Social Status of Hearing Impaired Children in Regular Classrooms

Abstract

This study examined the peer status and the self perceived peer status of 15 first and second grade hearing impaired children enrolled in regular classrooms. Subjects included four children with mild to moderate hearing losses and 11 children with severe to profound hearing losses who were full time hearing aid users. Three sociometric tests were used to assess the peer acceptance as well as the self perceived peer status for both normally hearing and hearing impaired students. Results indicated that the hearing impaired children received a higher degree of social acceptance from normally hearing peers than reported in previous studies. They were also as perceptive of their own social status as normally hearing children.

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