JOURNAL OF DEAF STUDIES AND DEAF EDUCATION 4:3

Participation of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in Classes with Hearing Students Michael S. Stinson Yufang Liu National Technical Institute for the Deaf Rochester Institute of Technology

This project identified key issues concerning participation of deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) students in regular (mainstream) classes. In one study, qualitative data were collected from 40 participants in focus groups consisting of interpreters, teachers of the deaf, and notetakers. In a second study, repeated field observations were made of four elementarylevel D/HH students who were participating in small-group learning activities with hearing classmates. Focus group comments indicated that regular classroom teachers, interpreters, teachers of the deaf, hearing classmates, and D/HH students contribute to active participation by the D/HH student. Focus groups identified specific barriers that interfered with participation of each of these groups of individuals, and they also identified specific strategies to facilitate participation. Qualitative analyses of field observation data yielded results consistent with the comments collected from the focus group participants. The observations identified accommodations that regular classroom teachers, teachers of the deaf, and interpreters can make to promote integration of the D/HH student. A summary synthesis of the data presents 16 specific strategies for overcoming barriers to participation.

Educators of deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) students have been concerned that the widespread placement of their students in classes with hearing peers often may not be conducive to social development. For example, research on effects of regular class placement on D/HH adolescents suggests that when D/HH and We thank Lisa Chuinard and Sue Foster for their contributions to the collection and analysis of the data reported here. Correspondence should be sent to Michael Stinson, Department of Research, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology, 52 Lomb Memorial Dr., Rochester, NY 14623–5604 (e-mail: [email protected]). q1999 Oxford University Press.

hearing adolescents are educated together, the two groups often experience difficulties relating to each other (Davis, 1986). In some studies, D/HH adolescents have described their social experiences as including much loneliness, rejection, and social isolation. (Foster, 1988; Mertens, 1989). Such experiences do not promote social development (Newcomb & Bagwell, 1995) or support academic achievement (Stinson & Lang, 1994; Wentzel,1992). Recent discussions have emphasized the importance of deep meaningful learning that is associated with hypothesis construction, problem solving, and conceptual organization, in contrast to memorization and retention of facts (Iran-Nejad, 1990; Pintrich, Marx, & Boyle, 1993). While this kind of learning can occur in individual seatwork, it is more likely to take place in group activities. Often, the inability of D/HH and hearing students to communicate easily and directly makes group participation difficult for the D/ HH member, even with an interpreter (Antia, 1985; Garrison, Long, & Stinson, 1994; Saur, Popp-Stone, & Hurley-Lawrence, 1987; Stinson, Liu, Saur, & Long, 1996). Thus, it is important for educators working with D/HH students in classes with hearing students to create conditions and strategies that promote positive interaction between hearing and D/HH students and greater participation in class activities. Such active inclusion of the D/HH student goes beyond the student simply having regular contact with hearing peers and occasionally engaging in a superficial conversation

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Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 4:3 Summer 1999

(e.g., “Hi, how are you?”); instead, there are regular and meaningful verbal and nonverbal exchanges and communication. Research with D/HH students in regular classes at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels indicates that such participation frequently does not occur. At the elementary level, Antia, Kreimeyer, and Eldredge (1994) noted little interaction between D/HH and hearing classmates compared to interaction of the D/HH students with their teachers and D/HH peers. In a national study of D/HH high school students in a variety of mainstream programs, Stinson, Whitmire, and Kluwin (1996) noted that students reported more frequent interaction with D/HH than with hearing peers. Saur et al. (1987) observed very little participation of D/HH college students in regular classes at the Rochester Institute of Technology. This article describes research to identify factors that may promote participation of D/HH students in regular classrooms. Certain strategies, attitudes, and behaviors of professional staff, hearing students, and D/HH students may contribute to increased communication and interaction between D/HH students and their hearing peers. Following is a brief review of previous research that suggests possible strategies for fostering participation, first addressing work that pertains to staff, and then work that concerns students.

