Decision making in the education of children and young people who are deaf or hard of hearing

Decision-making has been investigated in many sectors including economics and health care, but rarely in the education of children and young people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Decisions concerning the education of children and young people who are deaf or hard of hearing are often difficult to resolve because of incomplete or contradictory information and or the changing needs of the child or family. Because the nature of information dissemination to parents¹ is inconsistent and often lacks completeness, decision-making challenges can be resistant to resolution. Adding to the weight of the challenge is that a single decision may have a life-long influence on the child and family. Practitioners working with children and young people who are deaf or hard of hearing have not traditionally, explicitly focused on decision-making processes. Procedures in this domain may be haphazard and lack a strategic focus. Furthermore, parents may not be adequately supported in decision-making. In some cases, decisions may be inappropriately assigned to the practitioner or service agency.

Although there are regularly occurring similarities in the types of decisions parents encounter regarding the education of their child, i.e. mode of communication, early intervention service agency and school selection, the individualized context and circumstances of each family means that no two decisions will be alike. The wide-ranging factors affecting decision making include the developmental stage of the child and the varied knowledge, expectations, and experiences of the parent, practitioner and service agency. Each participant’s sense of their role in the decision-making process as well as their unique culture, personality, and perspective creates additional levels of complexity and variance in outcomes.

When methodically dissecting decision-making processes, biases become apparent. These are generally subconscious and confound decision-making. Biases may be inherent in the caregiver, practitioner or service agency, and include but are not limited to:

• optimism bias: belief that no matter what decision is made, all will be well;

• confirmation bias: the tendency to seek only information that confirms one’s beliefs;

• perceptual bias: subjective problem identification and data interpretation;

• anchoring bias: undue desire to maintain the status quo;

• selective perception bias: the process of expectations influencing perceptions;

• repetition bias: the inclination to believe what is heard most often; and

• status quo bias: a preference to maintain the current state.

There are many questions to consider in the study of decision-making processes regarding the education of children and young people who are deaf or hard of hearing including these:

• Can decision making processes that have been found to be effective in other domains be applied to the education of children who are deaf or hard of hearing?

• How do practitioners and service agencies apportion decision-making responsibilities?

• How do participants’ culture and background influence decision-making processes?

• How can researchers better understand the role and duties of the practitioner in decision making?

• How do we identify and openly discuss the culture of decision-making in a service agency?

• How does parent-to-parent support influence decision-making?

• How can families be supported to engage in ongoing decision-making?

• How do practitioners provide enough fair information, so that parents can decide what they want for their child?

• How can young people who are deaf or hard of hearing themselves be involved in making decisions?

• How can practitioners ensure that parents are empowered to participate in decision-making without being overwhelmed by the process?

• What evidence will assist parents in specific decision-making?

• Do algorithms or decision support tools have a role in decision-making?

We, as the Senior Editors of Deafness & Education International, are issuing a call to action to systematically investigate decision-making within the deaf education sector; to prepare current and future practitioners to elevate the importance of bias-free decision-making; and to purposefully concentrate on empowering caregivers to be equal and active participants in decisions regarding their child.

In this special issue, we focus on five areas concerning decision-making, which is the beginning of an ongoing dialogue. We congratulate all authors of this special double issue for recognizing the importance of decision-making in the education of children and young people who are deaf or hard of hearing. We welcome responses to this topic as well as the submission of additional manuscripts related to decision-making.

Notes

1 Parent in this context refers to the person or persons who provide ongoing caregiving to the child.