| Forty percent of children who are deaf are being surgically implanted with cochlear implants. The children who are deaf currently being implanted are from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds that may have additional physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral disabilities that affect school performance and programming needs. This qualitative in-depth case study addressed the complex educational needs of children with cochlear implants based on the tenets of the Whole Child Initiative, which emphasize that successful students need to be challenged, engaged, supported, and encouraged to lead healthy lifestyles while learning in a safe environment. The research conducted spanned three months and gathered data from open-ended interviews, classroom observations, archival documentation, testing results, and physical artifacts to explore the needs of the whole child from the perspective of the child, the parent, and the professionals working with the child. In order to study a cross section of average-intelligence children with cochlear implants in Spartanburg, South Carolina, two students from the public school and four students from the state school for the deaf representing elementary-, middle-, and high-school age students were selected. Once the data were collected and coded, triangulation and interpretational analysis were used to find common themes and patterns. The findings indicated that the two educational programs in Spartanburg did not fully meet all of the needs of children with cochlear implants under the tenets of the Whole Child Initiative. The data collected revealed that engagement in the learning environment posed the most challenges for the children in the study with neither program providing adequate accommodations to allow full access to communication and the curriculum. Additionally, the programs did not provide sufficient training and/or support for teachers, parents, or the students with cochlear implants. This study contributed to a more complete understanding of the needs of children with cochlear implants and expanded the current body of information pertaining to the Whole Child Initiative in terms of its application to this population. The detailed information gathered could be used by educators to develop teacher-training materials and determine areas of consideration when developing appropriate educational programs for children with cochlear implants. |
