Educational possibilities for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in Brazil

Introduction: The deaf and the hard of hearing (D/HH) have their history marked over time by different ways of being perceived. This directly implied his education and mainly, from the last century onwards, in the work aimed at them, called "rehabilitative", which was taken up by phonoaudiologists in Brazil. It is important to understand the possibilities that can be implemented so that an education that achieves its objectives can be carried out and the role of the phonoaudiologist in this implementation be clear. Objective: to suggest forms of education that enable quality education for the D/HH. Method: survey of forms of action in the education of the D/HH. Results: three forms of action are proposed: bilingual schools for D/HH in which the first language is SL and the second is the written language. These schools must consider identity, culture and community. Schools can be fully bilingual or "hub" schools in which students are inserted into classes in regular schools. In other form of action, students are included in regular schools and classes with the presence of mediators who master SL. A phonoaudiologist, as a specialist in language acquisition and knowledge about aspects related to D/HH, and a deaf teacher (representative of the deaf community), should be the professionals who will work in partnership with the team. It is also emphasized that families must be assisted in any of the ways mentioned, so that they can be heard and understood. Conclusion: the performance of the educational speech-language pathologist in the area of inclusion of the individual D/HH has many aspects and possibilities. It goes beyond the inclusion perceived with the placement of deaf children in regular schools. This function, which crosses so many areas and paths when thinking about this individual, is the role of the phonoaudiologist.

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