Contributions of Staff to Student Participation Efforts to increase participation may have greater success if professional staff employ specific strategies to foster positive interaction. One strategy for classroom teachers is to explicitly suggest to all the students specific procedures that will help the D/HH student better follow communication. For example, the teacher may explain the need to be aware of the lag-time when there is an interpreter and the need for a pause between speaking turns. The mainstream classroom teacher can structure small-group as well as whole-class activities in ways that promote D/HH and hearing students learning together. Deaf and hard-of-hearing students may more easily participate in small-group than in large all-class discussions if they are set up appropriately (O’Connor & Jenkins, 1996). Studies of coopera-

tive learning among D/HH and hearing peers working together indicate that it can increase frequency and complexity of conversation between D/HH and hearing classmates, frequency of interaction, and interpersonal attraction (Antia, 1982; Johnson & Johnson, 1986; Miller, 1995). Teachers of the deaf who work with mainstreamed students are increasingly moving into the regular classroom to support these students as opposed to pulling these students out of class to work with them individually. This work includes teaming with the regular teacher for the entire class (Crook, Drye, Egbert, Klein, & Kreimeyer, 1998; Jimenez, 1998; Kirchner, 1994). There is a need to know more about what these teachers do, including the issue of striking a balance between intervening to support interaction and permitting students to contribute. The role of the interpreter is complex and crucial for supporting interaction in the classroom (Antia, 1998). One practice of interpreters that may facilitate participation of students is to indicate the speakers and break the message into chunks that correspond to these speakers. The D/HH student needs this information to follow group discussions and to know when to participate (Saur, Lane, Hurley, & Opton, 1986). Other practices to support participation are (1) filling “gaps” when the D/HH student lacks certain information regarding the topic under discussion, (2) adjusting to requirements of specific situations, and (3) assisting other members of the educational team with planning of activities in which the D/HH student can participate (Antia, 1998). Knowledge of specific practices for interpreters to support students in regular classes appears limited.

Attitudes and Behaviors of Hearing and D/HH Students Related to Participation Hearing students may support D/HH students’ participation if they have a positive attitude and know strategies for effective communication. A critical component of hearing students’ attitude may be whether they have an ethic of helping to include all students in classroom activities (O’Connor & Jenkins, 1996). Such an ethic may translate into positive interaction when

Participation in Classes

the hearing student has specific knowledge and strategies. These include knowing how to establish and maintain eye contact with the D/HH student, sensitivity to the student’s efforts’ to communicate, and having some knowledge of sign language and of deaf culture (Higgins, 1990). In discussing what can be done to improve the social experiences of D/HH students in regular classes, Higgins (1990) stated that it was important for the D/ HH students to develop the skills and confidence to interact with hearing peers at school. Students may participate in class more effectively if they are confident and specific in telling hearing students what they can do to make communication effective (Stinson et al., 1996). It also may be helpful if D/HH students have specific communication skills, including knowledge of turn taking, requesting clarification, and reading emotional cues (Creaghead & Tattershall, 1991).

Purpose Although research has begun to identify factors that can contribute to D/HH students’ participation in mainstream classes, considerable work is needed to better specify the factors that facilitate or impede participation in the classroom. The goals of the two studies reported in this article were (a) to identify what practitioners viewed as major issues concerning participation of D/HH students in regular classes and their relationships with hearing students; and (b) to identify factors associated with D/HH students’ participation in small-group activities in regular classes. In the first study, qualitative data were collected from focus groups of interpreters, teachers of the deaf, and notetakers who worked with elementary and secondary students who were in regular classes. In the second study, field observations were made of elementary-level D/HH students who were participating in small-group learning activities with hearing classmates.

Method: Support Staff ’s Perceptions of Mainstreaming In this study, professionals involved in providing support to D/HH students met in focus groups to con-

