By ignoring the family in the inclusive agenda, more of the serious causes of disability remain a creation of society. Inclusive education means that deaf children participate in the daily activities of their lives in the family and in the community. The success of inclusive education policies and the realization of rights for deaf children should also be measured by the participation of parents in their children's education.
The participation of parents in the education of their Deaf children is one of the best strategies to gain curriculum access. The development of a Deaf child depends on the family's ability to quickly adapt to the disability in the family and help the child develop like other children. For example, it depends on the attitudes in the family's immediate environment (mesosystem), and the help expected from the exosystem (the school, health care and other services).
Education would therefore not provide the necessary outreach services to the child in the home. One of the most important and early support services to those directly involved in the child's life is language. However, the use of interpreters in the case of parents and guardians of Deaf children may not be sustainable.
The higher cost of cochlear implants in the developing world is a major limiting factor for access to the service.
3 Purpose of the study
4 Research questions
5 Research hypotheses
6 Methods
- Participants
- The survey instrument
- Data Collection
- Data Analysis
'Yes' to the first question they were further asked to tick the options whether they were able to communicate with deaf children. A scale was provided and respondents had to tick 'Good', 'Very good' and 'Well, but with problems'. The second research question aimed to find out what strategies respondents used to communicate with deaf children.
Some strategies were outlined for selection, but space was provided for respondents to write other strategies that did not appear on the list. The strategies outlined were pointing, dragging the person, writing on the ground, lip reading and writing on a piece of paper. The survey instrument further collected data on the respondents' understanding of the impact of a lack of SL on their part as parents and guardians on the Deaf children.
The other question on the survey instrument asked about the respondents' willingness to learn SL. This was intended to help the researcher to verify the authenticity of the answers they gave to earlier questions and to determine their attitudes towards learning SL. Respondents who were not willing to learn SL were further asked to indicate the reasons.
The last question was about suggestions to help them learn SL if they were willing to learn. This did not affect the validity and reliability of the data, because on each questionnaire either all or more than three quarters of the questions were answered. Guidance was given to research assistants to help them read questions and write answers for respondents who were not literate.
To ensure high questionnaire return rates, research assistants were advised to administer and collect completed questionnaires immediately after respondents responded. For example, a test was conducted to determine whether there were significant differences between males and females' ability to use SL and willingness to learn SL. A further test was conducted to determine whether the type of relationship between parents and Deaf children was related to their willingness to learn SL.
7 Results
- Demographic data
- Research Question 1: Are parents and guardians able to communicate with the Deaf children?
- Research Question 2: What are the types of
- Research Question 3: What are the perceptions of parents and guardians about communication with Deaf children?
- Research question 4: Do parents and guardians understand the impact of communication barrier on Deaf children’s
- Parents and guardians’ willingness to learn SL
The table also shows that some deaf children did not go to school, and the relationship between parents and guardians of deaf children was varied. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they were able to communicate with the deaf children in their families. The results were cross-tabulated and a Chi square test was run to determine if there were significant differences between males and females and their ability to communicate with the deaf children in their home.
Overall, the results show that most parents and caregivers were unable to communicate with deaf children due to a lack of SL. There were no significant differences between respondents and respondents and the ability to communicate with deaf children. This means that gender was not related to their ability to use SL, disproving the hypothesis that "parents and caregivers communicated better with deaf children in SL than their male counterparts".
Respondents were additionally asked about the strategies respondents used to communicate with deaf children in their homes. To collect data for this question, respondents were asked to indicate how deaf children respond when communication breaks down. They were further asked to indicate "yes" or "no" regarding whether they perceived deaf children as short-tempered or not.
The parents and guardians were also asked how they reacted to communication breakdowns with deaf children. From the results, most parents reported that deaf children reacted angrily when there was a communication barrier. Based on the results, there seems to be a general perception that deaf children (40-48 per cent) were generally short-hearted.
From Figure 5, parents and caregivers show an understanding that deaf children feel emotionally affected when they encounter a communication breakdown, 42-49 percent. Parents and guardians further understand that the lack of SL also affects the school performance of deaf children and yes. These expressions show that parents understand the impact of a communication barrier on deaf children.
However, they do not seem to have a solution to the problems they face in communicating with deaf children. Another chi-square test was conducted to determine whether there was a significant relationship between the type of relationship parents and caregivers had with deaf children and willingness to learn SL.
8 Discussion
They suggested having SL clubs, going to school to learn SL, having SL books, televised lessons, having evening classes and attaching a special teacher to homes where there were Deaf children. Although Featherstone argues that females are more concerned and caring about disability in terms of SL learning, this study found no differences between males and females.71 Both male and female parents and caregivers had difficulty communicating with their children. Deaf. Communication challenges in a home have serious consequences on the overall development of deaf children.
This study shows that families of deaf children lack SL communication skills and are therefore limited in communicating with their children with hearing problems. The strategies parents and guardians used to communicate with their deaf children, such as pointing, writing on the floor, and using a piece of paper, were limiting compared to when they were learning SL. The study found that parents understand the impact of a lack of SL on the overall development of their deaf children.
While deaf children are emotionally affected by their parents' and caregivers' lack of communication skills, the lack of necessary skills in turn affected how parents and caregivers responded to the impairment. In this study, parents and caregivers appear to have built up negative perceptions that deaf children are generally short-tempered. This study found that parents reacted with frustration when they encountered communication barriers with their deaf children.
It is not correct to think that all Deaf children are short-tempered when they have equally different personality tendencies. In many other cases, the facial expressions displayed by deaf children are likely to be misconstrued as a temper or a negative reaction to what other family members are saying. Parents need different types of support, which include counselling, skills, monetary and expert assistance that derives from the macro level and helps them to be more positive about the education of Deaf children.
At the heart of this study, a key argument is the need to empower parents with SL skills to enable good communication between parents and deaf children. As it is now, deaf children do not seem to benefit much from the practice of inclusive education because they are excluded from their homes. This study reveals that parents' eagerness to communicate effectively with deaf children was hindered by a lack of SL skills.
9 Conclusion and recommendations
