Social emotional goals for students who are deaf and hard of hearing: special education teacher interviews

The aim of the study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the use of social-emotional goals in Individualized Education Program (IEP) for elementary students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH). Thus, there is a need to provide more than academic skills in school, which are related to social-emotional learning. Over the past century, society and life experiences of students in various age groups have evolved. These adjustments could have a negative impact on the economy and community institutions. Students' social, emotional, and moral development are impacted by all of these changes. The participants of the study were thirteen teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the phenomenon of the use of IEP goals related to social-emotional competencies. Five themes were discussed by the participants. The themes were communication skills, academic goals, low self-belief, isolation, and inclusion. The purpose of this study is to increase the awareness of applying non-academic IEP goals, such as social-emotional goals, for students who are DHH. This will increase the welfare of students who are DHH and allow them greater involvement in the school community. Current educational environments are characterized by their multicultural nature, having students from a wide array of social and economic backgrounds, including students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms. This diversity requires that educators to support student motivations in learning, behaviour, and academic performance. Social and emotional learning goals provides a base for a safe and supportive environment that furthers enhancement in learners' academic, professional, and overall personal excellence. The present study focuses on the inclusion of the social-emotional factors into the Individualized Education Programs (IEP) for students in the elementary levels who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH). For insights, there were interviews from teachers on how they have implemented IEP goals in the area of social-emotional skills and what their experiences were.