m). Such access provides opportunities for connectedness and knowledge reconstruction. Accessing incidental learning opportunities influences how one perceives her/his sense of community membership, where s/he can be more inquisitive and contributing or sharing ideas and talents.
Parents, teachers, SSPs, and administrators should engage in discussions, during Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings, and request that accessible incidental learning opportunities should be created beyond classroom instruction. Such decisions cannot be based on staff availability, funding, or convenience. Considerations should include hiring qualified Deaf and hard-of-hearing personnel and promoting environments that would encourage a critical mass of deaf* students, where there are more opportunities for members to share a common, intelligible, and accessible language. A strategy might be an implementation of a center program where deaf* students from neighboring districts converge.
* deaf is used here to refer to all deaf and hard of hearing people regardless of hearing abilities or language preferences
Posted on Oct. 4, 2019 by
Mindy J. Hopper
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Editor’s note: This post was originally published Oct. 4, 2019, and was updated for language and clarity on Nov. 15, 2019.