Recent Changes in the Educational Placement Of Deaf Students

Data from the Annual Survey of Hearing Impaired Children and Youth indicate a gradual shift in the educational placements of hearing-impaired students over the past ten years. Fewer of these students are being enrolled in special schools and more are being placed in local schools, i.e., the mainstream setting. This article documents that change and discusses the possible consequences of this movement of severely and profoundly hearing-impaired students into the local schools, students whose demographic characteristics, academic progress and communication abilities present a special challenge to these schools.