Deaf Children and Education

ABSTRACT

This research sought to explore how the partnership between the school for the deaf and the hearing parents are managed. It was conducted and completed by obtaining insights from the school management team, teachers and hearing parents regarding their relationship and partnership for the benefit of the deaf child. The literature review underpins what literature and scholars have argued, highlighted and discussed in terms of schools and parent partnerships.  However, the focus of this study is schools for the deaf and hearing parents, therefore, specific literature has been identified in the literature review. It provides an understanding of partnerships between schools for the deaf and parents and a theoretical framework within which this study will be analysed. 
The presentation of research, design, and methodology is mapped out utilising a case study of one combined school for the deaf in KwaZulu-Natal that offered from pre-school to grade 12. It had a principal, deputy principal and three heads of departments in the SMT. In my observation, most of the teachers signed fluently except for a few. The parent body consisted of hundred percent of the parents being hearing to deaf children.
Gough (2000) refers to methodology as doing research in an attempt to produce knowledge and provides a set of reasons for the way a researcher move ahead in the study. Methodology refers to more than particular techniques, such as ‘doing a survey’ or ‘interviewing students’. It provides reasons for using such techniques in relation to the kind of knowledge or understanding the researcher is seeking. In this study, I have selected three methods of acquiring data namely, semi-structured interviews; documents review and observations. Qualitative data analysis was used in the process of research. I was actively engaged in the setting and with the participants to generate meaning of their experiences. Therefore, the experiences of the participants have added richness and meaning to the findings. The finding in my qualitative data analysis has provided answers to the critical questions. The data generated from the qualitative research has been analysed using the thematic analysis.
The study was conducted to research the partnership between the school for the deaf and hearing parents; and whether it exists and is maintained so as to rule it out as a factor contributing to illiterate deaf learners; or is the partnership partially or non-existent therefore contributing largely to the illiteracy of deaf learners leaving schools for the deaf. 
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The in-depth interviews with the SMT showed that they were very open and honest in sharing all that they did to involve parents and in so doing create partnerships with parents, however, they stated that there was still more work to be done in some areas. They felt that they were doing a lot, however, it was not fulfilling the desired need for parents to become fully involved mostly so through learning their children’s first language being South African Sign Language (SASL). The huge concern was that very few parents were actually interested in learning SASL to communicate with their child that created huge barriers between the hearing parent and their deaf child, and then resulting in a ripple effect into parents feeling inferior or inadequate to become involved in the school. The school personnel in this study were concerned that there were factors of finance, living a distance from the school, learners living with overburdened grannies, uninformed parents, disillusioned parents and uninterested parents were a contributing factor to parents not having a partnership with the school for the deaf.
Parent participants in this study, on the contrary are saying we want to be involved, we are involved but when we see a problem and address the problem then we are seen as problem makers and the school hides behind policies. They not feeling welcome and not enough was being done by the school and there is no partnership between the school for the deaf and the hearing parents. The emerging themes were analysed and recommendations were made on how the school SMT can move forward in strengthening bonds with the hearing parents.  The data has shown that both parties should make concerted efforts to take responsibility in their roles in relation to the deaf learners and fulfil their roles then a partnership can be created to work harmoniously in the best interest of the deaf learners.

CAPTCHAs are widely used by web applications for the purpose of security and privacy. However, traditional text-based CAPTCHAs are not suitable for sighted users much less users with visual impairments. To address the issue, this paper proposes a new mechanism for CAPTCHA called HearAct, which is a real-time audio-based CAPTCHA that enables easy access for users with visual impairments. The user listens to the sound of something (the "sound-maker"), and he/she must identify what the sound-maker is. After that, HearAct identifies a word and requires the user to analyze a word and determine whether it has the stated letter or not. If the word has the letter, the user must tap and if not, they swipe. This paper presents our HearAct pilot study conducted with thirteen blind users. The preliminary user study results suggest the new form of CAPTCHA has a lot of potential for both blind and visual users. The results also show that the HearAct CAPTCHA can be answered in a shorter time than the text-based CAPTCHAs because HearAct allows users to solve the CAPTCHA using gestures instead of typing. Thus, participants preferred HearAct over audio-based CAPTCHAs. The results of the study also show that the success rate of solving the HearAct CAPTCHA is 82.05% and 43.58% for audio CAPTCHA. A significant usability differences between the System Usability score for HearAct CAPTCHA method was 88.07 compared to audio CAPTCHA was 52.11%. Using gestures to solve the CAPTCHA challenge is the most preferable feature in the HearAct solution. To increase the security of HearAct, it is necessary to increase the number of sounds in the CAPTCHA. There is also a need to improve the CAPTCHA solution to cover wide range of users by adding corresponding image with each sound to meet deaf users' needs; they then need to identify the spelling of the sound maker's word.

