Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Reading skills of Deaf schoolchildren in the United States of America are reported to be significantly below those of their hearing peers. In South Africa, Deaf learners’ prospects of attaining high levels of literacy are even bleaker. This fact gave rise to the current study, which examines the impact of a newly introduced Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) curriculum with South African Sign Language (SASL) both as a school subject and as language of learning and teaching on (i) the course of language development in SASL and (ii) early reading development in second language (L2) Afrikaans amongst young Deaf learners. The expressive language (SASL) of four participants with various home language backgrounds (some with signing, Deaf parents; others with hearing, non-signing Afrikaans- or English-speaking parents) was regularly video-recorded over a period of three years, from the beginning of their pre-Grade R (i.e., Grade 0) year until the end of their Grade 1 year. These learners all started reading at the beginning of Grade 1, but were exposed to SASL for varying periods prior to that. The language development (in terms of handshape and discourse skills) and literacy development (reading comprehension) of the participants were qualitatively analysed based on the recordings. Despite the diverse circumstances of the four participants in terms of date of diagnosis, length of exposure to SASL and age of first exposure, parental mastery of SASL, and length of attendance of the school in which the SASL curriculum was piloted, they all showed notable progress in terms of SASL acquisition over the course of the study period, and they all managed to acquire reading skills up to the level expected of a Grade 1 learner. As was found for hearing users of a spoken language, language competence appears to be a prerequisite for the development of literacy skills in Deaf children (see Adams 1990; Gathercole and Baddeley 1993). The assumption is that the four children studied here were successful readers in their L2 (despite Deaf children usually finding the acquisition of reading skills very challenging) because they had sufficiently developed first language (SASL) skills as a foundation for literacy acquisition. The participants’ phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic knowledge of SASL appeared to have “come together” by the time they reached Grade 1, although these were not necessarily taught explicitly. This, again, enabled the acquisition of grade-appropriate reading skills in the L2. The findings of this study indicate the potential benefit of early intervention for Deaf children and that the SASL CAPS curriculum ought to be introduced at the time of enrolment in a school for the Deaf (i.e. from age three years onwards), and not only in Grade R. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Leesvaardighede van dowe skoolkinders in die Verenigde State van Amerika is na berigte beduidend laer as dié van hul horende eweknieë. In Suid-Afrika is dowe leerders se kanse om hoë geletterdheidsvlakke te bereik selfs skraler. Hierdie feit het aanleiding gegee tot die huidige studie, wat die impak ondersoek van ‘n nuut-bekendgestelde Kurrikulum-assesseringsbeleidstellings- (KABS) kurrikulum met Suid-Afrikaanse Gebaretaal (SAGT) as beide skoolvak en taal van leer en onderrig op (i) die verloop van taalontwikkeling in SAGT en (ii) vroeë leesontwikkeling in tweedetaal- (T2) Afrikaans onder jong Dowe leerders. Daar is gereeld oor die verloop van drie jaar video-opnames gemaak van die ekspressiewe taal (SAGT) van vier deelnemers met diverse huistaalagtergronde (sommige met Dowe gebaretaalgebruikers as ouers; andere met horende Afrikaans- of Engelssprekende ouers wat geen gebaretaal ken nie), van die begin van hul pre-Graad R- (i.e., Graad 0-) jaar tot die einde van hul Graad 1-jaar. Hierdie leerders het almal begin lees aan die begin van Graad 1, maar is voor dit vir verskillende periodes aan SAGT blootgestel. Hul taalontwikkeling (in terme van handvorm en diskoersvaardighede) en geletterdheidsontwikkeling (leesbegrip) is aan die hand van die opnames kwalitatief geanaliseer. Ondanks die diverse omstandighede van die vier deelnemers in terme van diagnosedatum, lengte van blootstelling aan SAGT en ouderdom van eerste blootstelling, ouers se bemeestering van SAGT, en lengte van bywoning van die skool waarin die SAGT-kurrikulum geloods is, het hulle almal noemenswaardige vordering getoon in terme van SAGT-verwerwing oor die verloop van die studietydperk, en het hulle almal daarin geslaag om leesvaardighede te verwerf tot op die vlak wat van ‘n Graad 1-leerder verwag word. Soos gevind is in die geval van horende gebruikers van ‘n gesproke taal, blyk taalkompetensie ‘n voorvereiste te wees vir die ontwikkeling van geletterdheidsvaardighede in dowe kinders (kyk Adams 1990; Gathercole en Baddeley 1993). Die aanname is dat die vier bestudeerde kinders suksesvolle leerders in hul T2 was (ondanks die feit dat die verwerwing van leesvaardighede gewoonlik vir dowe kinders ‘n groot uitdaging is) omdat hulle eerstetaalvaardighede (in SAGT) voldoende ontwikkel was om as fondament vir geletterdheidsverwerwing te dien. Die deelnemers se fonologiese, morfologiese, sintaktiese, semantiese en pragmatiese kennis van SAGT blyk “byeen te gekom het” teen die tyd wat hulle Graad 1 bereik het, alhoewel daar nie noodwendig eksplisiete onderrig hieroor gegee is nie. en dit het die verwerwing van graadtoepaslike leesvaardighede moontlik gemaak. Die bevindinge dui die belang van vroeë intervensie vir die Dowe kind aan. Die bevindinge ondersteun ook die seining dat die SAGT KABS-kurrikulum vanaf toetrede tot ‘n skool vir Dowes gevolg behoort te word (d.i. vanaf ouderdom drie jaar), en nie eers vanaf Graad R nie.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of the competencies which are needed by teachers of the hearing impaired in 1980. A survey instrument containing 92 competency statements that were originally developed by Romaine Mackie in a study she conducted in 1956, was utilized in this inquiry. Subjective judgments as to the importance of the competency statements were made by current teachers of the hearing impaired and administrators of programs for hearing impaired students. In addition, the teachers rated their self-proficiency in each of the competencies.