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sider barriers to participation and social relationships and to suggest strategies for dealing with these barriers. Participants. Participants were 40 staff members who provided support to elementary and secondary D/HH students in regular classes. They were primarily teachers of the D/HH and interpreters, along with a few paid notetakers. Procedure. The participants met in one of eight focus groups that were mixed with different support staff and that had between four to seven members. The participants were asked first to identify between one and three barriers to social interaction and development of peer relationships between D/HH and hearing students in the mainstream school environment. They were asked to give an example by relating a specific incident or describing the student(s) and circumstance(s). Second, they were asked to describe the most successful strategies in dealing with the barriers described above. The participants were asked to include as much specific information as possible, as if explaining to a colleague how to go about implementing the strategy in their class. These barriers and strategies were written down on separate 5 3 8 index cards. After completing these cards, focus groups met to discuss the issues that they had written about, with project staff taking notes about these discussions. While the data reported here are from written comments on the index cards; we used the notes to help categorize and interpret these comments. For purposes of analysis, all the responses from the teachers of the D/HH, interpreters, and the notetakers were typed to create a single transcript. This typed transcript was first coded into a number of categories and then collapsed into three major categories: (1) issues related to staff working with D/HH students, including regular class teachers, teachers of the deaf, and interpreters; (2) issues related to hearing students; and (3) issues related to D/HH students. All the comments in the transcript were assigned to one of these three categories by one coder, and these decisions were reviewed by a second coder. One coder prepared a summary of these categories. Following the recommendations of Bogdan and Biklen (1992), these summaries were created by reviewing all comments in a category

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and generating summary statements about each topic that reflected what participants tended to report. These statements were substantiated with quotations from the interviews.

Results Professional Staff Comments collected from the teachers of the D/HH and interpreters in the focus group provided information about the barriers and the support of D/HH students’ participation and communication in regular classes. The first set of data that we examined pertained to (1) actions of regular classroom teachers that did not seem to support D/HH students and that stemmed from a lack of awareness of the consequences of these actions; (2) strategies that these teachers can use to support the D/HH students; and (3) strategies that teachers of D/HH students and interpreters can employ that can contribute to class participation. Regular classroom teachers. Participants commented that sometimes regular classroom teachers exhibited an unsupportive attitude that adversely affected the attitudes of the hearing classmates toward the D/HH student. One interpreter wrote: One barrier to peer relationship is the mainstream teacher’s reaction to the deaf student. As an interpreter I have been in classrooms where the deaf students are treated as a vital member of the class. While the same students are ignored by another mainstream teacher. I found generally the class members will follow the teacher’s lead, particularly in elementary school. Other times, teachers may simply overlook the inappropriate behaviors of their hearing students. As one teacher of the deaf reported: “At times when my student [deaf ] is trying to communicate with another students, the kid[s] will often ignore him/her. Most times nothing is said by the [regular classroom] teacher.” Here it may be desirable for the regular classroom teacher to discuss with these students how they can respond to the D/HH students’ attempts at communication.

Focus group participants suggested three general strategies regular classroom teachers can use to foster participation of D/HH students: (1) structure class activities to facilitate communication and participation of the student, (2) provide information about deafness, and (3) collaborate with the teacher of the deaf and the interpreter. Some participants suggested that smallgroup learning activities may be beneficial to all class members; for this to happen, however, the activities required active involvement of the teacher: “After small group learning is established, the teacher should monitor the group learning often, lead intervention and direction to allow each student to assume responsibility and learn that everything has to be shared.” It is also desirable if the teacher informs all students in the class about the D/HH student, and how they can provide support, such as ways of responding to the students’ communications. Information can also be provided regarding the D/HH student to parents of students in the class and to others in the larger school community. In addition, participants suggested that it is helpful if the classroom teacher collaborates with the teacher of the D/HH and the interpreter in supporting the D/HH student. Teachers of D/HH students. Focus group participants indicated that when teachers of D/HH students work in a regular class, a critical role for them is to provide information about deafness. A second role is to help organize activities to facilitate interaction between D/ HH and hearing students. Providing information about deafness to hearing students, and “problem solving” communication and relationship difficulties between D/HH and hearing students are often difficult to separate. For example, one teacher of D/HH students noticed that hearing students were teasing a D/HH student during lunch time. She described how she dealt with this teasing: I went in and talked about differences in individuals, how we all have difficulties in life, including myself. We talked about how we need help from individuals when facing these problems. I explained how I’m disabled when it comes to directions and how I need to travel with a person, practicing the drive with a person, before the actual travel date, or


