Diversity in Deaf Education

Deaf children are not hearing children who can't hear. Beyond any specific effects of hearing loss, as a group they are far more diverse than hearing peers. Lack of full access to language, incidental learning, and social interactions as well as the possibility of secondary disabilities means that deaf learners face a variety of challenges in academic domains. Technological innovations such as digital hearing aids and cochlear implants have improved hearing and the possibility of spoken language for many deaf learners, but parents, teachers, and other professionals are just now coming to recognize that there are cognitive, experiential, and social-emotional differences between deaf and hearing students likely to affect academic outcomes. Sign languages and schools and programs for deaf learners thus remain an important part of the continuum of services needed for this diverse population. Understanding such diversity and determining ways in which to accommodate them must become a top priority in educating deaf learners.

Through the participation of an international, interdisciplinary set of scholars, Diversity in Deaf Education takes a broad view of learning and academic progress, considering "the whole child" in the context of the families, languages, educational settings in which they are immersed. In adopting this perspective, the complexities and commonalities in the social, emotional, cognitive, and linguistic mosaic of which the deaf child is a part, are captured. It is only through such a holistic consideration of diverse children developing within diverse settings that we can understand their academic potentials.

Marc Marschark is a Professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology, where he directs the Center for Education Research Partnerships. His primary interest is in relations among language, learning, and cognition; current research focuses on such relations among deaf children and adults in formal and informal educational settings. He was founding editor of the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education.

Venetta Lampropoulou is a Professor of deaf education, founder and director of the Deaf Studies Unit of the University of Patras, Greece. Her research includes subjects related to literacy and the learning environments of deaf students, the families with deaf members, the use of technology by deaf people, and the linguistics of Greek sign language.

Emmanouil K Skordilis is an Associate Professor in Adapted Physical Activity (APA) within the School of Physical Education and Sport Science, in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. He received his undergraduate degree in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, and his Master's and Doctorate degrees from Springfield College. He has been an active researcher with more than 40 publications in the field during the last decade.