ABSTRACT
Children and adults with disabilities are among the poorest, most vulnerable, and most neglected groups in many developing countries (Swedish International Development Authority, 1995). Individuals with hearing loss are no exception. This chapter provides a firsthand account of observations made while providing assistance to educational programs for deaf students in Mongolia and Nepal, countries with limited economic resources and little history of effective education for students with disabilities. Although educational changes are emerging in these countries, there is not yet adequate data-based research to analyze and interpret the results of those changes. A primary goal of this chapter is to encourage such research identifying potential questions that research might fruitfully address. Systematic analysis of the effects of educational change in developing countries like Mongolia and Nepal can provide unique information about possibilities for deaf children’s development in contexts very different from those that informed most previous experience. Therefore, in ad-dition to providing a necessary data base for evaluation of program results in those countries, such research potentially broadens and enriches understanding of developmental processes, in general, for deaf children.
