Social Interaction of Partially Mainstreamed Hearing-Impaired Children

The study examined social interaction of partially mainstreamed children with their hearing and hearing-impaired peers. It was found that hearing-impaired children interacted less frequently with peers and more frequently with teachers than did hearing children. Hearing-impaired students interacted more frequently with hearing-impaired peers. Mode of communication did not appear to affect frequency of interaction. It was concluded that physical proximity was necessary but not a solely sufficient condition for interaction and that opportunities for social interaction between hearing and hearing-impaired students needed to be carefully planned by teachers.