Pakistan Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences Research

Volume No. 02, Issue No. 02(December, 2019)

A STUDY TO EXPLORE PRESENCE OF

SOCIAL SKILLS AMONG HEARING
IMPAIRED STUDENTS
Abid Masood Khan*, Hifsa Batool† & Zabar Hussain‡

Abstract

Present study attempted to explore presence of social skills among

hearing impaired students taking education from government special
education schools and to compare different level of social skills based on
different demographic variables. It is a descriptive study in nature and
survey method is used to collect the data. Population of study is hearing
impaired children living in division Faisalabad and Lahore. Sample of
N=200 hearing impaired students are selected through convenient sampling
technique. Responses of social skills are taken from mothers as mothers
have better knowledge of proficiencies of their hearing impaired children’s
social skills. Children’s age group was 05-20 years. Age range of mothers
was 25-55 years. Social skills checklist was used to as tool of the study for
collection of data. It is a mixed method approach and statistical measures
were made via frequency distribution, t-test and ANOVA. Results of current
study clearly depicted that 82% hearing impaired students have low level of
social skills and 18% hearing impaired students have best level of social
skills. Current study also find out that there is significant difference in social
skills of students on the basis of living area and children age and there is no
significant difference in presence of social skills in hearing impaired
students based on mother’s working status (house wife and job holders) and
mothers education level. Study also demonstrated that there was positive
correlation among presence of social skills in hearing impaired students and
their age. The study concluded that teachers should focus on individual
differences while teaching social skills to hearing impaired children and
should adopt different teaching methods and teaching strategies for every
student. It was also recommended that job holder mothers should manage

*
Govt. Special Education Department, Punjab, Pakistan. ([email protected])
†
Govt. Special Education Department, Punjab, Pakistan. ([email protected])
‡
Ph.D. Scholar, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. ([email protected])
A Study to Explore Presence of Social Skills among Hearing Impaired Students 2

their time table and must spare their proper time for their special children to
make them beneficial and socially adjusted child of community.

Keywords: Social Skills, Hearing Impaired Children, Mothers

Introduction

It is very necessary and compulsory for every individual that they would
be ready to face and compete with the challenges of life according to age,
gender and disability wise according to cultural change and different
incidents in the life. Person with disabilities may be preparing themselves in
order to cope social changes, difficulties and the development of social
dealings. For this purpose training is given to special students by the
different psychologist and counselors though out schools years. To check
emotional problems and social challenges, psychologists have involved
themselves in social skills education in the whole world and the educational
institutions on the suggestion of WHO & UNICEF (WHO & UNICEF,
2003). Social skills are the capacities which construct positive and valuable
behavior, and these abilities make powerful to individuals to play out their
social responsibilities and have ability to handle routine matter issues and
maintain their relations without giving tension to him/her self or teasing
others. Indeed, even normal children are thinking that it’s hard to adapt up to
the tricky circumstances, decision making in the everyday social life, as a
student with hearing impairment experience gradually number of various
issues in the playground, educational institutions and in the community. Life
skills for the adjustment with the environment and living in the society with
successful manners the trainings regarding social skills and life living skills
must required (Gamst-Klaussen et al., 2016).
Social skill is a term used to portray a child's learning of, and the ability
to employ, a mixture of social activities which are suitable to a spreading
relational condition and that are fulfilling to other in every day
circumstances. The ability to hinder egocentric, hasty or negative social
behavior is additionally an impression of a child's social skills (Hoffman et
al., 2015). There are many different social skills used by both hearing and
hearing impaired children. These skills are used in different situations
throughout the Child’s day. Children start to absorb social skills since their
birth. They are continually observing and copping the activities of their
parents, siblings and society. A hearing impaired child’s capacity to develop
social skills will depend upon his severity of impairment, maturity and age
of identification of problem, management and personality along with
experiences they faced. In addition their exposure to variety of situations
with hearing peers is also a combination of social skill development
(Holstrum et al., 2008). Some of the social skills that children develop
include; having peers, being friend, sharing of belongings, starting talk,
3 Abid Masood Khan, Hifsa Batool & Zabar Hussain

