Rethinking The Education Of Deaf Students

Here is a compelling and controversial text which asserts that Deaf students should be treated no differently than non Deaf students. The author, a veteran and practicing teacher, rejects the predominant view of Deaf students as special learners in need of language remediation and repair. Instead, she maintains that for Deaf students as well as their hearing counterparts, the primary educational goal is the making and sharing of understandings in various subjects. Furthermore, she views this as a process that occurs naturally, concomitantly, and reciprocally with the acquisition of language--regardless of one's hearing ability. Livingston's assertion clashes with conventional Deaf education, which presumes that the wider learning begins after students master a sign system that codifies and reconstructs English. With a cumbersome, orderly, piecemeal, and unnatural approach, this traditional view frequently forces teachers to water down curriculums in an attempt to make English more readily acquired. As a result, Deaf students are deprived of rich and challenging content. Rethinking the Education of Deaf Students offers an alternative and demonstrates how American Sign Language (ASL) and English can coexist in the same classroom, embedded in the content of what is being taught. Through clear theoretical explanations, field-tested teaching strategies, authentic examples of students' work, lesson plans, and sections on assessment, Livingston suggests ways to help students become educated language users. Her ideas hold enormous implications for those who teach Deaf students, develop school budgets, design programs, and train future teachers. More important, they may hold the key that unlocks the potential of Deaf students of all ages to become voracious readers and accomplished writers.

Biliteracy, or the development of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking competencies in more than one language, is a complex and dynamic process. The process is even more challenging when the languages used in the literacy process differ in modality. Biliteracy development among deaf students involves the use of visual languages (i.e., sign languages) and auditory languages (spoken languages). Deaf students' sign language proficiency is strongly related to their literacy abilities. The distinction between bilingualism and multilingualism is critical to our understanding of the underserved, the linguistic deficit, and the underachievement of deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) immigrant students, thus bringing the multilingual and immigrant aspect into the research on deaf education. Multilingual and immigrant students may face unique challenges in the course of their education. Hence, in the education of D/HH students, the intersection of issues such as biculturalism/multiculturalism, bilingualism/multilingualism, and immigration can create a dilemma for teachers and other stakeholders working with them. Deaf Education and Challenges for Bilingual/Multilingual Students is an essential reference book that provides knowledge, skills, and dispositions for teaching multicultural, multilingual, and immigrant deaf and hard of hearing students globally and identifies the challenges facing the inclusion needs of this population. This book fills a current gap in educational resources for teaching immigrant, multilingual, and multicultural deaf students in learning institutions all over the world. Covering topics such as universal design for learning, inclusion, literacy, and language acquisition, this text is crucial for classroom teachers of deaf or hard of hearing students, faculty in deaf education programs, language instructors, students, pre-service teachers, researchers, and academicians.

This text is the result of work discussed and presented at the Workshop on Classifier Constructions. It aims to bring to light issues related to the study of classifier constructions and to present contemporary linguistic and psycholinguistic analyses of these constructions.

As the practice of mainstreaming deaf and hard of hearing children into general classrooms continues to proliferate, the performances of these students becomes critical. Deaf Children in Public Schools assesses the progress of three second-grade deaf students to demonstrate the importance of placement, context, and language in their development. Ramsey points out that these deaf children were placed in two different environments, with the general population of hearing students, and separately with other deaf and hard of hearing children. Her incisive study reveals that although both settings were ostensibly educational, inclusion in the general population was done to comply with the law, not to establish specific goals for the deaf children. In contrast, self-contained classes for deaf and hard of hearing children were designed especially to concentrate upon their particular learning needs. Deaf Children in Public Schools also demonstrates that the key educational element of language development cannot be achieved in a social vacuum, which deaf children face in the real isolation of the mainstream classroom. Based upon these insights, Deaf Children in Public Schools follows the deaf students in school to consider three questions regarding the merit of language study without social interaction or cultural access, the meaning of context in relation to their educational success, and the benefits of the perception of the setting as the context rather than as a place. The intricate answers found in this cohesive book offer educators, scholars, and parents a remarkable stage for assessing and enhancing the educational context for the deaf children within their purview.