get explicit directions from another person. These helped all the students see they all had disabilities and all need help. Participants also reported that specific, concrete information, such as showing a vibrating alarm clock or a strobe light, was effective in increasing classmates’ awareness about deafness. Teachers of the D/HH students may also help foster participation of regular students by organizing special activities that provide positive interaction opportunities between D/HH and hearing students. As with the classroom teacher, teachers of D/HH students can help facilitate communication and interaction in small groups. Participants also suggested that special activities such as a sign language club in which students practice together and then perform a concert for the school community enhances communication and understanding between D/HH and hearing students. Interpreters. Focus group participants indicated that interpreters have a larger role than conveying the teacher’s and classmates’ messages. In regard to her role, one interpreter wrote: “As an interpreter I try to make the regular teacher as comfortable as possible with the D/ HH students, both in and outside of the classroom. If the teacher realized this person is just an ordinary person and accepts them as that.” Participants suggested that interpreters share responsibility with the classroom teacher and the teacher of the D/HH to provide information about deafness, monitor the D/HH student’s functioning, and support the D/HH student’s participation in class activities.

Issues Related to Hearing Students Participants identified communication skills and attitudes and unfamiliarity with deafness as major barriers that hearings students created for D/HH students. Communication problems included having neither general communication skills nor specific communication skills for interacting with D/HH students. General communication skills are those that are desirable for peer interaction, regardless of the hearing status of the student. Some hearing students, for example, are reluctant to participate in a discussion group even

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when all members of the group are hearing. Hearing students generally did not seem to have specific communication skills that facilitate interaction with D/HH students, unless teachers had provided guidance. Three of these skills were getting the D/HH students’ attention, establishing eye-to-eye contact, and speaking at a slower rate in order to facilitate lipreading and increase comprehension. Problems concerning unfamiliarity and attitudes included misinterpretation of the D/HH students’ interactions, unwillingness to give attention and consideration to the D/HH student, and simply being afraid of students who seemed “different.” Hearing students’ misinterpretation of a D/HH student’s response may interfere with the D/HH student’s participation. A focus group member commented that when a D/HH student did not hear what a hearing student said and did not respond, the hearing student interpreted this as an indication that the D/HH student was stupid, lazy, or ignoring the hearing student. Another barrier to D/HH students’ communication and participation was the hearing students’ unwillingness to have patience and make efforts to include D/HH students. One teacher of the D/HH described the following incident: An outgoing D/HH student goes up to join a group and tries to fit in. But the [hearing] peers will not even acknowledge he/she is here. When the D/ HH student tells them something or shares his/her idea, the hearing students still ignore the D/HH student or tell him/her to shut up. Sometimes hearing students seemed to be “afraid” of interacting with D/HH students, possibly because they are unfamiliar with them and do not know how to communicate. For example, a teacher noted: “One hearing kindergarten student covered his ears and yelled [in the first few months of the school year] when he saw deaf children in the hall.” Focus group members had three suggestions for dealing with the barriers to communication contributed by hearing peers. First, teachers can help hearing students learn specific communication strategies for particular situations. The learning of specific strategies may best occur in the setting where the strategy is appropriate. For example, one teacher suggested an ap-

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proach for teaching hearing students communicate in small groups: Maybe a strategy is to have an adult sit in a small group to explain the communication needs, run interference for the first few times, educate hearing kids about communication tips, and educate the students to ask the kids to repeat or explain what they need. Second, participants suggested that hearing students who have some knowledge about deafness tend to be more accepting and are better able to help repair communication breakdown if the D/HH student misunderstands. Third, sign language instruction for hearing students was frequently suggested as a way to reduce communication barriers between hearing and D/HH students. Even if hearing students know only fingerspelling and a few signs, this may still enhance communication. Issues Related to D/HH Students Limited communication skills, a reluctance to participate, and perceptions of negative attitudes among hearing peers may limit the participation of D/HH students. These students may lack skill in repairing miscommunications. Students may not recognize a miscommunication when it occurs, or if they do recognize it, they may not know how to make the repair, or they may be unwilling to request clarification. One teacher described such behavior: “A deaf student misunderstood what the hearing students said to him/her and thinks he/she heard it correctly and responded inappropriately which made the other kids look at him/ her like she’s weird.” Students may not have a good sense of the rules that govern communication exchange in groups, including knowing when a speaking turn is available, and when it is acceptable to “jump” into the conversation stream. Participants noted that some D/HH students were reluctant to participate in discussions. For example, a teacher characterized one student: The D/HH student would sit back in a cooperative learning group of five students. Even though the D/HH child had an interpreter who initially at-

