Is the Inclusion Model Good for Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing
Special education students are first and foremost general education students. Many, if not most, school districts in the US are actively embracing the inclusion model of education, in which all students are educated in the mainstream classroom, regardless of the diversity of their needs. Students who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) have special needs but not they are not due to learning disorders like most other special education populations. The primary difference between students with hearing loss and their classmates is that they do not access speech as fully. Background noise and distance have exaggerated effects on the student with hearing loss as compared to typically hearing peers. Students who are DHH-only have learning gaps and unique needs secondary to access to communication issues, not learning disorders.
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