Coteaching Deaf and Hearing Students: Research on Social Integration

Coteaching, also known as team teaching, offers an alternative to the dilemma of choosing between the residential school, which offers a deaf community but sometimes a poor record of achievement, and inclusion, which promises better achievement but results in increased social isolation. Under a coteaching arrangement, deaf or hard of hearing students can share a deaf peer group while being exposed to the social contact and academic requirements of a mainstream class. The study sample consists of the deaf or hard of hearing students at one elementary school on the West Coast with extensive experience with coteaching, plus a random selection of their hearing peers. Students were administered the Piers Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale (Franklin, 1981), My Class Inventory (Fisher & Barry, 1985), and the Childhood Loneliness Scale (Asher, Hymel, & Renshaw, 1984). Consistent results indicated that while age differences appeared, there were no negative social consequences of coteaching for deaf students. The study indicates that on the basis of social benefits, coteaching warrants further systematic research.