Parents' Expectations About the Postschool Outcomes of Children With Hearing Disabilities

Abstract

Although factors influencing the education of children with hearing disabilities have not been extensively researched in Kenya, research in the United States and elsewhere shows that parents' ideas play a critical role in the outcomes that children achieve. Focusing on parents' expectations about the future outcomes of their children with hearing disabilities in Kenya, this study had 2 foci: (a) to identify factors underlying these expectations, and (b) to examine the differential effects of parents' education, child's gender, and severity of hearing loss (hard of hearing vs. deaf) on such expectations. Sixty parents of children with hearing disabilities from 3 rural districts in Kenya participated in this study. All participants were asked to respond to 23 questions related to parents' expectations about postschool outcomes of their children with hearing disabilities. Results indicated that there were 6 factors underlying these expectations: civil rights, community participation, personal responsibility, marriage and family, financial security, and freedom and independence. Gender differences were found in favor of boys who were hard of hearing for all factors except freedom and independence. Overall, parents' expectations about postschool outcomes for the children who were hard of hearing were higher than those for the children who were deaf.