Abstract
There are two alternatives for elementary schools for hearing-impaired children in Fukuoka city. Some parents chose mainstream schools. These schools hold special programs for hearing-impaired children twice a week in other classes that are located at different schools. Other parents send their children to deaf schools. The purpose of this study was to compare the “Japanese language aptitude” of hearing-impaired children under different educational environments, namely conventional and deaf schools in Fukuoka city. The subjects included 23 hearing-impaired children. Their “Japanese language aptitude” was examined using CRT-II for “Japanese.” Both the communication modes used in class and the frequency of supplementary lessons were investigated in 25 teachers at mainstream schools who educated hearing-impaired children and 24 teachers at deaf schools using questionnaires. The average score of CRT-II of the mainstream children was greater than 70%, while that of the deaf school children was greater than 60%. However, the average score for the “ability to write” in the upper-grade group of the deaf school and mainstream classes was lower than the nationwide average score. Regardless of the type of school, improving the “ability to write” in order to improve hearing-impaired children's problems should be a future task.
