Typology and interventions for some social problems affecting the learning of the hearing-impaired child

Discussions centring on social factors in the learning of school children with hearing disability usually present a double-jeopardy trend. Firstly, the hearing-impaired child suffers from social behaviour disorders which are direct or indirect consequences of their hearing disability. Secondly, the same child is also prone to social problems that are common to all children (with or without disabilities). The hearing-impaired child, therefore, presents two orders of social problem in the classroom - general and specific social problems. This development usually makes the hearing-disabled child a social risk in the classroom twice that of their hearing classmates. This paper therefore attempted to address the following issues: (1) identify the types of general and specific social problems of the hearing-disabled school child; (2) establish the patterns of these problems; and (3) proffer some intervention strategies required for managing those problems so that the child can learn meaningfully in the school.