fitting together in social groups, proper expressions of state of mind and

identifying and taking suitable behavior. These skills can be taught by
imitation, role play, social skills exercises, competitions, storytelling and
written workshops (Patton, 2004).
The development of social skills is so important that for some children it
is included in their IEPs. In these plans they are referred to as social
integration goals and objectives. The child who having hearing loss is left
untreated it can cause several secondary impairments. The hearing loss
degrees or level and the age of child at onset, as well as his/her intellectual
potential will influence the accumulation and magnitude of the secondary
problem (Tharpe, 2008).
In this manner, evolving social skills improvement in disable children is
the important or major role. The children those are hearing impaired are at
more severe vulnerability for developmental delays and challenges than their
friends with normal hearing. This risk is frequently playing a vital role in
delays of their language. Yet the bilateral mild level hearing loss (26dB to
40dB in the better ear) and mild level unilateral hearing loss (less than 25dB
in the better ear, above than 25dB in the other ear) may take an extended risk
of maladaptive improvement. All things considered, numerous results in the
children having low level of hearing stay unexplored, especially those
related through the emotionally and socially betterment (Winiger et al.,
2016). To be sure, despite the fact that children with hearing disability are
incorporated into certain studies, their social aptitudes have not been studied
explicitly. This absence of learning reduces the planning of well-absorbed,
positive intervention upsetting (Holstrum et al., 2008). As socially abilities
acquiring is an essential developmental project in the early childhood
education (Rose-Krasnor and Denham, 2009), the present investigation
investigates these abilities in 5-15 year-old students having hearing
impedance.
The present study investigates the presence of social skills among the
children having hearing loss and their living situation and the status of their
mother’s education.

Objectives of Study

Following are the objectives of study:

1. To explore presence of social skills among hearing impaired students
taking education from government special education schools.
2. To find out difference in presence of social skills of hearing impaired
based on different demographics of mothers and children.
A Study to Explore Presence of Social Skills among Hearing Impaired Students 4

Questions of Study

Following are the questions of study:

1. Do all hearing impaired students taking education from government
special education schools have good level of social skills?
2. Is there significant difference in presence of social skills of hearing
impaired based on different demographics?

Methodology

Population and Sample of Study

It is a descriptive study in nature and population of study is hearing
impaired students taking education from government special education
schools living in division Faisalabad and Lahore (Pakistan). Sample of
N=200 hearing impaired students are selected through convenient sampling
technique. Delimitations of the study are those students taking education
from government special education schools having both type of sibling
(normal and hearing impaired) and also having hearing mother. Responses
of social skills are taken from mothers as mothers have better knowledge of
proficiencies of their hearing impaired children’s social skills. Responses are
not taken from the hearing impaired children due to communication
problems, after using the sign language there were the chances of ambiguous
responses so the mothers were called for data collection to get appropriate
responses of social skills of children. The age of children ranges from 05-20
years and the mother’s age range is 25-55 years.

Tool of Study

Social Skills Checklist (SSC):

Social skills checklist (SSC) developed by researchers is used as tool of
study. It is 40 items Likert type checklist and reliability of the checklist is
0.886. Social skills checklist comprised of 4 sections (social play, emotional
development, and emotional regulation and communication skills). To
achieve the objectives of current study researches considered combine all
areas as social skills and did not work on them separately.

Results

Following are the results of study:

Frequency distribution of the data collected demonstrated that 82%
hearing impaired children have low level of social skills and 18% hearing
impaired children have good level of social skills.
5 Abid Masood Khan, Hifsa Batool & Zabar Hussain

Overview of Social Skills Level Among the Students with Hearing

Impairment on their Living Area (Rural/Urban) Basis
In this study, 100 Hearing Impaired Children were taken from rural
residential areas and 100 Hearing Impaired Children were taken from urban
living areas. It can be concluded that equal number of hearing impaired
children were taken from both living location Urban and Rural to make
comparison. This can be seen in the following table:

Table 1: Level of Social Skills among Hearing Impaired Children on

the Basis of Their Living Area

Living Area N M df t Sig

Rural 100 48.43 198 2.356 .019
Urban 100 47.19
The level of significance is less than .05= *P

The above Table 1 indicated that there is significant difference in the

level of social skills among hearing impaired children on the basis of their
living area. It can be said that different living area (rural and urban) can
affect the level of social skills among hearing impaired children.

