Development of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Adolescents - Research Paper Example

Development of deaf and hard hearing adolescents compared to their hearing peers: This paper is primarily based on a largely spoken and critical issue of the present world that is creating strong waves of aggravated tension and bad presentiments for the futures of many innocent adolescents. Nowadays, educating children with hearing disabilities, separately or in regular classrooms, is increasingly becoming an issue of major concern around the globe. It is not an unknown fact that several children have to deal with incoherency when learning various lessons at schools or at homes and so, they are readily referred to some special education center, where they are mostly not taken care of carefully and there inability to accurately comprehend the lessons strengthens in such an environment. This article is basically centered on how the development of such adolescents who are either totally deaf or have other hearing problems is affected adversely compared to the development of their normal age fellows. According to (Peterson, 1993, p. 4), “normal adolescent development is a positive process bringing adult maturity and competence, in contrast to the existing negative stereotypes.” Many crude and intricate effects produced by hearing loss on many poor adolescents are discussed in this paper, and how their development becomes even more difficult in the diverse classrooms of the present world schools. There are myriad social issues regarding the inclusion of hearing-impaired adolescents at the schools, most importantly. (Berke, 2009). These issues are of such grave and distressing nature that they can even shoot down the motivation and learning enthusiasm in such students who are having hearing problems to zero. That is why, the social issues have looming prospects for these adolescents and they are potentially capable of inducing long-lasting mutilating effects on their future potentials. This is an unequivocal fact backed up with research reports that those children who have hearing problems are neither as well integrated socially nor as popular as their normal hearing peers are, due to which they start feeling pressurized and develop myriad psychological problems. The psychological state of children with hearing problems quite resembles to that of young people with low socioeconomic or racial backgrounds who are not welcomed in the society. Seclusion and social hesitation are the two major challenges that mar the development of hearing impaired children. This is because, confidently going out and communicating with normal age fellows or other young people with same helps special children in maintaining social integration. Social inclusion is also affected in culturally diverse classrooms, where deaf or hearing-impaired adolescents may even be laughed at by their normal age fellows. It is because the normal children are not familiar with ways to socialize with the children who have special needs, thus their development gets affects badly. There is much disagreement between professionals when talking about whether or not hearing impaired adolescents should be taught alongside their normal peers. Many professionals concerned with such students who suffer from hearing problems have published myriad research papers, which claim that in such classrooms where normal students and those having particular biological problems are taught together, most of the deficiencies are overlooked due to which special students are left dissatisfied. Many scholars claim that children with hearing disabilities do not experience the normal education easily by studying in the mainstream classrooms. They also have to cope with a broad range of social pressures like unjustified ridiculing, bulling, or suppression, which are mostly created by their normal age fellows. That is why, less inclusive provision is sought by many professionals and parents so that the hearing impaired adolescents can be developed behaviorally and psychologically in a welcome and harmonious environment. (Musselman, Mootilal, & MacKay, 1996, pp. 52-63). On the other hand, some claim that the demand of the time is that children with hearing problems should be taught alongside other adolescents who have no special needs in the mainstream schools in an order to make the approach of full social inclusion possible. (Ridsdale & Thompson, 2002, p. 22). This is the general consensus among all educationists that in order to make full inclusion devoid of harm, it should be made certain that the instructional strategies and major teaching services are so planned that they conveniently meet each student’s individualized deficiencies and needs, so that no student is ignored. Sadly, this vigilant practice is rarely practiced in the schools. This is an unequivocal reality that hearing impairment affects many dimensions of development of a child, among which sociological and psychological dimensions are most important because they are the functioning processes that are most badly affected. More and more schools today make children with hearing loss problems share teaching facilities and educational environments with their normal age fellows. According to a research report by (Martin & Bat-Chava, 2003, P. 511), over 40% of deaf and hard of hearing children attend mainstream schools alongside normal children in USA and more than 85% deaf students share educational environments with their normal peers in UK. This shows that the behavioral and psychological development of all adolescents is promoted irrespective of biological problems or other