Considerations in educating deaf and hard-of-hearing students in inclusive settings

TLDR

The article outlines key issues and challenges in implementing inclusive education for deaf and hard‑of‑hearing students, establishing a framework for interpreting the issue’s contributions. It reviews definitions of inclusion, integration, and mainstreaming from placement, philosophical, and pragmatic angles, presents demographic data, and contrasts inclusion perspectives in general special education with those specific to deaf education. The article concludes by summarizing the topics covered in the issue.

Abstract

This article provides an overview of key issues pertinent to an inclusive approach to the education of deaf students in order to establish a context for interpreting and integrating the articles in this issue. It discusses definitions of inclusion, integration, and mainstreaming from placement-related, philosophical, and pragmatic perspectives. The article provides demographic information pertinent to an inclusive approach. It also compares perspectives on inclusion in the general field of special education with those in the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. It considers the challenges of using an inclusive approach to achieve academic and social integration of students, as based on research on the learning and adjustment of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in regular classes. The article concludes with an overview of the topics addressed in the issue.