Overview of the Effects of Maternal Working Status on the Social Skills

Level of the Hearing Impaired Students
In this study, 64 mothers of children having hearing loss were doing
jobs and 136 mothers of children having hearing loss were doing work in
their houses. It can be concluded that the majority of the mothers of children
having hearing loss were house wife’s. This can be seen in the following
table:

Table 2: Level of Social skills among Hearing Impaired Children on

the Basis of their Maternal Working Status

Maternal Working N M df t Sig

Status
Job Holder 64 29.15 198 -.424 .470
House Wife 136 29.39
The level of significance is less than .05= *P

The above Table 2 explored that there is no significant difference found

in the level of social skills among hearing impaired children on the basis of
their maternal working status. It can be said that different working status
A Study to Explore Presence of Social Skills among Hearing Impaired Students 6

(house wife or job holder) of the mothers of hearing impaired children does
not affect the level of social skills among hearing impaired children.

Overview of the Effects of Maternal Education Status on the Social

Skills Level of the Hearing Impaired Students
In this study, mothers of children with hearing impairment have
different levels of education. It can be concluded that 26% mothers are under
Matric, 33% are Matric pass and 41% of the mothers of children with
hearing loss having Bachelor degree. This can be seen in the following table:

Table 3: Level Of Social Skills among Hearing Impaired Children on

The Basis of their Maternal Education

Sum of Mean
Groups df F Sig
Squares Square
Between Groups 572.642 2 114.528 1.366 .247
Within Groups 6289.975 197 83.866
The level of significance is less than .05= *P

The above Table 3 showed that there is no significant difference found

in the level of social skills among hearing impaired children on the basis of
their maternal education. It can be said that maternal education of hearing
impaired children does not affect the level of social skills among hearing
impaired children.

Overview of Social Skills among the Students with Hearing Impairment

on the Basis of their Age
In this study, hearing impaired children having different age were
participated. It can be concluded that 15% of hearing impaired children
having age 05-10 Years, 65% of hearing impaired children having age 10-15
years and 20% of the hearing impaired children having age 16-20 years. This
can be seen in the following table:

Table 4: Level of Social Skills among Hearing Impaired Children on

the Basis of their Age

Sum of Mean
Groups df F Sig
Squares Square
Between Groups 147.944 2 73.97 2.50 .043
Within Groups 4632.831 197 29.50
The level of significance is less than .05= *P
7 Abid Masood Khan, Hifsa Batool & Zabar Hussain

The above Table 4 indicated that there is significant difference in the

level of social skills among hearing impaired children on the basis of their
age. It can be said that different age level can affect the level of social skills
among hearing impaired children.

Description of Relationship among Social Skills and the Age of Hearing

Impaired Children
In this study, the children with hearing loss having different age level
were participated. It can be concluded that the positive relation found among
social skills and the age of children having hearing loss. This can be seen in
the following table:

Table 5: Relationship among Social Skills and the Age of Hearing

Impaired Children

Social skills Age

Pearson Correlation 1 .626**
Social skills Sig. (2-tailed) .001
N 100 100
Pearson Correlation .626** 1
Age Sig. (2-tailed) .001
N 100 100
**The correlation is significant at the level of 0.01 (2-tailed).

Above table explored that positive correlations is found in the social

skills and the age of children with hearing loss. The age of the children with
hearing loss has positive relation with the social abilities or gets of children
with hearing loss.

Discussion

In general, hearing impaired children display lower social aptitude,

including social skills, than normal hearing children. Hoffman et al. (2015)
reported lower social competency among the children with hearing loss
having the hearing loss from severe to profound level matched or compared
with the children having normal hearing. The same findings or results was
concluded in the researches of cochlear implants children and the children
having mild level hearing loss to profound level hearing loss (Wiefferink et
al., 2012). However, exemptions do happen; age-suitable socially skills were
A Study to Explore Presence of Social Skills among Hearing Impaired Students 8

described between the hearing impaired students having mild level hearing
loss to profound level hearing loss and the children with cochlear implants
(Ketelaar et al., 2013). The researches that found impediments and those
reporting age-suitable improvement do not vary around the degrees of
hearing loss or the participants age level but the exercise of many
assessment techniques and the merger of children having all hearing loss
degree levels in the same sample may also conclude to the unpredictability
in results.

