Deaf Children in Public Schools: Placement, Context, and Consequences. Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities. Volume 3.

This book discusses the outcomes of a study exploring the institutional forces that identified educational placements for children with deafness at a particular elementary school and the effects of mainstreaming students with deafness in general education classrooms. The study focused on three second-grade boys with deafness and was conducted in two classrooms: the self-contained classroom for the primary-level students with deafness and the regular second-grade classroom where second graders with deafness went each afternoon for their mainstreaming periods. Findings indicate that limited efforts were made to prepare teachers and students to having children with deafness in the general education class and that language barriers to the participation of the children with deafness created conditions which reduced their opportunities to communicate and interact with hearing students. The book concludes that the mere placement of children with deafness and typical children in the same room is a waste of developmental time and a thoughtless burden to place on children with deafness. Is was found that no educational goals were achieved in the mainstream classroom that could not have been achieved in the self-contained classroom more efficiently and more comprehensively. (Contains 52 references.) (CR)