Issues Related to Inclusion: Sensory Impairments

Issues Related to Inclusion:  Sensory Impairments

Hearing:

Number of variables may place children who are hard of hearing at risk for educational failure, one being the environment.  The noise levels of the classrooms, gym, cafeteria and the computer rooms all have different levels.  A teacher generally speaks at the same level as background noise.  In all of these settings, children with any hearing loss are challenged.

For children who are completely deaf, the impact on communication is far more devastating.  Even with the most sophisticated hearing aids, speech can be inaudible to the child.  This means children face major difficulties in learning language, as well as significant articulation, voice quality, and tone discrimination problems.  Deaf children prefer solitary constructive play, whereas hearing children of the same age prefer co-operative dramatic play. 

For teachers, the most difficult challenge to deal with (especially in the severe form of total hearing loss) is the deprivation of language which creates a barrier to learning.  Many general classroom teachers are not very knowledgeable about hearing impairment and it is not unusual for teachers to express anxiety about working with a student with a hearing impairment in a general setting, especially if adequate communication and social supports are lacking.

Inclusion for students with severe hearing losses has not yet emerged.  It seems reasonable to argue that there should be various educational settings available.  In general, the educational setting for a specific child is determined by linguistic needs; the severity of the loss and the potential for using residual hearing with or without amplification; academic level; social, emotional, and cultural needs, including appropriate interaction and communication with peers; and communication needs; including the child and the family’s preferred mode of communication.

 

VISION:

Social/Emotional:

Children who are visually impaired miss many important non-verbal cues given by either or teachers and peers through facial expressions, gestures, and body language.  Since these children fail to make expected eye contact with peers and typically will not smile, communication with sighted people may be harmed by lack of eye contact.  The failure to look at people may be interpreted as disinterest rather than a s a manifestation of the disability itself.

Play Behaviour:

Children with severe visual impairments do not display a full range of play behaviours; the delays seem to be related to the limitations imposed by the visual impairments.  Children with severe losses may be substantially delayed in sensory motor play and delays in social play and can be at least 2 years behind sighted children.  They are rarely sought out by their peers, infrequently severe as role models and are the least preferred play partners of typical children.

Working with the Resource Teacher:

Many students who are blind or visually impaired spend the majority of their day in a regular class with peers.  While many of their learning opportunities need not take a great deal of adjustment, there are certainly specialized interventions and techniques that may be necessary.  Because the percentage of students with blindness and visual impairments within a given population can be very low, it is not always a reasonable expectation that all classroom teachers will have the specialized knowledge needed to be as effective as possible.  Because of this, it is not uncommon for boards of education to have what would be referred to as itinerant teachers or resource persons for the following types of things:

-       Explanation of the student’s impairment to educators at the school level

-       Assessment of the student’s residual vision

-       Provision, training (teacher and student), and integration of specialized equipment

-       Strategies of instruction

-       Provision of Braille

-       Socialization and adaptation strategies (student, teacher, and classmates)

-       Orientation and mobility information

-       Available resource support materials and organizations

In this video, they students are  performing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" from the movie "The Lion King". The girls in the back sing, while the students in the front sign the song, in Kenyan Sign Language, not ASL. So a lot of the signs are different from what you would normally see here in Canada and the US, as you will notice with words such as "Lion" and "Tonight".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgQFWDoahFc

This video is not in a school setting, but I just had to show everyone how these students came together on a trip to enjoy a circus just the way we all would!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8l6sEBT7U0