Parents' Position on Full Inclusion for Deaf Children

children with disabilities, including those who are deaf. Restated, its intent is to take constructive steps to preserve the continuum of placement options that are now available. In Texas, the State Board of Education has instructed the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to establish a task force on children with disabilities , including those who are deaf or hard of hearing. The Texas Deaf community and other interested groups are presenting testimony at a series of statewide forums in connection with the upcoming re-authorization of Public Law 101-476, IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). TEA is studying the feedback from the general public and plans to release its findings by the summer of 1994. Like the ACTION group, TEA is moving proactively. As a professional in deaf education , I support these challenges to the proposed policy of full inclusion. As a consumer and a product of deaf education, my concerns stretch further . What is happening to the focus and spirit of IDEA? Deaf students have needs which differ in distinctive ways from those of other students with disabilities and students without disabilities. Deaf students are recognized as a cultural and linguistic minority whose primary mode of learning is based on a visual/gestural language . We are talking about a style of learning that requires trained teachers of the deaf to develop a visual communication environment and an individualized education based on their unique needs. Full inclusion denies the deaf child access to an environment that addresses his/her unique social and emotional needs. Avid inclusionists cannot be permitted to undermine the intent or spirit of IDEA. The IEP, along with an appropriate educational placement, is the heart and soul of that mandate, not the new wave called full inclusion. Also, we should not forget that full inclusion calls upon regular school teachers to become specialists capable of working with children with multiple disabilities who share the same class with 20 or more children without disabilities . Is it realistic or fair to expect the regular classroom teacher to become a super teacher? Is it realistic to expect her/him to sign and to be able to incorporate the teaching methods that now require years of training and experience on the part of the certified teacher of the deaf? At issue in the midst of all this rhetoric over full inclusion is the future of the deaf child. Faced with yet another "pie-in-the-sky" panacea, the deaf child and his/her parents are falsely assured of remarkable results in an all-inclusive classroom setting. Attractive to some, yes; but deceptive in its simplicity. One cannot guarantee educational success by wishing it so. It should be added that there is much to be said for a critical mass of deaf children being enrolled within a single educational program. With numbers, there is the major benefit to each deaf child of sharing academic and social experiences with other deaf children, of coming to understand and identify with Deaf culture, and building one's self-esteem. These are among the benefits of placement in schools and classes for deaf students. The full range of educational services needed by deaf students, as specified in their IEP's, is most likely to be found in these special programs . Although advocates of full inclusion might argue that these programs are isolationist in nature, we in turn argue that special programs are best equipped with the resources needed to prepare most deaf students to enter the mainstream of life. Our field should not commit itself strongly to inclusion, and certainly not for all deaf children, without being able to predict with considerable accuracy how successful it will be for a given deaf child. We should cease devoting effort and energy to educating children with disabilities based on the school's location. We should focus instead on improving the quality of their education and the richness of their social and cultural environment . As suggested by the novel Catcher in the Rye, we must not let another movement lead students with disabilities over a cliff under the illusion that these students have to become "normal". Parents' Position on Full Inclusion for Deaf Children Iarry Hawkins, Vice President Sandy Harvey...