Dimensions of Mainstreaming

A naturalistic study was conducted to identify important dimensions of the classroom experience for mainstreamed students. It was designed to incorporate the perspectives of both the insider and the outsider. The dimensions identified in the study were Participation, Relationships, and Feelings. The participation of mainstreamed, hearing-impaired students is hindered by their being isolated spacially, temporally, and culturally from the class. Relationships in the mainstreamed classroom depend on the mutual interactive competence of normally hearing and hearing-impaired persons. The feelings of mainstreamed students seem to depend on their acceptance of their hearing loss as well as on their acceptance by others in the classroom. It was concluded that the three dimensions should be tested in future research for generalizability to other groups of hearing-impaired students.