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This study explored how educational experiences enhance the cultural identity of deaf and hard-of-hearing undergraduate female students in Saudi Arabia, using an explanatory design. The study methods include a researcher-made scale involving 105 female deaf and hard-of-hearing students, a focus group with 20 female students, and individual interviews with 11 female students. The individually interviewed participants were part of the scale and focus groups. Quantitative results revealed three profiles in terms of cultural identities found in deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Saudi Arabia. In descending order of prevalence these were bicultural identity, hearing identity, and deaf identity. Regarding the qualitative results, four main themes on how educational experiences affected the participants' cultural identities emerged: educational environment, peer relationships, relationships with teachers, and communication methods. Differences in the participants' cultural identities were found, based on different educational experiences. Thus, further mixed-methods research should be conducted to address how deaf and hard-of-hearing people perceive their cultural identities, and to discover the enhancing effects of different factors on their identities.

With modern technological developments and with the fast expansion of mobile technical equipment, conducting a field study to find out how technology influences various developmental aspects of normal and special needs children at the preschool stage was deemed appropriate and timely hearing impairment. In this study aimed at finding out the effect of iPad on school preparedness among school children with hearing impairment. In this study, the children attended the national kindergarten in Al-Riyadh. The study sample was divided into control (7) and experimental (8) groups. Children in the experimental group used the iPad for 15 weeks. Results showed improvement of the experimental group in all measured areas. The control group, those who did not use the iPads, improved in both their kinetic and social areas. In addition, differences were found between groups on post measurement favoring experimental group. The study recommended conducting more experimental and longitudinal studies to further delve into the effects of using iPads in preschools with children who have impaired hearing.

Educational intervention is known to enhance learners in general, including deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) learners in particular. This study is a systematic review to identify educational interventions in Arab experimental studies published from 2008 to 2019 concerning deaf and hard-of-hearing children in preschool. The study used Google Scholar and Academic Research Library to identify 30 studies that were examined in terms of their objectives, characteristics of the participants, types of interventions, findings and the country in which they were conducted. A positive effect of the educational interventions was observed in all targeted studies. However, there was an absence of interventions in the first 4 years of the period (2008–2011). Subsequently, in the last 4 years of the study period, there was a considerable increase in interventions. Fifty-seven percent of these studies were conducted in Egypt, followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (23%), Kuwait (10%) and finally Sudan (3%). This review indicates that the use of educational interventions for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the preschool period is promising. Educators and professionals should carefully consider these children's preferences, characteristics and actual abilities when making decisions about the design of appropriate educational interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed at identifying statistically significant differences in citizenship between Saudi hearing and hearing impaired children. The study sample consisted of (167) hearing and (42) hearing impaired children at public kindergartens in Al-Riyadh city, (82) of whom were males and (127) were female children. Data was collected using citizenship concept scale with its four dimensions which was prepared by the Arabic Center of Educational Research for The Arab Gulf Countries. Results showed no statistically significant differences between hearing and hearing impaired children. In addition,the study showed no differences in citizenship between the children related to their gender.

Saudi Society undergoes rapid developments as all Arab countries, a matter that necessitates emphasizing citizenship concepts and values in addition to fostering loyalty among society members with all its various classes. Therefore, the current study aimed at finding out the citizenship level among a sample of Saudi primary school students in Al-Riyadh city. Results showed statistically significant differences between normal and hearing impaired students. Hearing-impaired students out performed normal students. Results also showed that mothers' nationality (Saudi vs. non-Saudi) had an effect on students' citizenship. Key words: citizenship, hearing-impaired, Saudi Arabia, Deaf, poor hearers., Introduction Saudi society enjoys security, safety and national unity as it is distinguished from other societies, for it is the place of the Islamic message, but despite that, it remains [...]