Ce guide se veut un outil de soutien pour les nouveaux parents ayant à composer avec la surdité de leur enfant. Davantage axé sur la prise en charge émotionnelle des parents, cet outil a été conçu en fonction de leurs besoins. Il contient notamment un volet sur l’inclusion sociale à l’école et au travail, davantage d’informations sur les différentes aides techniques et financières existantes, ainsi que des références professionnelles.

This paper reviews a book “Guidelines for Multilingual Deaf Education Teacher Preparation Programs” by Kurz et. al (2021). This publication discusses a new prospective in Deaf Education which is Multilingual Deaf Education Teacher Preparation Programs. The Multilingual Deaf Education program is an update term of bilingual Deaf education. Their main goal is to provide a guideline for Deaf education teacher training programs to prepare teachers in high quality to meet the needs of diverse languages and identities of Deaf students. In the book, the writers provide definitions of some terminologies related to Multilingual Deaf Education program and provides theoretical framework that considered when preparing their guideline. These guidelines offer recommendations for key components that can be parts of multilingual teacher preparation programs. These recommendations can be used to modify an existing program or to develop a new one. Since Saudi Arabia is seeking to move towards inclusive education, this book can be used as a reference for deaf teacher preparation programs so it can be aligned with the newest trends in education.

The Lessons in SignWriting Textbook, written by SignWriting inventor Valerie Sutton, is a 220-page 15-chapter, perfect-bound, paper-cover book written first in 1990, and expanded to a full reference book in 2002, then updated in 2014. The examples in the book are written in American Sign Language, with illustrations and short explanations in English. The 15 chapters teach how to write the movements of any sign language step by step. The 15 chapters are: 1. Introduction to SignWriting, 2. Viewpoints (choosing to write from the Expressive point of view), 3. Handshapes, 4. Contact Symbols, 5. Finger Movement, 6. Straight Arm Movement, 7. Curved Movement, 8. Axial Movement (Arm Rotation and Wrist Movement), 9. Circular Movement, 10. Facial Expressions, 11. Head Movement, 12. Movement of the Body and Torso, 13. Movement Dynamics and Timing, 14. Punctuation for Sign Sentences, 15. Writing Signs & Sign Literature.

ISBN: 978-0-914336-55-6

RD HOBBS reviews "Talking Hands" by Margalit Fox.
Fox, M. (2007). Talking hands; What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
A team of researchers descend on a village in southern Israel where a Bedouin tribe has 4% deaf population because of the custom of cousins marrying one another. The "organically grown" language of the deaf is an opportunity for linguists to study are relatively new language that should give clues as to how languages come to be. Half of the book is devoted as a narrative of the linguists visiting, recording, photographing, and filming families in their homes, and the other half of the book as intermittent chapters discuss language, linguistics, language in the brain, grammar, and language evolution. Comparisons are drawn between Sign languages, sign language communities, grammars, and more.

The purpose of the article is to present important strategies used in early intervention for children with hearing impairments. With reference to the paradigm of family-focused intervention, the role of specialists is discussed – with emphasis on its autonomy – as well as their cooperation with the family. The most important recent scientific research on early intervention for children with hearing impairments is pointed to. The impact of technological changes on child language, social and cognitive development is taken into consideration.

