Great question! My daughter was born profoundly deaf. Well, at first the teachers/speech therapist aren't worried about spelling whatsoever. They just want to get the kids making the proper sounds of the letters and so on. Then when that's all mastered, they worry about spelling. Now, having said that, the type of deafness varies greatly as will the schooling required. So kids will never hear, my daughter has a cochlear implant and can hear a wider range of frequencies than your ear couod ever hear. But my daughter takes spelling tests the same way you and i do! Good meme, great question!! :). Upvote!