Social-emotional Challenges Experienced by Students Who Function with Mild and Moderate Hearing Loss in Educational Settings

Abstract

Mild or moderate hearing loss (MMHL) is a communication disability that impacts speech and language development and academic performance. Students with MMHL also have threats to their social-emotional well-being and self-identity formation, and are at risk for psychosocial deficits related to cognitive fatigue, isolation, and bullying. While the body of research on deaf and culturally Deaf students is considerable, educational literature on students with MMHL is much less extensive, especially when considering their prevalence in regular classrooms (Niskar et al., 2001). This paper investigates the social-emotional challenges of hard of hearing students using self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) as an organizing framework and highlights how classroom teachers can support relatedness, competence, and autonomy for students with MMHL.