“It seemed like if you chose sign language you were going to be punished”: A narrative case study of participant experiences with supporting a deaf child in Ontario early childhood education and care

In Ontario, Canada, the movement toward inclusive education has led to a resource consultant model in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The purpose of this narrative case study was to analyze participant experiences involving a daycare setting previously attended by a young deaf child who benefits from American Sign Language (ASL). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a community ASL instructor who was hired to provide services in a daycare, a parent of a young deaf child who attended this setting, and a child care resource consultant who worked with all participants. These interviews were used to construct a retrospective narrative of participant experiences in an Ontario ECEC setting. As study findings reveal, the current design of publicly funded early intervention sign language service to deaf children may sometimes be at odds with the ethos of an inclusive ECEC system.