The deaf child’s primary handicap is his inability to hear human speech. The whole functioning of the deaf child is hampered by his hearing loss. This implicates that deafness can cause secondary problems such as: -- language problems; -- speech problems; -- thinking problems; -- social problems; -- emotional problems; -- educational problems; -- occupational problems; and -- family problems. These problems impose a special challenge to people who intervene with deaf children. The deaf child cannot communicate intelligibly. The therapist has to pay special attention to this problem and to the way in which communication will commence and continue. Pedotherapeutic intervention implicates effective communication. The use of language plays an important role in the Educational-psychological practice. Diagnostic tests and therapeutic techniques require an average language capability. The therapist must seek alternative concrete ways in which to assess the deaf child and to solve the child’s problems. The creation of a work of art is a concrete sensory act. A variety of authors state that, most children can project their deepest inner feelings through a work of art without fear and pain. The instructions given for art therapy are simple and most children feel safe to create. A child’s work of art has diagnostic as well as therapeutic value. It is important that the therapist will recognize and interpret the projected symbols and that he will use it to change and expand the deaf child’s world of meaning. During the assessment of a child’s drawing the therapist must take aspects of the art work, such as colour, form, line, art material, the content of the drawing, the perceptual and motor development of the child, the child’s age, non-verbal communication and verbal communication during the creative process, into consideration. The therapist must not use above-mentioned directions at random. Every individual’s work of art must be assessed in a phenomenological way, before any conclusions can be made. A private, well equipped art therapy room is necessary for the child in order to feel safe to explore and create. The therapist who intervenes with deaf children has to be well trained. He must have knowledge and experience of deafness, know sign language and should have exceptional language abilities. In this study the therapist applied art therapy with a deaf child. Both the child and his educators were involved in therapy. The therapy was successful. Most of the therapeutic goals were achieved. The therapist needed to adapt the way of communication in order to enhance the level of communication between her and the deaf child. Art therapy can be successfully used with the deaf child because adequate communication is possible, the deaf child can identify with the therapeutic content and transcendence is possible. Some deaf children do not respond well to art therapy. The uniqueness of each deaf child should be taken into consideration before a therapeutic technique can be chosen. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Orthopaedic Surgery / unrestricted

While several authors have indicated specific methods for teaching rhythm, there is no single, comprehensive source available which could serve as a teaching guide in this important area of aural rehabilitation. The current paper represents an initial attempt to fulfill this need. The purpose ot this paper is to provide a survey of the different methods and avenues for teaching the rhythm of language to hearing impaired children.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The target population for this research is parents of hearing impaired children under the approximate age of ten in Arizona. Twenty-one subjects were selected from parents of children attending the Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind and Phoenix Day School for the Deaf. Numbers of available subjects precluded the use of random selection or random assignments to groups. Assignment to groups was made according to parents' ability to attend group meetings on specific nights of the week. The twelve subjects in the treatment group participated in an eight-session parent study group using the researcher's handbook (Healthy Emotional Development For Hearing Impaired Children: A Guide For Parents) as a study manual. The nine subjects in the control group participated in eight lecture sessions designed to provide information on the medical and educational aspects of hearing loss. Prior to the initial group sessions each subject completed the Adlerian Parental Assessment of Child Behavior Scale (APACBS). This evaluation procedure was again repeated at the conclusion of the eighth session. The results of these two evaluations were statistically compared to determine the effect of the use of the handbook as a manual in a parent study group on the behavior problems of hearing impaired children as perceived by the parents. No statistically significant differences were found between the treatment group and the control group although the treatment group did improve along more dimensions than did the control group.

An observational study was conducted examining the social and cognitive play of young children with hearing-impairment playing in small groups composed of both hearing and hearing-impaired peers. The questions addressed the effects of the hearing status of the play partner upon the social/cognitive play patterns of children with hearing-impairment, and the relationship between their play patterns and their communicative competence, social competence and speech intelligibility. Forty-eight hearing-impaired subjects ranging in age from 3-6 to 6-1 were observed playing with partners of same and different hearing status during integrated play sessions at 13 school sites. The social play categories included solitary, parallel and group play, while the cognitive play categories included functional, constructive and dramatic play. Results of the study showed that the play patterns of the hearing-impaired children differed significantly for each group of partners. When playing with hearing-impaired partners, subjects engaged in group functional and constructive play more frequently than parallel functional and constructive play, and with equal frequency in parallel dramatic and group dramatic play. When playing with hearing partners, subjects engaged with equal frequency in group and parallel play. When playing with mixed groups of hearing and hearing-impaired partners, subjects engaged in group dramatic play more frequently than parallel dramatic play, and with equal frequency in group functional and constructive play, and parallel functional and constructive play. Communicative competence was negatively correlated to functional play. A positive correlation was found between social competence and constructive play, and between speech intelligibility and dramatic play. These correlations remained significant when age was partialed out. The hearing-impaired subjects spent similar percentages of time in social/cognitive play as those reported for hearing children. The study supports the premise that the play of young hearing-impaired children varies according to the hearing status of the play partner and is neither delayed nor deficient.

Magister Artium (Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science) - MA(SRES) / Background: Hearing loss in children can contribute to a loss or delay in motor skills development and has been shown to negatively affect their participation in physical activity. Lack of physical activity may then further delay motor and balance skill development and therefore impact on their health-related quality of life. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a 12-week exercise intervention on motor control abilities in hard of hearing children in Grade R to Grade 3 in Cape Town, and on the parent’s perceptions of their child’s health-related quality of life.