Teaching Students with Sensory Impairments
Inclusion
THE SPIRIT OF INCLUSION
Karen A. Waldron, Ph.D.
Mark, a fifth-grade student with a hearing impairment, regards his
classmate appreciatively. He’s interviewing a peer for a school newsletter. Both
are delighted to learn of a common interest in football and have begun to discuss
their favorite teams. Joe has already forgotten that he’s wearing the FM receiver
around his neck so that Mark can receive amplification of his voice. A new
friendship is developing for both boys.
Not far away in her secondary classroom, Lee Ann and her partners in a
Cooperative Learning Group sign "two minutes left" as they complete their study
of the legacies of Roberta Reid and Helen Keller. Previously in a separate school
for Deaf students, Lee Ann is becoming bilingual, expanding from her original
sign language to encompass an involvement in the oral community. Her parents
and teachers have encouraged her conveying knowledge of Deaf culture to her
hearing peers.
With the degree of support by the teachers in Mark and Lee Ann’s classrooms, this
quality of academic life for all students can build self-esteem, develop crucial friendships,
and develop a sense of respect for diversity.
Piaget tells us that the Sensory-Motor period for young children affords a multitude
of opportunities to move about, touch, feel, see, hear, and taste environmental input. But
language is a critical outcome of this developmental stage as these early experiences form
the basis for later abstract concepts and the ability to interact socially with others.
Depending on the child's age of onset and degree of hearing loss, as well as whether
parents are themselves hearing or deaf, communication with the child may lag or progress
based on early intervention. While there has been tremendous debate about whether to
focus on residual hearing in the development of oral language or to allow sign language to
develop naturally or directed into an expressive base, there is agreement among
researchers that children with hearing loss should be provided a strong communication
system. Gregory, Knight, McCracken, Powers, and Watson (1998) observe, "Children
who have not acquired fluency in a first language by age five do not subsequently catch
up, either in a signed or spoken language (p. 65)." When this early language immersion is
absent, students with hearing impairments may appear to be slow learners or sometimes
even intellectually delayed, when indeed they are gifted but require a variety of different
learning strategies from their hearing peers. Even when language modeling and
instruction are present, if communication differs from that of the family, learning and social
interactions will be different from those of hearing siblings and peers.
Sensory losses can have an impact upon relationships with others, subsequently
affecting self-esteem and the development of positive, healthy emotions. We all need at
least three things: Attention, Affection, and Approval from others, in order to feel good
about ourselves. But these “3 A’s” are based on a fourth “A”- Affiliation, that
acknowledges our need to belong to a group and to enjoy the wonderful relationships that
life has in store for us. Yet, more than 90 percent of children who are deaf are born to
hearing parents, placing them in a minority group to which their parents do not belong
(Marschark, Lang, & Albertini, 2002). Rarely intentionally, many children with hearing
losses are isolated and restricted from joining in conversations or group activities. Without
intervention, it can be more than challenging to develop a positive self-esteem when
young and a clear sense of identity as an adolescent. Isolation can change to inclusion
when successful communication methods of the student are considered and when
educators, families, and counselors work together to construct an environment where the
child's personal and learning needs can be met.
But, as with other populations, because of wide variations in personal and family
factors, a stereotypic response to students will not work. The cause of the hearing loss
(hereditary or adventitious) must be considered, along with the age of onset. If biological
parents are deaf, it is likely that children's early exposure to language and interactions with
others will be more developed than in a child with hearing parents. When hearing losses
occur after oral language has already developed, educational planning may be clearer.
Other families may be torn between immersing their child into a signed or spoken
language, or a bilingual program. Often, these programs are not clearly defined, but
based on school philosophy and educator preference. It is unlikely that instructional
decisions will be made all at once, but will vary along a continuum based on the child's
success with a communication system as well as parental preference and available
programs in the community. Students living in larger cities will experience more options
than those in rural or isolated areas.