Leaders of spiritual communities should support a family welcoming a deaf or hard-of-hearing child in such a way that the entire community offers the child genuine inclusion. The ideal situation for protecting mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being is to raise the child bilingually. The community leader can guide as the community participates in nourishing the child by providing information and suggestions for action. The community needs to understand deafness as primarily a condition of gaining a culture and language rather than sensory loss, so that family and others evolve from grieving the loss of their expectations of what their child's life might be like to looking forward with hope to the unique contributions that child can bring to the world.

The present study aims at identifying the needs of the teachers of visually impaired students in Amman city. For this end, the researchers have developed a special tool which consists of 31 statements. The tool has been validated by a group of professionals from the University of Jordan and World Islamic University. The liability of the tool was calculated by using (Cronbach’s, alpha=0.953). The sample has been collected from some governmental and no governmental schools which deliver special education services to students with visual impairment. The community research comprises (100) teachers of both sexes, from 20 schools. Sixty participants (60) have been chosen to a chief the purpose of the study. The participants had been chosen according to the following criteria; teach at least one visual impaired or blind student, have an experience at least 6 months. For the purpose of this study, the researchers have tested the assumption. Through using SPSS program (Version 21). A suitable statistical approaches (Mean, SD Percentages; t-test; Chronback alpha test). ANOVA, Ancova and post comparative have been used to analysis the data.
The results of the study revealed the need for training in braille writing and reading, communication skills for the visually impaired teachers (mean=2.07/4) which is the lowest and for all statements was (mean=2.81/4) with percentage of 70.28%. Which consider moderate according the scale? However the statement which indicated the need for early intervention has a (Mean=3.52) which was the highest of all  scale items. Also the study indicates no relation between demographic variable (sex; education; experience; class level) and training needs (sig 0.677, 0.094, 0.434, 0.322; respectively) but there is a significant difference (*.003) due to teachers' characteristics. In addition, when  Scheffe’s test for post Hoc comparison (*0.76) the results indicate presence of  significant differences in quality and quantity of training needs of the teachers of the visually impaired students relate to teachers' characteristics toward the sighted teachers of visually impaired students (mean=3.06). The results of Scheffe’s test for Post Hoc comparison (*0.89) also indicate a presence of significant, a difference in the teachers of the visually impaired student between the blind and partially sighted teachers in favor of partially sighted teachers (mean=3.19).

Learn the basics of SignWriting with this 42-page booklet. An introduction to reading and writing any sign language, it presents an overview of hand symbols, contact symbols, finger movements, arm movements, facial expressions, and reading sign language literature. All examples are in American Sign Language (ASL).

ISBN: 978-0-914336-49-5

This nationwide study explored the types and frequency of technology used by
teachers of deaf and hard-of-hearing (d/hh) students to design and deliver instruction, as
well as the types and frequency of technology being used by teachers of d/hh students to
promote communication and collaboration. It also examined the extent of professional
development in the area of technology use with d/hh students, and the related challenges
experienced by these teachers.

Academic English is an essential literacy skill area for success in post-secondary education and in many work environments. Despite its importance, academic English is understudied with deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Nascent research in this area suggests that academic English, alongside American Sign Language (ASL) fluency, may play an important role in the reading proficiency of DHH students in middle and high school. The current study expands this research to investigate academic English by examining student proficiency with a sub-skill of academic writing called superordinate precision, the taxonomical categorization of a term. Currently there is no research that examines DHH students' proficiency with superordinate precision. Middle and high school DHH students enrolled in bilingual schools for the deaf were assessed on their ASL proficiency, academic English proficiency, reading comprehension, and use of superordinate precision in definitions writing. Findings indicate that student use of superordinate precision in definitions writing was correlated with ASL proficiency, reading comprehension, and academic English proficiency. It is possible that degree of mastery of superordinate precision may indicate a higher overall level of proficiency with academic English. This may have important implications for assessment of and instruction in academic English literacy.