tempted to maintain her traditional role, the child was not fully participating. The D/HH student allowed the other students to do most of the work. This reluctance may relate to the student’s difficulty in following the conversation, lack of confidence in the situation, or a personal characteristic such as shyness. Participants also commented that D/HH students sometimes felt that hearing students had negative attitudes toward them. For example, D/HH students might think that hearing students regard them as “stupid” because they could not speak well. Focus group members offered three suggestions to develop skills and foster positive attitudes of D/HH students. One suggestion, similar to one offered for hearing peers, was to use role playing to help D/HH students develop strategies for dealing with communication difficulties. The instructor could establish a specific scenario where communication difficulties are likely to occur, and participants act out problems and ways of coping with them. A second suggestion was to assign a specific task or responsibility for the student. If the student has information, “a piece of the puzzle,” that the group must have to complete the task, it may often encourage the D/HH student to contribute. A third suggestion was to give the D/HH students opportunities to share special knowledge with hearing students. For example, the D/HH student might teach classmates signs for favorite foods, animals, or sports.

Summary To summarize, focus group comments indicated that five groups of individuals in the regular classroom contribute to active participation by the D/HH student. Regular classroom teachers help determine whether hearing classmates will have a positive attitude toward the D/HH student and whether there are good opportunities for the student to participate. The interpreter and teacher of the deaf may create more favorable conditions for the D/HH student by being involved with the whole class rather than only the mainstreamed student. If hearing and D/HH students have positive attitudes toward each other and have strategies for interacting effectively, this may also increase participation.


Method: Observation of Participation in Small Groups The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of participation by D/HH students in small-group learning activities in regular classes at the elementary level. This study examined the correspondence between the issues raised by the focus group members and the behaviors and interactions that we observed in the regular classroom. The areas of investigation in this second study paralleled those examined in the focus group study: barriers to communication; participation of staff, of hearing students, and of D/HH students; and strategies to overcome these barriers. Participants and setting. Four D/HH students in regular classes were observed as they participated in smallgroup learning activities with their hearing classmates. All four D/HH students used sign language, and they also spoke regularly to their hearing classmates. All had severe to profound hearing losses. One pair of students consisted of a third-grade girl and her fourth-grade sister who had hearing parents. The second pair consisted of a third-grade girl and her fifth-grade brother who had D/HH parents. These pairs were selected by the program director, who judged that these students were having a successful experience in the regular classroom. The two sisters attended a school in a rural area. The brother and sister attended a suburban school in a medium size metropolitan area. Each student was provided an interpreter who worked full time with the student. In each class with D/HH students there were approximately 20 hearing students. A teacher of the D/HH visited the students, with the amount of time she worked with the students varying from three or four visits per week to once every two weeks. Procedure. Five 2-hour observations were made by two observers who visited the site together. These observations occurred during times in which the classroom teacher had planned, and conducted, small-group learning activities. We estimated, from conversations with the teachers of the D/HH who worked with these students, that no more than 25% of the class activities

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involved working in such small groups. During all the observations the classroom teacher and interpreter were involved in class activities with the students. For three of the observations a teacher of the D/HH was in the room. She made some comments to the project staff while they observed the class activities. Detailed field notes were generated after each observation. These notes included information from a few brief interviews with the staff (classroom teacher, interpreter, and teacher of the D/HH) These field notes were then categorized into the same three categories used in the focus group study: (1) issues related to staff (regular classroom teacher, interpreter, and teacher of the deaf); (2) issues related to hearing students; and (3) issues related to D/HH students. As in the previous study, one coder read all the data and assigned segments (field notes here) to one of the three categories. This categorization was reviewed by a second coder. Summaries of the materials were generated in the same manner as before.

Results Qualitative analyses of the notes based on the field observations yielded results that appear consistent with the comments collected from the focus group participants. Results suggested ways that educators (regular classroom teacher, teacher of the deaf, and interpreters), hearing students, and D/HH students contribute to the success or failure of D/HH students to communicate and participate in the regular classroom. The way that the teacher structures class activities appeared to affect the extent of participation of the D/HH students. In some situations D/HH students communicated and participated effectively in these small-group activities, and in others they encountered difficulties.

