title: The needs of teachers of children with hearing loss within the inclusive education system.
abstract: In South Africa, the current movement towards the inclusion of children with disabilities, including children with hearing loss, is likely to have far-reaching consequences for both teachers and learners. Undoubtedly, needs will arise from teachers during the transition, especially in the areas pertaining to the audiological and educational management of children with hearing loss. Therefore, a descriptive research design was developed comprising of a questionnaire survey followed by focus group interviews to determine teachers' needs. The questionnaire survey explored the needs of 664 teachers while focus group interviews were conducted with 19 teachers of children with hearing loss. Teachers were mostly from special schools as only a very small number of children are educated outside these establishments. Findings revealed that, although participants realised the importance of various aspects of development of the child with hearing loss, they generally did not realise the importance of receiving support from an educational audiologist.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Pathology, University of Pretoria.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hugo
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Louw
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D001298:Audiology; D002648:Child; D060345:Education of Persons with Hearing Disabilities; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D020380:Needs Assessment; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards*; D013019:South Africa; D013066:Speech-Language Pathology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*