AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

This is a study of d/Deaf children's perspectives on enculturation into Deaf culture and Deafhood through their experiences in Deaf schools. The study uses videotaped scenes shot in a preschool classroom in a signing school for the deaf as cues for focus group interviews with Deaf elementary school students. The scenes in the video were filmed for a larger study of Deaf Kindergartens in Three Countries: The United States, France, and Japan (Tobin et al, 2009). The larger study focuses on the perspectives of d/Deaf teachers on Deaf Early Childhood Education. My study focuses on d/Deaf children's perspectives of their past and current educational experiences and on the role they see their school experiences playing in their identity formation as a d/Deaf person. Advisors/Committee Members: Joe Tobin.