The provision of local mainstream education for young pupils who have cochlear implants

Abstract

Increasing numbers of severely and profoundly hearing‐impaired children are receiving cochlear implants at an early age. The literature on cochlear implantation suggests that full mainstream schooling may be appropriate for many of these children, and government legislation encourages mainstream educational placement for children with special educational needs. This paper reports the findings of a small‐scale study which aimed to ascertain the incidence of implanted pupils being educated in mainstream schools at present. A detailed study was undertaken of the provisions made for two Year 2 implanted pupils being educated in their local primary schools. Some of the issues pertinent to the provision of an inclusive education for this new population of young implanted hearing‐impaired pupils are discussed. Copyright © 2001 Whurr Publishers Ltd.

Inclusive education: a critical perspective

“…The use of braille by some visually impaired children and cochlear implants for some hearing impaired children are two examples of factors where there is a clearly specific element. Hence, investigating the use of cochlear implants, for example, their benefits in terms of educational achievement and social relationships, seems to me to be worthwhile and necessarily focused (Bennett & Lynas, 2001). On the other hand, if cochlear implants were totally successful for all children with severe and profound hearing impairments, this would effectively remove a significant subset of our society, one with a history as a recognisable community.…”

Cochlear Implanted Pupils in Scottish Schools: 4-Year School Attainment Data (2000-2004)

“…Given the intrinsic focus within pediatric cochlear implantation on achieving functional hearing (Thoutenhoofd et al, 2005, p. 19), there is self-evident alignment of its objectives with those of national education policy-most notably the current ''presumption of mainstreaming '' pupils (Scottish Executive, 2002)because this currently implies a normative education that is monolingual and spoken in delivery. A number of studies have focused on mainstream placement as an outcome indicator (Archbold, Nikolopoulos, Lutman, & O'Donoghue, 2002;Archbold, Nikolopoulos, O'Donoghue, & Lutman, 1998;Bennett & Lynas, 2001;Daya, Ashley, Gysin, & Papsin, 2000;Fortnum, Marshall, Bamford, & Summerfield, 2002;Nevins & Chute, 1995), and some studies also take into account the cost of educational support offered in compensation for disadvantage present within the system (Francis, Koch, Wyatt, & Niparko, 1999;3 O'Neill et al, 20003 O'Neill et al, , 2001Wyatt & Niparko, 1996). In those studies mainstream placement is associated with relative independence from support, leading to claims of cost-savings over time in favor of cochlear implantation.…”