"Great for parents or someone who teaches the deaf, is entering the field of audiology, or is unfamiliar with hearing loss." —Roberta Agar-Jacobsen, Teacher of the Deaf, Tacoma Public Schools, WA "The way the many complexities of speech are discussed, explained, and addressed is very reader-friendly, easy to understand, and accessible." —Sherilyn Renner, Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Bozeman Public Schools, MT "I have a student who is hard of hearing: How do I assist the student in speaking?" As a result of IDEA 2004 and NCLB, more and more students with hearing loss are being educated alongside their hearing peers, making teachers and service professionals responsible for helping to fulfill their educational needs. Written by experts in the field, Helping Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students to Use Spoken Language provides educators and novice practitioners with the knowledge and skills in spoken language development to meet the needs of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. The authors′ model of auditory, speech, and language development has been used successfully with the deaf and hard of hearing population, in training preservice teachers, and in workshops and presentations for practicing professionals. This essential resource introduces the authors′ developmental model and addresses: Creative and scientific ways of interacting with children with hearing loss to develop spoken communication Effective approaches, techniques, and strategies for working with children in the primary grades Techniques for imparting social and academic information while children are learning to communicate This authoritative reference gives teachers the confidence to provide students with a well-prepared, intensely stimulating environment to foster the natural emergence of spoken language.

This collection unites expert scholars in a comprehensive survey of critical topics in bilingual deaf education. Drawing on the work of Dr. Robert Hoffmeister, chapters explore the concept that a strong first language is critical to later learning and literacy development. In thought-provoking essays, authors discuss the theoretical underpinnings of bilingual deaf education, teaching strategies for deaf students, and the unique challenges of signed language assessment. Essential for anyone looking to expand their understanding of bilingualism and deafness, this volume reflects Dr. Hoffmeister's impact on the field while demonstrating the ultimate resilience of human language and literacy systems.

In this collection of articles, teachers bring students' home languages into their classrooms-from powerful bilingual social justice curriculum to strategies for honoring students' languages in schools that do not have bilingual programs. Bilingual educators and advocates share how they work to keep equity at the center and build solidarity between diverse communities. Teachers and students speak to the tragedy of languages loss, but also about inspiring work to defend and expand bilingual programs. Book jacket.

Education for deaf learners has gone through significant changes in recent decades, and the needs of many have changed considerably. Meanwhile, the population of deaf learners only has become more diverse. This volume adopts a broad, international perspective, capturing the complexities and commonalities in the development of deaf learners as well as the challenges and potential solutions involved in supporting their learning and academic outcomes.

Education for deaf learners has gone through significant changes over the past three decades. The needs of many have changed considerably. But deaf learners are not hearing learners who cannot hear. This volume adopts a broad, international perspective, capturing the complexities and commonalities in the developmental mosaic of deaf learners.

If teachers want to educate deaf learners effectively, they have to apply evidence-informed methods and didactics with the needs of individual deaf students in mind. Education in general -- and education for deaf learners in particular -- is situated in broader societal contexts, where what works within the Western world may be quite different from what works beyond the Western world. By exploring practice-based and research-based evidence about deaf education in countries that largely have been left out of the international discussion thus far, this volume encourages more researchers in more countries to continue investigating the learning environment of deaf learners, based on the premise of leaving no one behind. Featuring chapters centering on 19 countries, from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe, the volume offers a picture of deaf education from the perspectives of local scholars and teachers who demonstrate best practices and challenges within their respective regional contexts. This volume addresses the notion of learning through the exchange of knowledge; outlines the commonalities and differences between practices and policies in educating deaf and hard-of-hearing learners; and looks ahead to the prospects for the future development of deaf education research in the context of recently adopted international legal frameworks. Stimulating academic exchange regionally and globally among scholars and teachers who are fascinated by and invested in deaf education, this volume strengthens the foundation for further improvement of education for deaf children all around the world.