Educating deaf and hard of hearing children is largely hampered by attitudes of parents who believe that investing in the children has almost zero returns. In 2013, the Kenya Society for Deaf Children reported that out of 200,000 deaf children, 8,000 were in school. A study by Kiaritha (2011) found that deaf students attending universities in Kenya make up 7.4% compared to 15.4% visually impaired and 77.2% physically handicapped. These findings indicate that parents of deaf and hard of hearing and the society generally have low expectations of deaf children regarding their educational potentials and career choices. This results in deaf students being enrolled in vocational schools after they complete primary education.

The education of students who are deaf and hard of hearing is a complicated subject for many people.  There are harsh opponents and arguments coming from both sides, mainstreaming, and keeping deaf and hard of hearing students in separate educational facilities.  Both sides of the argument present very compelling points to support their views.  Advocates for keeping students with hearing impairments in separate either day or residential schools cite tradition, history and the inclusion of Deaf culture in their reasoning for keeping hearing impaired students separate.  Advocates for inclusive and mainstream education follow the guidelines set by the Education for all Handicapped Children act of 1975 (Scheetz, 2011).  This act mandated that students be educated in the ‘least restrictive environment’ or the opportunity to be educated with students who do not have disabilities, as often as possible (Scheetz, 2011).  This argument, while harsh and polarized, is also very quiet.  It is hard to find information regarding the education of students with hearing impairment, and this information is usually quite outdated and no longer relevant.  The issue of how to best educate students with hearing impairment is a complicated issue that necessitates much more research than is currently present.

The study aims to standardize one subtest of Snigders-Oomen Non-verbal Intelligence Battery (SON-R 5.5-17) (Snijders, Tellegen & Laros, 1989) for deaf children in the Sultanate of Oman, the Patterns Subtest, and to obtain norms for different chronological ages. The reliability and validity of the subtest are investigated using different types of evidence. Then the Patterns subtest of the battery is administered to a sample of 312 deaf students from ages 6 to 17 years old in different schools around the Sultanate for obtaining the required norms. The study concludes the applicability of the Patterns subtest to measure intelligence for deaf students in the Sultanate.

Istilah tunarungu diambil dari kata " tuna " dan " rungu ". Tuna artinya kurang dan rungu artinya pendengaran. Orang dikatakan tunarungu apabila ia tidak mampu atau kurang mampu dalam mendengar suara. Donald F Morees (1978: 3) dalam Somad dan Herawati (1996:26) mendefinisikan bahwa tunarungu adalah suatu istilah umum yang menunjukkan kesulitan mendengar dari yang ringan sampai yang berat, digolongkan kedalam tuli dan kurang dengar. Orang tuli adalah kehilangan kemampuan mendengar sehingga menghambat proses informasi bahasa melalui pendengaran, baik memakai alat bantu dengar maupun tidak memakai alat bantu dengar dimana batas pendengaran yang dimilikinya cukup memungkinkan keberhasilan proses informasi bahasa melalui pendengaran. Menurut Andreas Dwidjosumarto (dalam Sutjihati Somantri, 1996: 74) mengemukakan bahwa: seseorang yang tidak atau kurang mampu mendengar suara dikatakan tunarungu. Ketunarunguan dibedakan menjadi dua kategori, yaitu tuli (deaf) atau kurang dengar (hard of hearing). Tuli adalah anak yang indera pendengarannya mengalami kerusakan dalam taraf berat sehingga pendengarannya tidak berfungsi lagi. Sedangkan kurang dengar adalah anak yang indera pendengarannya mengalami kerusakan, tetapi masih dapat berfungsi untuk mendengar, baik dengan maupun tanpa menggunakan alat bantu dengar (hearing aids). Murni Winarsih (2007: 22) mengemukakan bahwa tunarungu adalah suatu istilah umum yang menunjukkan kesulitan mendengar dari yang ringan sampai berat, digolongkan ke dalam tuli dan kurang dengar. Orang tuli adalah yang kehilangan kemampuan mendengar sehingga menghambat proses informasi bahasa melalui pendengaran, baik memakai ataupun tidak memakai alat bantu dengar dimana batas pendengaran yang dimilikinya cukup memungkinkan keberhasilan proses informasi bahasa melalui pendengaran. Tin Suharmini (2009: 35) mengemukakan tunarungu dapat diartikan sebagai keadaan dari seorang individu yang mengalami kerusakan pada indera pendengaran sehingga menyebabkan tidak bisa menangkap berbagai rangsang suara, atau rangsang lain melalui pendengaran. Beberapa pengertian dan definisi tunarungu di atas merupakan definisi yang termasuk kompleks, sehingga dapat disimpulkan bahwa anak tunarungu adalah anak yang memiliki gangguan dalam pendengarannya, baik secara keseluruhan ataupun masih memiliki sisa pendengaran. Meskipun anak tunarungu sudah diberikan alat bantu dengar, tetap saja anak tunarungu masih memerlukan pelayanan pendidikan khusus.

