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".
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!!!
