Kathy Allen's Communication Strategies:

Replace non-specific strategies, such as "Excuse me, what did you say?" "Pardon?" and "Huh?" with specific strategies:

• Please repeat that more slowly.
• What is the topic we are discussing?

Experiment with new strategies:

• Can you say that another way?
• Can you write down that word?
• Can you spell that slowly?
• I heard you say "--------", but I did not understand the rest.
• Does that begin with "b" as in baseball?

Manage your environment by saying:

• Let's move away from the music.
• I'll need to switch seats so the window is behind me.
• I need the lights turned up more.
• I need the sound turned up more.
• I need to move closer to the speaker.

Explain your needs:

• I can understand/hear you/ lipread better if you.
• I do much better if you speak slower.
• It is difficult for me to lipread/speechread when your hand covers your mouth.