As an American Sign Language (ASL) teacher in the K-12 classroom, the practices of pedagogy becomes a daily demand instead of serving as a real-world solution to teaching challenges. ASL pedagogy research findings guide all of my project work and contributions to the development and improvement of instructional design, redesigning the framework of L1 & L2 curricula, and teacher-created materials/products.
Author: Federico A. Quintana, M.Ed.

Deaf students have different abilities from students who have the ability to hear a lesson at school. Barriers to hear experienced by students with hearing impairment can affect the language, academic, and social skills of deaf students. Deaf students can still obtain information from other senses that are still functioning, such as the senses of sight, touch, taste and smell or of residual hearing that still exist. In the world of education, one way to overcome this obstacle is by making multimedia based learning materials which consider the principles of learning for learners with hearing impairment; a series of development of the elements of audio, visual, and digital technology to facilitate the learning activities of deaf students so that the passion, quality, and achievement of deaf students can be improved.

This study aims to: (1) describe the implementation of science teaching deaf children in class XI, and (2) describe and analyze the use of visual media in science teaching deaf children in class XI. This study used a qualitative descriptive method. Source of research data are teachers, students and principals. The technique of collecting data used was interviews, documentation and observation. SLB research sites in Sukoharjo district, which includes SLB ABCD YSD Polokarto, SLB Hamongputro Jombor B-C, B-C SLB YPALB Langenharjo and SLB ABC Tawangsari. The data were analyzed through data reduction, data display and draw conclusions. Conclusions are presented in the form of narrative text form field notes. The results showed that (1) the implementation of science teaching deaf children in class XI SLB Sukoharjo still using conventional methods with students to make a note of the material presented (2) the use of visual media in science teaching deaf children in class XI SLB Sukoharjo regency is still minimal because it only uses media images and text books provided in the school.

La Asociación Argentina de Sordomudas, conocida como Casa Hogar, es la segunda institución argentina más antigua y la que se ocupa, exclusivamente, desde sus orígenes, en el Instituto Nacional de Niñas Sordomudas (Buenos Aires, 1900), de las mujeres Sordas. El articulo presenta un recorrido sociohistórico que hace referencia a la affectio societatis que vincula, a lo largo de 83 años, la creación del Instituto, su Asociación Cooperadora con la Asociación Argentina de Sordomudas.

This paper discusses the practice of subtitling children’s programmes on British television. Nine cartoons from five different British channels have been considered for the study. Two subtitled episodes of each have been recorded and the following factors carefully examined: segmentation, degree of editing, reading speed, typographical cues, and use of non-standard language. The work takes into consideration the extensive research that has been carried out on the reading characteristics of deaf children within the field of Deaf Studies as well as the limited research that has been conducted within the Audiovisual Translation (AVT) field with a focus on subtitling for deaf people. Taking into account previous research data, a number of observations on the production of subtitles for deaf children are put forward.

