An examination of the process of the resource room application designed for the mainstreamed primary school aged hearing impaired students

The main purpose of this action research is to examine the process of the resource room application designed for the mainstreamed primary school aged hearing impaired students. The participants are three mainstreamed fourth grade hearing impaired students, the researchers as the teacher of the resource room, advisor of this thesis Project, the expert of education of hearing impaired individuals and regular education teachers. The advisor and the expert secured the trustworthiness of the research. The regular education teachers contributed the research efforts when requested.The data were collected cyclically through videotaping actual classroom interactions, audio taping the trustworthiness meetings, writing the meeting reports, lesson plans and reflective research journals, the students? artifacts and the documents.The problems and solution attempts faced during the preparation and the application phases of the resource room were described by utilizing various data collection and analysis techniques. The compiled data were critically analyzed by the trustworthiness committee and the researcher during and after the research effort.The activities implemented in the resource room were designed concerning the principles of effective resource room programs suggested by the literature. The implementations included the areas of Turkish Language Art, Science and Technology, Social Study and Mathematics.Although various problems occurred before and during the implementation process, this resource room education effort conducted based on the action research methodology created positive changes especially in the students, the resource room teacher. The students were observed demonstrating improvements in their academic, communicative and social behaviors and skills. The research findings can be useful for developing overview for the future resource room programs for hearing impaired students in Turkey and abroad.