Professional Staff Classroom teacher. Seating arrangements and the manner of giving instructions were two teaching behaviors that appeared to create barriers to participation by D/HH students. In a small-group activity, the seating of the D/HH student in relation to the hearing members of

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the group may increase or reduce difficulty of participation. The following excerpt from the field notes describes how the seating arrangement may have hindered the D/HH students’ participation: In a fourth-grade class, two hearing girls sat next to each other and the D/HH student sat on the left of the cluster row. The teacher of the D/HH commented that she wondered if the D/HH student would be better off sitting between the two hearing girls in this group situation since the two hearing girls would be forced to talk around her [the D/ HH student] instead of to each other. Otherwise, the hearing students can just carry the conversation/discussion with themselves and exclude the D/HH student from the group. We also observed a teacher who presented information in a way that made comprehension difficult for the D/HH student: A fourth-grade classroom teacher first gave the hand-out sheet regarding the requirements for a good chapter report to the students and then talked about the requirements in the hand-out as students read through each of three standards. The D/HH student could not watch the interpreter and read the hand-out sheet at the same time. She seemed to be confused and distracted. The teacher of the deaf suggested that, in cases like this, it might be easier for the D/HH student if the teacher displayed the instructions using an overhead projector. During brief interviews that were part of observations, regular classroom teachers and teachers of the D/HH commented on how their behaviors might increase participation of D/HH students. When there is a D/HH student in class, the classroom teacher has to regulate pace of discussion to adjust for lag time in interpreting and to give D/HH students more time to understand questions, and answer them instead of hurrying them. Making this adjustment requires time. Teachers also suggested that to encourage participation in small groups it was important to select appropriate hearing members of the group and to use special strategies to foster turn taking (such as having a “conversation ball” and requiring members to have the ball before starting

to speak). Field notes also indicated that the regular classroom teacher and the school administration can help provide positive classroom experiences for D/HH students by creating awareness of deafness among hearing students. For example, at both sites, media and activities, such as posters placed around the school with a sign of the week, promoted deaf awareness. Interpreters. Interpreters did considerably more than simply relay the classroom discourse for the student. Interpreters assumed various physical positions for interpreting in relation to requirements of the situation, to facilitate communication, as in the following: When the teacher asked the group to discuss the answer in a low voice before sharing it in class, the interpreter moved closer to the group to help interpret the discussion and then moved back to her chair when the discussion was over. The teacher of the deaf, observing this, commented: “It definitely attracted the group’s attention, and facilitated the group discussion to have the interpreter right close to the students and to be part of the group.” Interpreters also varied in how much they assisted with communication for the D/HH student, juggling the roles of facilitating communication and encouraging the student to communicate and participate independently. For example, when the fifth-grade D/HH student was involved in a group activity to solve a geometry puzzle, the interpreter moved back and forth from her “chair” to the group 15 feet away in order to check on how well the student was comprehending the discussion of the hearing members and how well he was participating in the group. The interpreter’s behavior seemed to be a compromise between encouraging the student’s independence and facilitating communication. Interpreters varied in the extent they took on additional roles, such as helping teachers. Some interpreters spent more time answering D/HH and hearing students’ questions and helping with learning activities than did others. Thus, the manner in which interpreters supported D/HH students varied from one interpreter to another, from one class to another, and from one situation in a class to another.


Hearing Students Hearing students demonstrated few behaviors that appeared to explicitly hinder communication or participation for the D/HH students’ small groups. Hearing students tended to use a low voice in class, and this made it difficult for the interpreter, as well as the D/ HH child, to hear. In one instance, a hearing boy appeared to be teasing a D/HH girl by using made up, “silly” signs. Some hearing students communicated effectively and interacted positively with D/HH students. Over time, hearing students appeared to be learning to work with D/HH classmates in small groups. One interpreter commented that “by the end of the year, hearing kids would remind D/HH students, ‘you are a member of the group; you need to contribute.’” A teacher commented that sometimes hearing students would remind their D/HH classmate to look at the interpreter if they thought that she was not paying attention. Hearing students communicated with their D/HH classmates in a variety of ways, including through sign language, with proficiency ranging from novice to advanced.