Findings and Conclusion

It is found out that 82% hearing impaired students have low level of
social skills and 18% hearing impaired students have best level of social
skills. Current study also found out that there is significant difference in
social skills of students living in urban and rural areas and there is no
significant difference in presence of social skills in hearing impaired
students based on mother’s education and working status (housewife and
jobholders). It is found out that there is positive correlation among presence
of social skills in hearing impaired students and their age. We can conclude
from findings of current study that teachers should focus on individual
differences while teaching social skills to hearing impaired children and
should adopt different teaching methods and teaching strategies for every
student. Findings of current study set a question mark for all the policy
makers’ teachers and parents of hearing impaired children that why mostly
of hearing impaired children are not good in their social skills. Deficiency in
presence of social skills can become a big hurdle in rehabilitation of hearing
impaired. It is also recommended that job holder mothers should manage
their time table and must spare their few quality of time for their special
children to make them beneficial and socially adjusted child of community.
The present study has its implications for teachers, educational
administrators, curriculum framers and parents. The first responsibility of
the parents and teachers should be to know the areas where the students lack
skills and try to give better conditions for proper skills in every sphere. The
school should provide facilities to special needs children for their better
skills and on the basis of current study it is recommended that policy makers
and school administration should make arrangements for uplifting social
skills among special needs children and workshops and seminars should be
arranged at government and semi-government level for the enhancement of
skills and rehabilitation of special needs children.
9 Abid Masood Khan, Hifsa Batool & Zabar Hussain

References

Gamst-Klaussen, T., Rasmussen, L.M.P., Svartdal, F. & Strømgren, B.

(2016). Comparability of the social skills improvement system to the
social skills rating system: a Norwegian study. Scandinavian journal of
educational research, 60(1), 20-31.
Hoffman, M.F., Quittner, A.L. & Cejas, I. (2014). Comparisons of social
competence in young children with and without hearing loss: A dynamic
systems framework. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 20(2),
115-124.
Holstrum, W.J., Gaffney, M., Gravel, J.S., Oyler, R.F. & Ross, D.S. (2008).
Early intervention for children with unilateral and mild bilateral degrees
of hearing loss. Trends in Amplification, 12(1), 35-41.
Keilmann, A., Limberger, A. & Mann, W.J. (2007). Psychological and
physical well-being in hearing-impaired children. International journal
of pediatric otorhinolaryngology, 71(11), 1747-1752.
Ketelaar, L., Rieffe, C., Wiefferink, C.H. & Frijns, J.H. (2013). Social
competence and empathy in young children with cochlear implants and
with normal hearing. The laryngoscope, 123(2), 518-523.
Lee, A., Hankin, B.L. & Mermelstein, R.J. (2010). Perceived social
competence, negative social interactions, and negative cognitive style
predict depressive symptoms during adolescence. Journal of clinical
child & adolescent psychology, 39(5), 603-615.
Patton, R.K. (2004). Social skills issues of mainstreaming hearing-impaired
children.
Rose-Krasnor, L. & Denham, S. (2009). Social-emotional competence in
early childhood. Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and
groups, 162-179.
Tharpe, A.M. (2008). Unilateral and mild bilateral hearing loss in children:
past and current perspectives. Trends in amplification, 12(1), 7-15.
Wiefferink, C.H., Rieffe, C., Ketelaar, L., De Raeve, L. & Frijns, J.H.
(2012). Emotion understanding in deaf children with a cochlear
implant. Journal of deaf studies and deaf education, 18(2), 175-186.
Winiger, A.M., Alexander, J.M. & Diefendorf, A.O. (2016). Minimal
hearing loss: From a failure-based approach to evidence-based
practice. American journal of audiology, 25(3), 232-245.
World Health Organization. (2003). Skills for health: skills-based health
education including life skills: an important component of a child-
friendly/health-promoting school.