The aim of this graduate thesis is to investigate how deaf educators became members of the permanent teaching staff at the Brazilian National Deaf Education Institute (INES) and to understand how their integration as deaf individuals occurred. Specific objectives were: to understand the accounts of deaf educators at INES, where deaf educators themselves analyzed how they became permanent teaching staff members; to analyze the accounts of students from Colégio de Aplicação (CAp/INES) and of deaf students from INES Department of Higher Education (DESU), in order to understand the likely impact of deaf educators' admission, as permanent teaching staff members, on the academic community; to investigate the inclusion of LIBRAS [Brazilian Sign Language] in INES Basic and Higher Education curricula; to investigate  the memory of the administrative paths from the inclusion of LIBRAS in the Basic and Higher Education curricula offered by INES, until the admission of deaf educators as permanent teaching staff members. The qualitative research was designed as a case study and based on Historical-Cultural Psychology. Our approach of account is based on Benjamin (1987), Cunha (1997), Joutard (2000), Thomson (2000), Vilanova (2000), Bruner (2001) and Grohs (2015). As research tools we adopted the narrative interview (BAUER & GASKELL, 2002), biographical and documentary questionnaires, and netnography approaches (KOZINETS, 1998; PERLIN & SOUZA, 2015). We presented the History of Education for the Deaf written in the 19th century, by Ferdinand Berthier, a deaf educator at the National Institute for the Deaf in Paris. We interviewed two retired deaf educators from INES and presented their archives and documents, which they kindly shared with us. We described the Civil Service Entrance Examination nr. 09/2012, LIBRAS deaf educators' profile and presented the results of interviews with four of those educators. In addition, weabade interviewed two students from CAp/INES and three deaf students from DESU. We compared INES educators’ results and accounts with those of the French educator, interpreting the Intersections, Lessons and Doubts. We enquired how INES can become more and more the House of the Deaf, and at the same time, a common house, as defined by Nóvoa (2017).

This is a study of d/Deaf children's perspectives on enculturation into Deaf culture and Deafhood through their experiences in Deaf schools. The study uses videotaped scenes shot in a preschool classroom in a signing school for the deaf as cues for focus group interviews with Deaf elementary school students. The scenes in the video were filmed for a larger study of Deaf Kindergartens in Three Countries: The United States, France, and Japan (Tobin et al, 2009). The larger study focuses on the perspectives of d/Deaf teachers on Deaf Early Childhood Education. My study focuses on d/Deaf children's perspectives of their past and current educational experiences and on the role they see their school experiences playing in their identity formation as a d/Deaf person.

 Understanding the situation of sign language (SL) and its history is essential to comprehend the role of sign language interpreter better. It has often implied fundamental questions that refer to the identity construction of the person, his/her attachment to a linguistic community and the place of this community in the current social scheme. Sign language is like any other human languages; it spontaneously develops through deaf communities using this language and without external interference from hearing persons. All living human languages, whether spoken or signed, are characterised by the multiplicity, diversity, and the evolving nature of their vocabulary and this is what determines and proves of the richness of a language. Those who interpret from spoken to sign language are usually referred to as "sign language interpreters" and "deaf interpreters", but both terms are unsatisfactory because both apply only to the language or community to which they serve. This article will try to shed light on the origins of sign language as well as the emergence of sign language interpreters as key players in an everlasting debate round the deaf and the deaf rights throughout nearly three centuries.

This doctoral research is driven by the urgent need to discuss the role of french sign language in the education of deaf children in France today. Legislation on the use of french sign language has developed since the 1970's, however, deaf children and their families are still struggling to access bilingual education. The linguistic and cultural minority status of the french deaf community still battles to be accepted in the school context and this constitutes a clear barrier to the development of policies and learning practices for deaf children education.
With this framework in mind we wish to extend the discussion on the essential role played by sign language, not only as a communication tool in deaf education, but as the primary source of language skills acquisition and of the constitution of deaf communities and the Deaf
identity. The goal of the present research is to show how theater-education can participate in this construction. From a bio-psycho-social perspective on deafness, we turned to one example of theater-education practice destined to deaf children as a additional pedagogical
space and practice for sign language in schools and institutions. With these ideas in focus we established the first hypothesis that theater-education facilitates sign language learning by encouraging the exercise of common semiogenetic processes to gesture in theater and to sign
language structure. As a second hypothesis we established that theater-education can be used as an additional space of socialization in sign language for deaf children as well as an experience of discourse creation about deafness and Deafhood from the deaf child's
perspective. To investigate this hypothesis we chose the case study as our data-collection protocol. The data presented in this research was obtained first through observation of one theater-education class for two groups of deaf children, ages 9 to 11. However we collected
our data using different methodological phases and tools: observation, participation, interviews and experiment. This case study shows that this learning experience constitutes a potential exercise of peculiar levels of sign language learning, and more specifically the essential iconic structures of sign languages. We also advance the idea that learning theatereducation enables dead children to explore the symbolic inversion of social rules regarding deafness and Deafhood, contributing to the construction of their Deaf identities.The collected data and qualitative analyses has enable us to determine in which ways theater-education can contribute to the exploration of artistic creative levels in sign language learning and deaf identity construction.