D/HH Students In some situations communication was difficult for the D/HH students because they had to integrate and comprehend visual information from various sources. For example, in a “share and tell” period “the D/HH student had to constantly look between the interpreter, teacher, and peers in the group to figure out who was speaking. It took additional time for the student to understand questions the teacher or peers asked and to respond with an answer.” The teacher of the D/HH commented that she had observed the D/HH students struggling to participate in group activities and that development of group communication and interaction skills required time. In some small-group activities D/HH students appeared to participate actively, working closely and productively with their hearing partners. An example of successful small group participation by the D/HH child was a mathematics group activity in a fifthgrade class:

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The D/HH student was grouped with two hearing students who both knew some sign language. As they were doing a math puzzle, the D/HH student constantly offered comments. “Put it that way. Is there any four-third (piece)? I don’t think you can put it there.” The D/HH student suggested steps toward solving the puzzle and the hearing students would try out these suggestions. Sometimes the D/ HH student would participate by taking a puzzle piece and trying to put the puzzle together. In one particular sequence, the observer counted 10 instances of participation in a 5-minute segment. The D/HH students always used speech to communicate with hearing peers, rather than relying on the interpreter to voice the message; occasionally, they used speech and sign. This use of speech facilitated participation by providing faster and clearer communication with hearing students and it seemed to promote closer, more comfortable interaction.

Summary Observations of small-group interaction in regular classes identified a variety of actions that contribute to participation of D/HH students. Regular classroom teachers may contribute to participation through the way they arrange seating as well as through sensitivity to the pace of presentation of information. Interpreter’s willingness to act in ways that go beyond relaying information appeared to contribute to participation. We observed a number of instances of positive interaction between D/HH and hearing students, as well as a few negative ones. Deaf students’ use of speech appeared to increase the rate of communication and facilitate interaction.

Discussion The data from the focus group study and the observational study indicate that facilitation of participation of D/HH students in regular classes requires the effort and skill of (1) the professional staff (regular classroom teacher, teacher of the D/HH, interpreter), (2) hearing students, and (3) D/HH students. The data yielded a

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variety of specific suggestions regarding barriers to participation and strategies to promote it. The following synthesis of issues raised by the two studies provides 16 suggestions in the form of sets of strategies and activities that may increase participation. These suggestions pertain to the interaction of the student in the classroom and not to other activities, such as developing reading skills, that are also appropriate. Ten of the suggestions pertain to staff, three to hearing students, and three to D/HH students. Those for professional staff are broken down based on their roles (regular classroom teacher, teacher of the D/HH, interpreter).

for students may promote understanding and more positive attitudes. 6. Problem-solve communication/relationship difficulties. When the teacher observes in the classroom communication breakdown, he or she may be able to make on-the-spot suggestions regarding specific strategies to improve communication between D/HH and hearing students. 7. Organize special activities for D/HH and hearing students. These may include a special out-of-class club in which D/HH and hearing students work on a project for an extended period.

Interpreter Regular Classroom Teacher 1. Provide a communicative environment for the entire class that encourages participation by the D/ HH student. Strategies include allowing time for students to read hand-out information before discussing it and controlling the pace of discussion, with pauses between speaking turns, to permit the D/HH student to participate. 2. Create effective small-group learning situations that include the D/HH student. For small-group activities to work effectively, the teacher may need to carefully select the members of the group, arrange seating to encourage involvement, and monitor the extent of participation by members. 3. Collaborate with the teacher of the D/HH and interpreter by having meetings with these individuals to discuss ways of facilitating participation and learning of the D/HH student. 4. Demonstrate and promote positive attitudes toward the D/HH students. Students in regular classes may be better accepted by hearing peers if the teacher demonstrates a sincere interest in integrating the D/ HH students into the class as a full member and addresses inappropriate behaviors of hearing students toward the D/HH students.

