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Pegasus Project for the Hearing Impaired Jane M. Krahe During the past 10 years, the trend in schools and programs for the hearing impaired has been toward increased use of manual communication in general and manual English codes in particular. This trend, coupled with the increase in preschool and parent-education programs, has resulted in an increasing number of hearing-impaired students with English skills that are equal to those of hearing children. Many of these students are in day schools, day classes, or mainstreamed programs; consequently, they have had limited contact with other hearing-impaired students with similar English skills. In addition, there are not many programs for gifted hearingimpaired children. In an attempt to address this problem, exploratory discussions were begun with Lorraine Bostick and Laura Katz, directors of Pegasus programs for gifted hearing students, located in Orange County, California, at the Vniversity of California, Irvine (VCI), campus. This program sponsors a variety of classes to provide stimulating and challenging opportunities to high-ability students who are eager to explore subjects on an in-depth or fast-paced level. The program also provides a supportive environment for academic and social interaction for students from preschool through high school. The Pegasus staff was quite interested in expanding their programs to include hearing-impaired students. An experimental program was set up during the summer of 1983 to include hearing-impaired students in Pegasus's Project Explore! VCI, which serves students entering the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Project Explore! was selected because it is an academic and cultural enrichment program with courses designed to stimulate complex thinking and problem-solving behaviors in high-achieving, gifted, motivated, or capable under-achieving students. This program seemed to meet the identified needs of an unserved segment of the hearingimpaired population. Program Implementation Pegasus Project for the Hearing Impaired (PPHI) began in the fall of 1983. The program was offered to all incoming sixth through ninth grade hearingimpaired students who could demonstrate evidence of reading at grade level as measured by a standardized achievement test. Interested students also had to submit a letter of recommendation from authorized school personnel familiar with their school functioning ability. The complete version of this paper is available in microfiche or hard copy from ERIC Document Reproduction Service. Ask for Document No. ED 247 728. 188 Nine students met the criteria and were enrolled in Pegasus Project for the Hearing Impaired. Seven of the students used total communication and two students used an oral/aural-only approach to communication. The students ranged in age from 11 to 15 years. Sixty-three hearing students entering grades 6 to 8 participated in Proj~ct Explore! The staff serving PPHI included a Pegasus program director, a site administrator/teacher for PPHI, a sign language teacher, 11 of the regular Pegasus teachers who had students mainstreamed in their courses, and 5 full-/part-time sign language interpreters. Program Description Each of the 63 hearing students selected six courses of about 1V2 hours in length. Courses offered included computer programming, literature, fine arts, physical and biological sciences, math enrichment, and sign language. The hearing-impaired students selected four courses from the same offerings and all enrolled in a special class-Issues for the Hearing Impairedthat met daily. This course gave hearing-impaired students an opportunity to explore deaf history, consider traits of productive deaf adults, and consider other relevant issues in the field of hearing impairment. All students were free to select those courses they desired, and interpreters were provided as needed. The sign language class and the issues class met at the same time and joined together for the last 15 minutes of each period to provide one-to-one interaction between hearing-impaired and hearing students. The day began with a 25-minute group session for all Project Explore! students and staff. A variety of involvement activities focused on bringing the group together and preparing them for the demands of their courses. These activities included exercise, stress and relaxation techniques, mind bogglers/teasers, and student sharing of various courses and activities. Two sessions were used to explain deafness to the hearing students, to have hearing-impaired student volunteers share their backgrounds and feelings about being hearing impaired, and to answer questions from hearing students . The sign language class also did an end-of-course presentation demonstrating their manual communication skills. Following morning exercises, students attended their first classes, had a short nutrition break, attended their second and third classes, and then had...

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