Integrating hearing and deaf preschoolers: an attempt to enhance hearing children's interactions with deaf peers

In this study, an attempt was made to modify hearing preschoolers' frequent and persistent refusal to interact with profoundly deaf peers. Half of the hearing children involved in a low-key mainstreaming program participated in a special 3-week training program that included discussions about the meaning of deafness, an opportunity to practice communication techniques effective with deaf children, and free-play interactions with deaf children. Prior to the intervention, no differences were found in the treatment and control children's interaction frequencies and duration or in the types of acts used to initiate interactions. Significant differences were found, however, following the heightened involvement. Hearing treatment children began interacting significantly less with the deaf children than did hearing control children. Hearing treatment children also became less responsive to the deaf children's attempts to interact than were hearing control children. While it was hypothesized that increased exposure would result in hearing treatment children using more gestures, touches, and messages incorporating multiple modalities, they came to use significantly fewer of these acts than did the hearing control children. The deaf children remained relatively unaffected by the intervention. These results are discussed in terms of their relevance for other mainstreaming programs and for research on the growth of social competence in general.