Teacher of the D/HH 5. Provide information about deafness. Information for the regular classroom teacher may promote establishment of effective communication; information

8. Facilitate communication of the D/HH student with teacher and hearing classmates. The interpreter may need to be flexible with respect to positioning and to balance the communication facilitator role with that of encouraging the student to communicate independently. 9. Contribute information about deafness. In this role, the interpreter may function basically in the same way as the teacher of the D/HH. Because the interpreter is more frequently in the classroom, he or she may be able to more easily share this information than the teacher of the D/HH. 10. Assist the classroom teacher with supporting students’ learning. This work includes answering D/ HH and hearing student’s questions and helping with learning activities as appropriate.

Hearing Students 11. Have general interaction skills and participate willingly in activities with others, regardless of whether they are hearing or D/HH. 12. Have skills for effective communication. Communication with D/HH students is likely to be more effective if hearing students know how to get D/HH students’ attention, establish face-to-face communication, and adjust speaking rate. It is also desirable if hearing students have patience to continue communication when breakdown occurs. Ability to speak clearly and with adequate loudness, as well as knowledge of sign language, is likely to help.


13. Be familiar with characteristics of D/HH students and become comfortable interacting with these students. Hearing students should be familiar with communicative behaviors of the D/HH students, such as failing to respond when they do not hear a comment, and should have strategies to deal appropriately with such miscues.

D/HH Students 14. Actively participate in class activities and perceive hearing classmates as having positive or neutral attitudes. Students are aware of their responsibilities to take initiative in the classroom and believe that the outcome will be at least somewhat successful. 15. Have communication skills for participating in the regular classroom. These include ability to repair miscommunications and knowledge of rules governing group communication, such as turn taking. Students have skill in integrating visual information from various sources and may be able to use speech to directly communicate with hearing peers. 16. Know how to participate in small-group learning activities. Students can carry out a specific task as a member of the group and share the information. These suggestions vary in their generality and need to be adapted for individual students and for particular situations (Friend & Bursuck, 1996). What is appropriate for teachers of elementary students may not be acceptable for teachers of high school students. For example, Schumm et al. (1995) noted that while elementary classroom teachers felt it was appropriate to adapt to individual needs of students, high school teachers emphasize whole class mastery of content. This difference may mean that it may be less appropriate to attend to individual performances in group learning in the high school setting. Strategies pertaining to use of interpreters are limited to students who use them. Stedt (1992) suggests that approximately 50% of D/ HH students in regular classes may have interpreters, but the number may be lower for students placed in regular classes for virtually all, as opposed to selected, classes. There is a need for still greater specificity in suggestions for staff, hearing students, and D/HH stu-

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dents with regard to what they actually do that hinders or supports participation. For example, focus group members described classroom teachers as sometimes having unsupportive attitudes toward a D/HH student. But what specific behaviors indicate that the teacher is unsupportive? If deaf education staff know specific unsupportive behaviors, they may be better able to suggest specific actions for the classroom teacher that can remedy the situation. The previous suggestions are a starting point in the development of research-based strategies and procedures for fostering greater participation by students in mainstream classes. There is a need for more extensive observation of a variety of students in different regular class settings. The students observed in this study were in the third, fourth, or fifth grade, the program director selected these students because they seemed to function well in the regular classroom, and they were observed for a limited time working in small-group activities. If students had been selected for whom integration into the regular classroom did not appear to be proceeding as well, we might have identified different issues and made different recommendations for improving participation. There is a need for further study with quantitative, as well as qualitative, methodology to produce reliable findings that point to specific procedures that promote participation. In promoting participation we must realize that such regular, meaningful interaction in classroom activities by D/HH students with their hearing peers is a worthy, but limited goal. Greater participation may result in better learning by the student and greater feelings of being connected to the class than if there is less participation. Such participation, however, is not at the same level of social integration as acceptance, which is the most valued indicator of integration. At this level, the student is positively regarded by other students and has genuine, rewarding friendships with them (Antia, 1985). If students are to develop full social competence, they need to experience mutual, rewarding friendships that involve intimate conversations, reciprocal emotional support, and mutual identification (Newcomb & Bagwell, 1995). Furthermore, we have focused on relationships in the classroom, and many of the significant relationships of students, especially those in high school, occur outside of class (Csikzentmihalyi & Lar-

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son, 1984). Still, promoting participation seems an important first step in socially integrating students in regular classes, and if participation is frequent and mutually enjoyable, it may (although not automatically) provide a basis for true acceptance.

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