An Administrator's View on Inclusion for Deaf Children

2020

Inclusive education means that all pupils, regardless of their ability, gender and race, can study with their peers in the school closest to their place of residence. When enrolling students with special needs in a school, the quality of the student’s academic and social inclusion is equally important. The study aims to analyze the single case of inclusion of a boy with a hearing impairment in a mainstream school X to answer the research questions: how do teachers deal with a pupil with hearing impairment and his needs in the classroom, what are the peculiarities of a hearing-impaired child’s learning, what support (academic and social) is provided to the boy to promote his inclusion in school and the classroom? In the qualitative study, semi structured interviews were conducted with the boy with a hearing impairment and 5 teachers of school X and the boy’s father, they were analyzed using content analysis. Three main categories emerged from the data: (1) support provided by teacher...

Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 2002

This article discusses the importance of membership in the inclusive education of deaf/hard-of-hearing (D/HH) students. Membership refers to being an integral part of the classroom and school communities. Membership is a key philosophical concept in inclusion that may influence how classroom teachers and teachers of D/HH students share their expertise and how they work with students and each other. Membership can be contrasted with "visitorship." When programs treat D/HH students as visitors, these students face greater barriers to obtaining a quality education in classes with hearing students. A social constructivist perspective of learning and teaching that requires students in the classroom to interact with one another and the teacher may best promote learning and is consistent with a focus on membership. We suggest that inclusion is possible, but to sustain students as full members of their classes and school, programs must go beyond placement and communication access issues. To facilitate membership, inclusive programs must carefully address teacher attitudes, teacher roles and relationships, student knowledge and curriculum, structural barriers, extracurricular activities, community relationships, and parental support. Inclusion of deaf/hard-of-hearing (D/HH) students in public schools is one of the more controversial topics in the field. Many authors, when writing about inclusion, have focused on D/HH students' access to classroom communication (Innes, 1994; McCartney, 1994; Ramsey, 1997). Without access, inclusion is impossible, but communication access alone is not sufficient for effective inclusion. An effective inclusion program requires

2020

is a 5-year-old student with significant physical and cognitive disabilities, and she is deaf**. She attends a kindergarten class in her neighborhood school with hearing students with disabilities and a one-to-one assistant who signs. Annie's parents use sign language with her, and they've provided her with cochlear implants in the hopes that she will be able to access and acquire spoken language, too. Though she doesn't say many words that other people understand, Annie uses her voice and many sign approximations to make her needs and wants known. She is also learning to use a Picture Exchange Communication System with her signs to make her wants and needs clearer. She is engaged with and responsive to her environment. Frankie* is a 10-year-old fourth grade student with Down syndrome, and he is hard of hearing. He uses spoken language to express himself; he has hearing aids but doesn't always use them. Frankie sits in his local school class and appears engaged; however, for several years he hasn't made much progress on his Individualized Education Program goals. He reads simple words and enjoys looking at pictures in books. Frankie doesn't have many friends, and his parents have been unimpressed with his progress. He receives itinerant services from a teacher of the deaf who serves him in a classroom for hearing students with moderate disabilities. The itinerant teacher of the deaf doesn't know much sign language.

1 The rate of poor academic performance among deaf students, particularly in relative comparison with hearing counterparts in inclusive system is so disturbing and worrisome that it raises concerns among professional and queries the relevance of Sign Language Interpreters and effectiveness of inclusive education to the Deaf. This primarily cannot be exonerated from the impact of language as an important tool that is indispensible in any human endeavour. Its deficit therefore hampers and causes a lot of havoc in academic life and every other area of a Deaf individual. Aside this, the education of a Deaf person is affected by several factors which are responsible for shortfalls as being experienced in academic achievement of this category of persons with different communicative needs. Though, some of these factors are inherent in the Deaf students themselves, educational policy makers, government agencies, Sign Language Interpreters, regular classroom teachers and other stakeholders holds shared responsibilities to stage-manage these factors and ensure an improved output in educating the Deaf. This paper therefore discusses the areas of focus, consideration as well as classroom and professional preparation and accommodation to best manage these challenges through multidimensional approaches to produce a worthwhile result Deaf students population.

The term integration means the systematic placement of something within something else and the completion of the subject as an independent, whole part of a larger whole. The term incorporation (mainstreaming) denotes the one-way attachment and assimilation of one to a whole or, in other words, the acquisition of a body or flow by acquiring the characteristics of a heteroid set and losing the original characteristics. The term inclusive education replaces the terms inclusion and integration. The adjective inclusive comes from the Latin verb includere, which means "include". The term can be abbreviated as "inclusive education" or "non-exclusion education". This article focuses on the integration, integration and inclusive education of deaf children in the public school.

1989

The paper documents the "failure" of deaf education and proposes a model program for the education of deaf children. Reasons given for this failure include lack of linguistic access to curricular content and the cycle of low expectations. Early acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) is encouraged both to develop cognitive skills and improve the child's ability to learn English. Twelve principles of the proposed model educational program include: sign language as the first language of deaf children, separation of sign aid spoken language in the curriculum, second language (English) learning through reading and writing; and the least restrictive environment as one in which deaf children acquire a natural sign language and thus, access to spoken language and curriculum content. Program components include: (1) Family Support Program (assisting children and families in language learning); (2) Family-Infant-Toddler Program (organized activities and training to foster ASL acquisition and socio-emotional development); (3) a preschool-kindergarten curriculum designed to prepare the children for the regular primary school; (4) a grades 1-12 component taught in such a way as to enable deaf students to acquire the regular curriculum; (5) a Child Development Center providing day-care and developmental experiences for children through the third grade; (6) an administration, research and development component; and (7) a component focused on materials and resources development. (DB)

Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 2007

Journal of deaf studies and …, 2010

Direct observation was utilized to study how 5 children with mild-to-moderate deafness participated within inclusive classroom settings. Responses to practice and prompt opportunities, levels of prompting required to follow classroom directions, and engagement were analyzed across students with mild-to-moderate deafness and were compared to students with normal hearing. Similar responses to practice and prompt opportunities were observed across students, and engagement data indicated that 4 children with mildto-moderate deafness had similar rates to their peers. However, children with mild-to-moderate deafness required higher levels of prompting and were less accurate at following classwide verbal prompts. Agreement data on variables ranged between 83% and 99%, with the exception of 2 prompting levels. Social validity judgments indicated that the information was useful and important. Potential uses for data include consultation with teachers regarding interventions to increase student engagement and research regarding inclusionary practices.

Journal of Human Ecology, 2008

Inclusiveness is an educational reform aiming at redesigning the general education structures to accommodate both able-bodied learners and learners with disabilities. This is a departure from an old practice of training special needs learners in special schools. This new reform however faces some challenges. For instance, placing the deaf schoolchild in an inclusive class with the hearing classmates would require a communication mode that is acceptable to all parties and is also very effective for dispensing classroom instructions. This paper therefore identifies total communication as the functional communication mode considered most appropriate for use in an inclusive class for hearing and nonhearing learners. The paper highlights the qualities of total communication. It also discusses means for enhancing the use of this communication option to facilitate the realization of inclusive education objectives.