TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHER IN CLASSROOM, DESPITE HERSELF

Ida Domazlicky vowed she would never become a teacher, but she did -- despite herself.

Her parents and three aunts were teachers.

Domazlicky wanted to try a different career.

It didn't work. She has been a teacher for 22 years.

"It is only in teaching that I feel I touch someone's life and make it a little better," she said.

This is the third year Domazlicky has taught hearing-impaired students for the Cape Girardeau School District.

She teaches at Jefferson Elementary School, where the district's hearing-impaired program is housed.

Her career, however, included stints teaching college-level writing and inmates at an Illinois medium-security prison.

She has taught preschool, the gifted and behavior-disordered students.

And, she has been a teacher and director at the Family Learning Center in Cape Girardeau, a program for children with behavior problems.

But, teaching hearing-impaired students offers great satisfaction for her.

The beginning of two-way communication starts when a child realizes that things have labels, she said.

The child's first words are usually in sign language with speech coming later.

These are some of the cherished memories for Domazlicky -- seeing children realize language.

Domazlicky teaches total communication, a combination of speech, Signed English and body language. Signed English isn't American Sign Language.

It is regular English put into a visual form. American Sign Language is also used when parents feel it is best.

Children learn best by experience, but Domazlicky said the rule is doubly true for hearing-impaired students.

"I try to have a touchable example or make a field trip to see what we are talking about," she said. "At the very least we look at lots of pictures, and my room is visually a very active place."

While most teachers change their bulletin boards once a month, Domazlicky changes hers weekly.

Domazlicky also accompanies students to regular classrooms and serves as an interpreter.

The hearing world needs to learn a few things about the deaf, she said.

"The deaf don't get better at speech reading because they have no sense of hearing," she said. "A few deaf people are naturally good at speech reading, but most are not and never will be."

People shouldn't assume a hearing-impaired person can understand them when they speak, Domazlicky said.

Also, she said, parents who suspect a hearing problem in an infant or child should have it checked as soon as possible.

Domazlicky and her husband, Bruce, have two children, Rebecca, a student at Southeast Missouri State University, and Eric, a sophomore at Central High.

She enjoys bird-watching, gardening and writing and is author of "The Bald Eagle in Illinois," published in 1991 by the Illinois Audubon Society.