Itinerant Deaf Educator and General Educator Perceptions of the D/HH Push-in Model

A qualitative case study using the deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) push-in model was conducted on the perceptions of 3 itinerant deaf educators and 3 general educators working in 1 school district. Participants worked in pairs of 1 deaf educator and 1 general educator at 3 elementary schools. Open-ended research questions guided the study, which was concerned with teachers’ perceptions of the model in general and with the model’s advantages, disadvantages, and effectiveness. Data collected from observations, one-to-one interviews, and a focus group interview enabled the investigator to uncover 4 themes: Participants (a) had an overall positive experience, (b) viewed general education immersion as an advantage, (c) considered high noise levels a disadvantage, and (d) believed the effectiveness of the push-in model was dependent on several factors, in particular, the needs of the student and the nature of the general education classroom environment.