Browsing by Author "Rantanen, Elina"

The aim of the study was to find out what kind of school choices parents of children with hearing impairment make and what kind of factors influence the decision-making, and what special arrangements and forms of support hearing impaired students have in elementary school. The subject has not been studied much beforehand, so the study aimed to provide information on the subject to both professionals and parents of hearing impaired children. The study has been carried out as a systematic literature review of 11 scientific articles. The articles are Finnish peer-reviewed articles published during 2000-2017. According to the articles, the majority of students with hearing impairment are currently in mainstream education at their closest elementary school. The decision to choose the closest school is affected, in particular, by the small number of special education schools for hearing impaired children and, consequently, by their long distance to home. In addition, general education is considered to be higher quality than the education of special education schools. On the other hand special education schools are favored because of the signing environment and peer support. Children receive support in accordance with the intervention plan. Even though they might be in their closest school, they still can receive special education. A hearing impaired child can also undergo extended compulsory education. Teachers make pedagogical solutions to support the hearing impaired pupil. Physical arrangements are also made in the classroom related to, for example, lighting, pupil’s chair and position in the class room as well as acoustics and noise levels. In addition, schools use various kinds of hearing aids, technological equipment, assistants and interpreters.