Chapter 33: Out of the Locker Room and Into the Classroom: Innovative Approaches to the Use of Media and Strategies in Sex Education for the Deaf

Human Sexuality has been an area sorely neglected in the education of the deaf. Until recently, visual materials and approaches designed for hearing populations have been adapted using either summarized or verbatim captioning. As part of the development of a college level Human Sexuality course at NTID, a film on contraception has been specially edited to include studio segments utilizing students and staff to underscore the important points made in the film. Because total communication was used and the entire film was captioned, students have shown an increased understanding of contraceptive methods and how they work, as demonstrated through class discussion and evaluation on a final exam.

This film, on videotape format, will be shown as well as a presentation of experiential strategies used to explore both the content and affective areas related to Human Sexuality. These strategies address communication, values, relationships, the "how" and "why" of sex, and the development of positive attitudes towards negotiating a health/mental health/social service delivery system.