hindrances, and this approach has both merits and demerits, which are already mentioned above. One significant benefit offered by teaching both hearing impaired and normal children together is that this way, they get to collaborate with each other in an enhanced way and get acquainted with more chances to explore each other and develop mutual respect for each other. This introduces such an effective chance for the hearing loss children that their developmental process is left much saved from the mutilated harms done by secluding such adolescents. Still, the deaf children mostly feel rejected and left out as a result of behaviors shown by their normal peers and this affects their development in an adverse manner that poses a serious threat to their future potential as well. (Active Hearing, 2010). This also presents a major difference between the development of hearing impaired children and that of normal children, since the hearing impaired children typically feel rejected socially and the normal children are more active and outgoing socially. According to (Parker, 2010, p. 1), adolescence is such an age period in which children find themselves navigating new relationships and developing a better sense of changing environments. It is also such a critical period in which rapid physical and emotional development occurs. Academic, physical, and emotional declines are particularly seen in this age period and researchers associate these declines with various factors and changes faced by the adolescents. Of course, these challenges are even bigger and intricate for the adolescents with hearing loss problems because they have more on their plates already than their normal age fellows do. A mismatch between students’ developmental needs and the school environment is one such factor mentioned by (Parker, 2010), which is highly critical for the appropriate development of a hearing loss child. Here again comes the difference between the development of a hearing impaired student and that of a normal student. This is because, even if a normal child with no biological problems has educational or emotional needs that are not met with by the educational environment in the classroom, he/she can go out and communicate with his/her friends for sorting out any problem encountered. On the other hand, the development of a hearing impaired child is especially affected because the problems faced by him/her cannot be resolved by communication with other age fellows who have no biological problem. Either they are ignored by them or ridiculed on no grounds whatsoever. This induces them to seek seclusion and suppress the need to engage in friendly relationships with other children. The development of normal children is divided by (The South California Department of Mental Health, n.d.) into three phases. In the early phase, adolescents show a better comprehension of intricate realities of life, rebellion towards parents, and need for new persons to love in addition to parents. Puberty, ethical sense and self-direction develop later and soon after, adolescents start moving towards independence in the third stage. All these successive stages are badly affected in case of a hearing impaired adolescent, because due to hearing disabilities he would not be able to understand or make out the meaning of the crude realities of life for which communication is required. Moreover, due to shyness and emotional awkwardness, puberty will also appear later in such adolescents due to which they are at risk of being ridiculed by their normal peers. Their development is also be affected adversely because they are not able most often to gain confidence and perseverance required to establish new relationships with strangers and satisfy their need for love, which they demand separately in addition to the parents’ love. Myriad complex developmental issues are faced by hearing impaired adolescents in the crucial years, which produce terrifically awful results for their futures. Adolescence is the age in which intellectual and emotional interests bloom and flourish and for hearing impaired adolescents, improper attention and overlooking approach proves to be particularly detrimental. References: Active Hearing. (2010). Social implications of hearing loss. Retrieved from http://www.activehearing.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64:hearing-loss-social-implications&catid=8:media-room&Itemid=46 Berke, J. (2009). Parenting - Social Immaturity in Deaf/Hard of Hearing Children. Retrieved from http://deafness.about.com/od/families/a/immaturity.htm Martin, D. & Bat-Chava, Y. (2003). Negotiating deaf–hearing friendships: coping strategies of deaf boys and girls in mainstream schools. Child: Care, Health & Development, 29, 511–521. Musselman, C., Mootilal, A. & MacKay, S. (1996). The Social Adjustment of Deaf Adolescents in Segregated, Partially Integrated, and Mainstreamed Settings. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 1, 52-63. Parker, A.K. (2010). A Longitudinal Investigation of Young Adolescents’ Self-Concepts in the Middle Grades. RMLE Online, 33, 1-13. Petersen, A.C. (1993). Presidential Address: Creating Adolescents: The Role of Context and Process in Developmental Trajectories. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, 3, 1-18. Ridsdale, J. & Thompson, D. (2002). Perceptions of Social Adjustment of Hearing-Impaired Pupils in an Integrated Secondary School Unit. Educational Psychology in Practice, 18, 22-33. The South California Department of Mental Health. (n.d.) Adolescent Development. Retrieved from http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/adolescent_facts.htm Read More