160 education
Good schools meet deaf children’s needs
All communities can have good schools for deaf and hearing children.
It is not money, new buildings, or ‘expert’ teachers that make a good
school. A good school pays attention to all the needs of its students and
has committed teachers who help children of different hearing abilities
learn and use language.
I enjoy teaching more
than working in the
mine, even though I get
paid less.
And the town is
more aware of
our children’s
needs than ever
before!
The children like
learning from each
other. They have made
good friends and
learned more about
social responsibility.
Schools that respond to the many different needs of deaf children can
make a great difference in their lives.
Schools can cooperate with health care services and hospitals to provide
hearing and eye tests, and hearing aids and eyeglasses. Schools can be
made available for vaccination campaigns to make it easy for parents
to get the children vaccinated. And schools can include nutrition and
sanitation in the subjects they teach.
Schools can make time for deaf children to learn and play with hearing
children, and not allow children to tease each other. When schools
teach about the history and importance of deaf people and the deaf
community they can help deaf children feel important and build self-
esteem.
When schools first include children who are deaf, they often make
mistakes, despite their good intentions. Schools have to learn about
deafness, just as deaf children and their families have to learn about
schools. Here is a story of one family that persisted in getting their
daughter an education and about the change that made in her life.
Helping Children Who Are Deaf (2004)