Development of a School Adaptation Program for Elementary School Students with Hearing Impairment

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Although new technology of assistive listening device leads many hard of hearing children to be mainstreamed in public school programs, many clinicians and teachers still wonder whether the children are able to understand all instruction, access educational materials, and have social skills in the school. The purpose of this study is to develop a school adaptation program (SAP) for the hearing-impaired children who attend public elementary school. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The theoretical framework of the SAP was a system model including microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem merged with Keller's ARCS theory. RESULTS The SAP consisted of 10 sessions based on five categories (i.e., school life, activity in the class, relationship with friends, relationship with teacher, and school environments). For preliminary validity testing, the developed SAP was reviewed by sixteen elementary school teachers, using the evaluation questionnaire. The results of evaluation showed high average 3.60 (±0.52) points out of 4 while proving a reliable and valid school-based program. CONCLUSIONS The SAP indicated that it may serve as a practical and substantive program for hearing-impaired children in the public school in order to help them achieve better academic support and social integrations.