"Increased numbers of children who bear the medical label 'deaf' or 'hard of hearing' are being integrated today into regular classes with their hearing peers in preschool, elementary and secondary schools of the United States" (Northcott, 1980, p. 1). Luckner (1992) related that approximately 79% of deaf and hard of hearing students have been served in mainstream settings. Regular education teachers were being asked to educate students who are deaf and hard of hearing with those who have no hearing difficulty. Deaf students who are mainstreamed may find difficulty fitting in if regular education teachers do not know how to help them. Finn (1989) studied drop-out rates and developed a "participation identification model" to explain the causes of dropping out. His study concluded that students need to feel a part of the school early in their education in order to actively participate in the schooling process. A participation-identification model "when applied to deaf students in local public school programs would suggest that early negative encounters with unrewarding communication situations would decrease a sense of identification with school already stressed by an inability to communicate with the environment" (Kluwin & Kelly, 1992, p. 295). Since identification is so important, regular education teachers need to receive specialized training in teaching children with hearing losses in order for the deaf student to have the opportunity to feel like he/she is a part of the school. Original text has pages 20 -22 out of order