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Support to address barriers to learning for learners who are deaf

MAPEPA, Peter
MAGANO, Meahabo D.
2018

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Background: There is great importance in support services for successfully addressing the barriers to learning optimally or learners who are deaf. The study, though conducted in South Africa, has national and international appeal.

 

Objectives: The aim of the study was to identify educator reflections on support services needed for them to address barriers to learning of learners who are deaf.

 

Method: The study used a qualitative design for collecting data in natural settings. A sample size of 11 educators of learners who are deaf was purposively selected from two provinces of South Africa. The study used an open ended individual interview questionnaire.

 

Results: Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis considering the context of the schools in which the study was carried out. Results showed that there was: limited curriculum support in special schools; lack of support and inadequate teaching and learning materials; overcrowding in one school and; limited support of multidisciplinary professionals in most schools.

 

Conclusion: The study provided a framework for support services important for research, policy and practice. Of significance was the relevance of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) theoretical framework in implementing support services programmes in schools.

Effect of Abacus Training on Numerical Ability of Students with Hearing Loss

JADHAV, Atul Kaluram
GATHOO, Varsha Shrikant
2018

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Purpose: The study focussed on the effect of Abacus training on numerical ability (comprising of counting and mathematical operations) of children with hearing loss.

 

Method: 90 students with hearing loss were sampled from 6 special schools in Mumbai, India. A quasi- experimental study was employed using two group pre-test and post-test design. Data were collected using the Numerical Ability Test (NAT) as an instrument. Six null hypotheses based on the objectives were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-Test - Assuming Equal Variances.

 

Results: The findings revealed that the experimental group which was instructed through Abacus showed higher proficiency in numerical ability as compared to the control group instructed through the conventional method. Gender as a variable seems to influence the mean achievement of numerical ability of students with hearing loss. While girls and boys did not differ in simple tasks such as counting, boys were found to be better in mathematical operations and overall numerical ability.

 

Conclusions: The Abacus teaching method results in higher mathematical achievements among students with hearing loss. Gender also plays an important role in mathematical learning, as evidenced by boys demonstrating more numerical ability than girls in the study sample.

Working life trajectories with hearing impairment

VIGRESTAD SVINNDAL, Elisabeth
JENSEN, Chris
BY RISE, Marit
October 2018

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Purpose: The aim was to identify and explore factors, which facilitate or hinder work participation for people with hearing impairment.

 

Materials and methods: In-depth interviews with 21 hearing impaired individuals of 32–67 years of age with a present or recent vocational affiliation were conducted. The analysis was conducted using a grounded theory approach.

 

Results: The analysis resulted in a conceptual framework of working life trajectories evolving through three phases of acknowledgement of hearing loss impact: the pre-acknowledgement, acknowledgement, and post-acknowledgement phase. The phases were influenced by the qualities of three contexts: the personal, the workplace, and the service provider. The qualities of the contexts, together with the amount of time spent in a pre-acknowledgement phase, formed the trajectories towards continuation of work participation or towards a disconnection. Accumulated risk factors constituted increased likelihood of disconnecting trajectories, while accumulated facilitating factors supported sustainable trajectories.

 

Conclusions: The results revealed a need for extended support at the workplaces, which includes the manager, colleagues, and professionals in the aim of preventing exhaustion and facilitate work participation among employees with hearing impairments. Joint action in facilitating communicative participation would share the responsibility for accommodation measures and broaden the room for manoeuver at the workplace.

Severe-to-profound hearing impairment: demographic data, gender differences and benefits of audiological rehabilitation

TURUNEN-TAHERI, Satu
CARLSSON, Per-Inge
JOHNSON, Ann-Christin
HELLSTROM, Sten
June 2018

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify and report demographic data of patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss, assess participation in audiological rehabilitation and analyze the benefits of various rehabilitation methods.

 

Materials and methods: Data on 4286 patients with severe-to-profound hearing impairments registered in the Swedish Quality Register of Otorhinolaryngology over a period from 2006–2015 were studied. Demographic data, gender differences, audiological rehabilitation and benefits of the rehabilitation were analyzed.

 

Results: Group rehabilitation and visits to a hearing rehabilitation educator provided the most benefits in audiological rehabilitation. Only 40.5% of the patients received extended audiological rehabilitation, of which 54.5% were women. A total of 9.5% of patients participated in group rehabilitation, with 59.5% being women. Women also visited technicians, welfare officers, hearing rehabilitation educators, psychologists and physicians and received communication rehabilitation in a group and fit with cochlea implants significantly more often than did men.

 

Conclusions: The study emphasizes the importance of being given the opportunity to participate in group rehabilitation and meet a hearing rehabilitation educator to experience the benefits of hearing rehabilitation. There is a need to offer extended audiological rehabilitation, especially in terms of gender differences, to provide the same impact for women and men.

Hearing children of Deaf parents: Gender and birth order in the delegation of the interpreter role in culturally Deaf families

MOROE, Nomfundo F.
ANDRADE, Victor de
2018

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Background: Culturally, hearing children born to Deaf parents may have to mediate two different positions within the hearing and Deaf cultures. However, there appears to be little written about the experiences of hearing children born to Deaf parents in the South African context.

 

Objective: This study sought to investigate the roles of children of Deaf adults (CODAs) as interpreters in Deaf-parented families, more specifically, the influence of gender and birth order in language brokering.

 

Method: Two male and eight female participants between the ages of 21 and 40 years were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling strategies. A qualitative design was employed and data were collected using a semi-structured, open-ended interview format. Themes which emerged were analysed using thematic analysis.

 

Results: The findings indicated that there was no formal assignment of the interpreter role; however, female children tended to assume the role of interpreter more often than the male children. Also, it appeared as though the older children shifted the responsibility for interpreting to younger siblings. The participants in this study indicated that they interpreted in situations where they felt they were not developmentally or emotionally ready, or in situations which they felt were better suited for older siblings or for siblings of another gender.

 

Conclusion: This study highlights a need for the formalisation of interpreting services for Deaf people in South Africa in the form of professional interpreters rather than the reliance on hearing children as interpreters in order to mediate between Deaf and hearing cultures.

The Family and Disability in Ghana: Highlighting Gaps in Achieving Social Inclusion

OPOKU, Maxwell Peprah
ALUPO, Beatrice Atim
GYAMFI, Naomi
ODAME, Lois
MPRAH, Wisdom Kwadwo
TORGBENU, Eric Lawer
BADU, Eric
2018

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Purpose: There are social and environmental barriers faced by persons with disabilities which have been reported in literature. In discussing these barriers, attention is yet to be given to the support from families to members with disabilities. This study aimed to examine family support and its impact on the lives of persons with disabilities in Ghana.

 

Methods: The study participants were 48 persons with disabilities - physical, hearing and visual disabilities - who were members of Disabled Peoples’ Organisations. They were conveniently drawn from 4 districts in the Northern region of Ghana.

 

Results: The study found that the families of the participants did not give them adequate support to access services that would improve their lives. For instance, limited access to education resulted in inability of participants to secure  jobs.

 

Conclusion: Without the primary support of the family, persons with disabilities might be unable to break down social barriers due to their inability to access education and other developmentally useful services. The implication of the study for policy-making has been discussed extensively.

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