Comparison of Hard-of-Hearing Student's Self-Concept, Social Development and General Adjustment in Integrated and Segregated Education Environments in Qom in 2011-2012

The main purpose of this causal-comparative research was to compare self-concept، social development & general adjustment among hard‒of‒hearing students in integrated & segregated education environments. Forty hard-of-hearing students were selected from Qom’s integrated elementary schools by the census method. The same numbers of students were selected from segregated schools by the matching method. The measures used were: the emotional satisfaction subscale، the level of self-esteem derived from the children’s vulnerability scale، the Vineland social development scale، and the adjustment behavior scale. Data was analyzed with covariance analysis، independent t‒tests & Chi2. Generally speaking، there was no significant difference between hard-of-hearing students in integrated and segregated schools with regards to their self-concept، (p=0. 477). However، overall social development (p=0. 009) & general adjustment (p=0. 057) were significantly higher in the segregated school students than in the integrated ones. Self‒concept is a distinctive individual characteristic among hard-of-hearing individuals. So learning in an integrated or segregated environment doesn’t affect it. However، different cultural، economic، environmental، familial، administrative، and social factors can affect social development & general adjustment in both groups.