When we look at the issues and implications of deafness one point that emerges immediately refers to language. This study aims to describe language used by and with deaf students in inclusive contexts, focusing on different school environments: an exclusively hearing one, with the presence of only one deaf student throughout the school; and another one in which there is a concentration of deaf students in the same school. The focal subjects are three deaf girls who attend elementary school in two municipal schools, as well as the teachers and colleagues who interacted with them during the study. The focal subjects were observed and filmed in the classroom and during free interaction situations. The study allowed us to compare what happened in each of the schools. In the one where there are several deaf students, interaction with the special support system teachers, who were fluent in Brazilian sign language, and the investments made in the training of teachers to use sign language, albeit insufficient, promoted the presence of sign language in that school. Sign language was used by the deaf and hearing people in their interactions, even though it was not used to full extent, because it was usually combined with gestures and oral language. In contrast, in the school in which there was no investment in the inclusion of Brazilian sign language and the educational approach follows basically oralist principles, the only deaf student enrolled used neither sign nor oral language effectively.
Special Education; Language and Education; School Inclusion; Deafness
