there is background music playing
- If the phone or the doorbell ringing
Thanks for helping us by completing TEACH diaries.
A sample TEACH item:
5. You are in a noisy place with the child. Does she respond to a familiar voice the first time you call when she is unable to see your face?
- Isabelle was playing when a plane flew overhead. She looked up and I asked “Isabelle, what was that?”. She said “Plane!”
- Isabelle was playing with a toy drum. I said “Isabelle, it’s too loud” and she didn’t respond.
- Isabelle’s mother’s mobile phone rang during our session. Her mum said “Isabelle … what’s that?” Isabelle pointed at her mother’s handbag.
- During the session Isabelle’s mother left the room. When she came back she knocked continuously on the door and called Isabelle’s name. Isabelle went and opened the door
- We had a CD playing background music at the end of the session. I said “Isabelle … it’s time to go” and Isabelle turned to look at me.
- During free-play time playgroup (which was moderately noisy) the teacher called Isabelle’s name but she did not respond.
- At morning tea time at playgroup Isabelle was sitting at a table with 5 other children. The teacher called Isabelle’s name and Isabelle turned to look at her.
- During pack-away time at playgroup the teacher said “Isabelle … get the bucket” and Isabelle went and collected the bucket.