Teachers' Perceptions of Communication Needs of Deaf Children in Kenyan School System

Kenya, an East African country has 38 Boarding schools and units for the hearing impaired. This includes three (3) secondary schools. Communication has been identified as one of the greatest areas of difficulty for the deaf. Both the receptive and expressive communication pose barriers in almost all aspects of life of the deaf. This study endeavors to examine teachers' perceptions of communication needs of deaf children in Kenyan school system. It is believed that teachers being the major service deliverer in the school system, their opinion on this matter will have long-lasting effects on their deaf pupils, as it will affect the quality of their service delivery. Ninety participants-50 males and 40 females responded to a nine-item questionnaire. Results show among others that most of the teachers saw the necessity for speech use by the deaf in order for them to successfully interact with family and society. Acceptance by the society highly correlates with use of speech by the deaf. However, use of speech is not seen by many teachers as mandatory for acquiring education. Most parents are indifferent to whether speech is taught to their deaf children or not. The open-ended question generated diverse reasons why speech is important. Most of the responses focus on speech-use, interaction and acceptance. Nigerian Journal of Clinical and Counselling Psychology Vol.8(2) 2002: 205-21