In South Africa, education for learners with special needs has historically been
provided for within a separate system of specialized education. Over the past few
years, following international trends, there have been a few informal initiatives
towards integration of learners with special needs into regular schools. This study
examines the placement of a hearing impaired pupil at regular primary school in
Durban, Kwazulu-Natal.
The subject of the study is a hearing impaired child with a severe to profound hearing
loss, who was placed by parent choice into a mainstream school in the neighbourhood,
from preschool level. The eleven year old subject is a standard three pupil at
Bonela Primary School.
A case study approach was followed. Data was gathered through semi-structured
interviews with the subject, parents, peers and staff at the school. Document analysis
was undertaken on school reports, psychological reports, test records and pupil's
books. In addition, the researcher used observation in order to capture details
concerning the subject's social and academic ability in a natural environment.
The results of this study reveal that the hearing impaired pupil made good progress
in this regular school setting, despite the fact that there were minimal curriculum
adjustments made. The placement experience was inclusive in practice, and proved
to be successful in terms of the overall development of the hearing impaired child in
this case.
Positive attitudes of school personnel and peers, support from teachers, early
identification, early intervention, consistent speech therapy, strong parent support, the
child's language ability and the subject's personality were key factors contributing to
the success of this placement.
Findings suggest it is possible to include a child with severe to profound hearing loss
in a regular classroom, with minimal support services. The study has implications for
current debates in South Africa on the education of Deaf children. The issue of the
right of choice of the parent and the Deaf learner is a critical one, and needs to be
taken into account by policy makers. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Durban, 1996.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/3191 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Jairaj, Sulochini. |
| Contributors | Muthukrishna, Anbanithi. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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