American Annals of the Deaf最新文献

The researchers investigated parents' perspectives on the outcome of cochlear implantation on the deaf child and the family in Saudi Arabia with respect to linguistic, social, psychological, and educational aspects. They also explored potential factors influencing parents' perspectives on the outcome of a cochlear implant (CI). Seventy-seven parents completed the questionnaire, and multiple linear regression and descriptive statistics were used to answer the research questions. Most of the parents (88.5%) reported choosing a CI for their deaf child because they wanted their child to be part of the hearing world. About half of the parents (49.4%) expressed the belief that the CI would help their child find a better job in the future. The study also found that, overall, the model was not significant, and the independent variables explained little of the variance in parents' perspectives on the outcome of their child's cochlear implantation.

The changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in more virtual instruction in schools. Teachers experienced multiple new challenges while moving online. As Fleming (2020) notes, "Unlike developing a whole-class lesson plan online, special education teachers are now tasked with developing unique plans for every student that align with their IEPs [individualized education programs], as required by federal mandate" (p. 1). In the present article, we consider how to best incorporate active learning, engagement, and critical thinking into an online learning environment while supporting language and social development for all students. Alexander (2020) notes the importance of socialization, observing that the loss of face-to-face interactions decreases students' confidence and affects their mental health. We also consider how to meaningfully incorporate social interaction, engagement, and active learning to support deaf and hard of hearing students in developing a sense of classroom and school community.

Online learning environments are challenging for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) individuals. A major concern is split attention, which occurs when one simultaneously attends to multiple stimuli, a situation that characterizes most multimedia presentations and instruction that combines sound, text, images, graphs or charts, and video. Needing to take notes adds another stimulus. DHH learners face this issue when auditory content is accommodated visually, in combination with visually presented content. No one can view multiple visual signals simultaneously. Learners must choose to view one signal and miss others; view signals sequentially, which requires additional time and hinders class participation; or switch between visual signals, losing elements of each. This process increases auditory and visual fatigue and cognitive load, ultimately compromising learning. Several ways are suggested to achieve more equitable access to instructional content for learners challenged by the problem of split attention.

Vygotsky's (1993) Fundamentals of Defectology is a radical's handbook of deaf and disability studies. Vygotsky's overall research program views disabilities, including deafness, from an integrated biosocial and critical theory standpoint. In two movements, I introduce an American Annals of the Deaf Special Issue on Vygotskian perspectives in deaf education focused mainly on his Defectology volume. Movement One describes Vygotsky's life, research, death, and posthumous impact by situating his deaf pedagogy research as one node in a network of defectological pedology, translated as applied special educational psychology. Movement Two describes how Vygotsky's project has been extended, synthesized, and developed in modern and postmodern contexts of deaf education and disability studies. Throughout, I synthesize Vygotsky's claims and update his terms by juxtaposing them with contemporary terms and theories to provide sociohistorical context for the new scholarship comprising this Special Issue's unique contribution to Vygotskian deaf research.