How a Spelling Bee is Foremost a Listening Bee.

It is well accepted that the development of reading and writing are correlated with phonological decoding skills. The limitations that children who are deaf and hearing impaired experience in phonological perception have also been purported to impact their developing literacy skills. The challenges that these children face may be difficult for teachers to truly appreciate without first hand experience. This paper presents an experiential learning activity geared towards raising an understanding and appreciation for the challenges that children with hearing impairment face in performing literacy tasks in the classroom. Details of how to implement the activity are provided, along with prompts for stimulating discussion and reflection. A brief appraisal of our experiences with this activity is provided for the reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]