American Annals of the Deaf最新文献

Israel's Bedouin population, an ethnic minority, has a higher incidence of deafness than that reported in the literature, but is not studied sufficiently. A patriarchal and collective society, in recent years it has undergone accelerated change spurred by Israel's urbanization policy. Deaf women are an inseparable part of Bedouin society, but they are transparent and their needs are not met. In a qualitative study of 23 Bedouin women with congenital deafness who participated in the only social club for the deaf among the Bedouin population in southern Israel, these women were found to exist between dreams and frustration, between hope and despair, between strength and loneliness-induced weakness, and between transparency and visibility. Focusing on these aspects, the authors describe the experience of being a deaf woman in Bedouin society. Their findings are applicable to deaf women who are members of minorities worldwide.

The literacy development of d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) children has always been a matter of grave concern among educators, and grammatical knowledge is said to constitute a major component such development. The present article reports on a study that examined the development of Chinese grammar among groups of d/Dhh and hearing children who received education through a sign bilingualism and coenrollment (SLCO) approach. Findings from administration of a prestandardized assessment tool showed that while the d/Dhh children generally lagged behind their hearing peers at all levels, the gap began to narrow from Primary 2 onward, and they caught up with their hearing peers in most except for a few grammatical constructions by Primary 4. Qualitative analysis revealed a similar developmental profile and similar degrees of difficulty in mastering the more complex constructions in written Chinese between the two groups of children.

Lev Vygotsky (1993) described deaf ontology as dynamic interactions that uniquely but inexorably synthesize biology and society. The deaf biosocial condition is a deceptively simple theory. Principally, it clarifies imbricated issues of axiology, power, and knowledge by centering positive adaptive compensations that sublate deafness. Using Vygotsky's theoretical proposals, I organized four distinct paradigms of deaf research and analyzed a historical case of sign language deprivation from Soviet Russia in the 1930s. On the basis of this critical literature review and case analysis, I posit that a paradox of inclusion comprises the heart of deaf education, which forces stakeholders to make choices about ethics and evaluate their consequences. Vygotsky urges practitioners to reject disablement and pathology and instead to uplift visuality and multimodality. These foundational values disrupt harmful conditions, improve teaching and learning, and encourage deaf people to transform the deaf body and mind through society.

Deaf education research and practice have not always lived up to the ideal of improving deaf students' lives. Consequently, we have constructed novel arguments supporting deaf pedagogy using pragmatic ethics, the aim of which is to increase benefit and decrease harm to individuals and society. The ideal of harm reduction asks the pragmatist to pursue the path of action least likely to result in injury to others. Besides applying ideas that reduce harm, educators must also increase benefits for deaf students. Our analysis synthesizes Vygotskian perspectives on deaf pedagogy and pragmatic ideals about reducing harm and increasing benefit. We propose six arguments that can enable deaf educators to think about and enact deaf-positive concepts and strengths-based classroom interactions, including the use of sign language, images, and text, among other modes, such as speech. Our goal is to reduce the threat of harm from language deprivation.

Children, including those who are deaf, become aware of and learn about their environments through playing and social and cultural interactions. For most deaf children, preschool classrooms are optimal spaces for these interactions to occur, but only if they can fully engage with this environment. We discuss the need for and constituent aspects of full access to learning in these environments for deaf children. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory is employed chiefly as the basis for exploring and analyzing useful strategies for educators and families of deaf children. Our analysis focuses on processes in which individuals create knowledge through interacting with other people and the environment, a core emphasis of our work. We also discuss that, concomitant with full access to linguistic and social opportunities, deaf preschoolers develop a stronger sense of self, which leads to the development of cultures and languages in and out of their families.

Deaf and hard of hearing (d/DHH) students are often labeled with one or more educationally significant disabilities in addition to their hearing loss. According to the Gallaudet Research Institution's most recent Annual Survey of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and Youth (2013), almost 40% of d/DHH students nationwide receive special education services for one or more comorbid disabilities. However, relatively few prevalence rate estimates have been published over the last decade. Knowledge regarding the current prevalence of educationally significant disabilities among d/DHH students is therefore limited. The present study surveyed teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing (TODHHs) in a midwestern state regarding the number of d/DHH students on their caseloads with one or more comorbid disabilities. Within the sample population (N = 451), nearly 65% were reported to receive special education services for disabilities other than deafness or hearing impairment.