How do teachers’ attitudes and beliefs impact how HIV/AIDS education is implemented in Kenyan schools for the deaf? How do these attitudes and beliefs reflect how teachers think about Deafness? While there is extensive literature exploring in-school HIV/AIDS-related education in East Africa, there are few studies focusing on segregated schools for the deaf. There are also few studies exploring how educators think about Deafness as culture in this region. Western Kenya offers a useful site for the exploration of these topics with mandated, in school HIV/AIDS curriculum and a high density of schools for the deaf. Related research also argues that teachers’ attitudes and beliefs and the politics of schooling are useful in exploring socio-cultural constructions of Deafness. While previous studies have argued that “Deaf-friendly” HIV/AIDS education is not occurring in this region, this study found examples in these schools. Data from this
study also revealed that this education was shaped by the beliefs and attitudes teachers held about sexuality, and Deafness and sign language. Furthermore, this study found that
these attitudes and beliefs revealed underlying beliefs about Deafness that illustrate a range of constructions within this group of teachers. This study spanned 15 weeks of fieldwork gathering data through interviews, questionnaires and observations with 81 participants. Data focused primarily on interviews and questionnaires with 43 teachers in three segregated schools for the deaf in the Nyanza and Western provinces. There were 8 Deaf teachers who participated from these school sites supplemented by an additional 24 Deaf participants working in schools
across Kenya to balance data. This study found that while the nationally-mandated HIV/AIDS course curriculum was not implemented in these schools, there was a significant presence of “embedded” and informal HIV/AIDS education. Teachers had a range of feelings about this education, some of which were unique to teaching Deaf children and children using sign language. They also reported how “Deaf stereotypes” shaped how they approached and implemented this education.
In some cases these beliefs and attitudes simply heightened preexisting concerns about HIV/AIDS education in similar ways to parallel studies of “regular” schools in this region. However the most striking conclusion from this research was that the presence of “Deaf culture” and the use of sign language among the student population changed the way teachers approached, implemented and reflected upon this education in unique ways not seen in “regular” schools. Interviews also showed that some teachers rationalized their approach to this education because they felt that the Deaf were “different” in certain ways, especially in terms of sexuality. These conclusions are helpful for those in HIV/AIDS education, Comparative and International Education, Disability Studies, Deaf Studies and Medical Anthropology.

This thesis is a contribution towards the subtitling practice of audiovisual programmes for deaf children. It starts by offering an overview of relevant research on Subtitling for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing (SDH), conducted both in the UK and abroad. A descriptive and comprehensive study on how children’s programmes broadcast in British television are subtitled for deaf children constitutes the starting point of the project. In an attempt to gain an understanding on how deaf children read subtitles, the linguistic difficulties encountered in the acquisition of a spoken language as well as their reading characteristics are examined. In doing so, contributions from both Deaf Studies and Audiovisual Translation are considered. Deaf children are placed in their social context and the different types of hearing loss, prelingual and postlingual deafness, and cochlear implantation are discussed. Education for the deaf is also tackled, encompassing the history, philosophies and current trends. The ultimate aim of the project is to contribute to the subtitling practice of deaf children by conducting empirical analysis. Hands-on research is conducted with a group of deaf children recruited from a mainstream school. Case studies are used in the piloting leading to the main experiment, which consists of exploring techniques to enhance word recognition and content comprehension. The findings of the main experiment, analysed using statistics, and the children's feedback, obtained orally at the end of the main activity and presented in a narrative form, are discussed as a contribution towards future research.