Response to Deaf culture will also be a critical variable for students and their
families. Based on a sense that deafness is not best defined as a disability, but as a
cultural and linguistic difference that deserves respect and acknowledgment, profoundly
oppositional viewpoints need to be respected. But ideological differences within the Deaf
Community will have an impact in areas of extreme concern for a family: Should they
obtain a cochlear implant for their child or honor the deafness? Will sign or speech be the
preferred method of communication? Is it an acceptable alternative to join the bilingual
community, affording subsequent bi-culturalism as well?
Outside the family, little defines the childhood of students with hearing impairment
more than the type of primary and secondary educational setting. A continuum of services
exists, but as an era of assessment and competition for resources forges ahead,
communities have focused on inclusive rather than separate environments. Yet, to the
Deaf community, residential and special schools have been a long-term response to the
child's social and cultural needs. Through providing role models in teachers and peers,
they have established a unique opportunity for deaf children of deaf parents to develop an
emotional, linguistic, and academic support system that would be very difficult to achieve
in an inclusive environment. While research outcomes vary, more indicate that hearing
impaired and deaf children who attend separate schools obtain a higher level of emotional
maturity than those attending mainstream environments. Likely this is a result of the
students' education being designed around the needs of children with hearing loss. On
the other hand, hearing families' goals often differ through their emphasis on preparing
their child to participate fully in the hearing community as an adult. Particularly at the
secondary level, outcomes indicate that those attending more inclusive settings in public
schools may have more exposure to and success with advanced academic subjects
(Marschark et al., 2002).
The question then becomes: Is it possible for inclusive settings to include support to
develop a student's self-esteem and identity through respect for diversity of individual
linguistic and learning needs? Inclusion of students with any type of learning difference in
general education classes has caused both excitement and upset for educators and
parents. While perceptions and even definitions of inclusion vary, educators agree that it
involves the “…maximum integration of students with disabilities into general classrooms
or the increase in numbers or proportions of students who receive special services while
attending general education classes” (McCoy, 1995; Putnam, 1993). Inclusion differs from
mainstreaming because it is a “pull-in” philosophy, where students are educated in the
general classroom for the majority or totality of their day. Supportive services and
technology, such as amplification systems, are brought to that classroom wherever
possible. In contrast, mainstreaming is a “pull-out philosophy,” through which
mainstreamed students attend local schools, but often receive their education in separate
classes for part or most of their day. Inclusion goes farther than mainstreaming in
assuring that children will be educated with their hearing peers on as full-time a basis as
possible.
The degree of inclusion has been a matter of ongoing dispute, especially in
considering the placement needs of students with severe disabilities. Educators such as
Stainback and Stainback (1996) believe in full inclusion, where all students attend general
classes, despite the severity of their learning differences. Yet, other researchers such as
Lerner (2003) believe that even those students with milder disabilities such as dyslexia
and language impairments or behavioral disorders should not be included in general
education classes unless numerous ongoing specialized supports are provided.
Despite the understandable debate over the degree of inclusion, most
administrators of special education programs agree that decisions should be made on an
individual basis, prioritizing a student’s unique needs and only then selecting the best
classroom placement. They remind school Superintendents and Principals that inclusion
cannot work for any students who are placed in general classes with an untrained teacher
and without ongoing specialist assistance.
Necessary supports are detailed in the student’s Individual Educational Program
(IEP). This teaching plan is the result of a school or district in-depth assessment of
student needs, the diagnosis of a disability, and the input of educators and parents who
meet to discuss the best forms of programming to improve the student’s academic and
behavioral skills. The IEP provides a bridge between assessment and intervention. It
elaborates the student’s academic and behavioral performance, underscoring problem
areas. Dates for providing services are included as well as a plan for the committee to
meet again to review the effectiveness of instructional interventions. The plan also
contains annual academic and behavioral goals, with specific objectives, and provides
ways to evaluate the plan’s success.
In the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
amendments of 1997 require the members of the IEP team to explore the language needs
of each student with a hearing impairment and place the child in a setting where there are
"…opportunities for direct communications with peers and professional personnel in the
child's language and communication mode, academic level, and full range of needs,
including opportunities for direct instruction in the child's language and communication
mode (Sec. 300.346, iv)."
