Communication strategies exhibited by preschool children with hearing loss during outdoor free play in an integrated and a segregated educational setting
Master of EducationThis study investigated the communicative behaviour strategies exhibited by two preschool children with profound hearing loss during outdoor free play sessions at their integrated and segregated educational settings. The participants were investigated in terms of the particular play and non-play behaviours they engaged in; along with the communicative behaviours and communicative mode they exhibited during each interaction. The data collection process involved video taped footage analysed over 15- second intervals for a total of 60 minutes for each participant. The study was designed to give a description of the communicative behaviour strategies and communicative interaction mode used during play and non-play behaviours across the integrated and the segregated preschools. The results of the study suggested that more sophisticated forms of play behaviour; such as cooperative play are observed more often in the integrated setting. In the integrated setting join in communicative strategies were used more often, whereas greeting and inviting communicative behaviours were more frequently observed in the segregated setting. The visual communicative mode was the most often recorded communicative mode in the integrated setting. The main differences were in the amount of solitary play produced in the integrated setting, familiarity with hearing peers may have been a contributing factor to this result. Associative play was greater in the segregated setting and this may have been related to the activities the participants engaged in. Much of the play was based around the sandpit and riding tricycles. In addition, communicative behaviours differed mainly in the level of sharing and joining in behaviours that were demonstrated. The results suggest that sharing may have occurred more in the segregated setting due to the children being more familiar with each other. Join in behaviour strategies were greater in the integrated setting due to the participants gaining access by mainly using the visual interaction mode. Finally, the communicative interaction mode was slightly different across the two settings in the verbal, vocal and sound making mode. The setting also impacted upon the number of instances in which no interaction occurred at all. These results have implications for the management of the preschool outdoor environment in both integrated and segregated settings for children with hearing loss. The outcomes of this study also highlight important areas for further research
