Parent and college student rating of factors which most influenced the educational success of the hearing-impaired student

The purpose of this project was to identify areas wherein parents of students who attended California State University, Northridge, concentrated to enable their hearing-impaired child to compete alongside of hearing students in a mainstreamed academic program. The second goal of this study was to ascertain how parents and students would rate these identified factors in terms of importance and contribution to the hearing-impaired child. Two questionnaires were utilized in this study. The first questionnaire was sent to parents and professionally employed hearing-impaired adults who identified the factors to be rated. The second questionnaire was sent to sixty parents of hearing-impaired students who were attending California State University, Northridge, and sixty students who were attending. (Parents and students were not necessarily related.) The findings reveal that parents were extremely influential in the educational programs of their children. They also show that the deaf or hearing-impaired children were accepted as any other member of the family. The hearing-impaired child communicated regularly at home and parents expected their children to achieve in spite of any handicapping conditions that existed. Professionals should encourage parents to become more involved in the overall education of their hearing-impaired child and should cease from trying to transform parents into homebound teachers. Parents have a vital role to play and their input should be maximized and used properly.