The IEP includes specific services the student will receive. It notes strategies for
teaching the student, such as shortened lessons with activity breaks for students with
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD). It indicates the type of participation the
student will have in general education classes, such as, for example, full inclusion with
only technological support or scheduled consultation with a teacher of the hearing
impaired. The IEP becomes a legal contract which details the responsibilities of the
general and specialist teachers who will work with the student, as well as necessary
related services and family supports, in order to meet educational and behavioral goals
(Waldron, 1996).
But, despite the most carefully written IEPs and the best of plans, national and
statewide programmatic changes can yield far more influence that decisions made on
individual school campuses. In the United States, the advent of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 2001 (PL 107-100), renamed the No Child Left Behind Act,
now requires system-level accountability to assure that all students are reading and
performing math at grade level by 2014. It mandated that only one percent of students
in public schools can receive alternative assessments and that two percent can be
assessed with modified standards. The majority of students receiving special education
services who are exempted from taking standardized tests have serious cognitive
impairments, such as autism or severe developmental delays. All other students must
demonstrate "Adequate Yearly Progress" in order for their school to be considered in
compliance with the law.
Understandably, these legal decisions have created very challenging
programmatic issues for teachers and students with hearing impairments and their
families. While students are permitted to use assistive technology supporting their
ongoing success in the classroom, deaf students and children with less-developed
abilities to read and write English may experience failure for reasons outside their
control. And in an age faced with concerns over equity and excellence, some teachers
will have ambivalent responses to including students with special needs in their general
education classes. While most agree that every child deserves to receive the same
quality of instruction, they need the skills and techniques to be able to maintain high
performance standards without slowing or “watering down” the curriculum. In an age
where educational success is measured by the results of standardized tests and
competition in the work-world, all students must be able to learn and apply content at a
rapid rate. These emphases make it particularly difficult for the classroom teacher when
students with unique differences, such as a hearing loss, are placed in their classrooms.
Rarely does a teacher want to exclude any child from the classroom. But without
training in teaching students with sensory losses and with recent funding cuts resulting
in fewer visits by specialist teachers, it’s often difficult to meet the needs of students
with hearing impairments as well as fully support the learning of hearing peers.
The purpose of this handbook is to provide specific and practical things that
educators can do to successfully include students with hearing losses in their general
education classrooms. After initially describing students' learning characteristics, the focus
will then be on teachers’ primary concern: the most successful teaching strategies
available. We will discuss the way educators can make best use of even limited
specialists’ time in their classrooms, as well as the technology available to enable students
to participate as fully as possible. Importantly, we will offer daily social skills strategies so
that the student can adapt to teacher expectations and develop the friendships that are so
important to all of us. We will focus on ways to work with children and families from varied
cultural backgrounds, allowing educators to interact well with parents and to model and
embrace diversity daily in their classrooms.
We will refer you to on-line Internet resources for the sites you may want to visit
for additional information. As you develop inclusive programs in your schools, we hope
that you will use the ideas in this book, print individual pages or the entire text freely to
share with your colleagues, and modify strategies to meet the unique needs of your
classroom. Our goals are twofold: to see that no student faces the tragedy of a lonely,
isolated childhood and to assure that every student can have a place in our classrooms
and experience personal and academic success.
References
Gregory, S; Knight, P; McCraken, W., Powers, S. & Watson, L. (1998). Issues in deaf
education. London: David Fulton Publishers.
Marschark, M., Lang, H.G., & Albertini, J.A. (2002). Educating deaf students: From
research to practice. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lerner, J. (2003). Learning Disabilities: Theories, diagnosis, and teaching strategies.
Boston, MD: Houghton-Mifflin.
McCoy, K.M. (1995). Teaching special learners in the general education classroom:
Methods and techniques. Denver, CO: Love Publishing.
Putnam, J (1993). Cooperative learning and strategies for inclusion: Celebrating diversity
in the classroom. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
Stainback, S.B., & Stainback, W.C. (1996). Inclusion: A guide for educators. Baltimore,
MD: Paul H. Brookes.
Waldron, K.A. (1996). Introduction to a special education: The inclusive classroom. NY:
ITP/Wadsworth.