Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education - recent issues

Modeling Reading Vocabulary Learning in Deaf Children in Bilingual Education Programs

Hermans, D., Knoors, H., Ormel, E., Verhoeven, L. — 2008-02-04

The acquisition of reading vocabulary is one of the major challenges for deaf children in bilingual education programs. Deaf children have to acquire a written lexicon that can effectively be used in reading. In this paper, we present a developmental model that describes reading vocabulary acquisition of deaf children in bilingual education programs. The model is inspired by Jiang's model of vocabulary development in a second language (N. Jiang, 2000, 2004a) and the hierarchical model of lexical representation and processing in bilinguals (J. F. Kroll & E. Stewart, 1988). We argue that lexical development in the written language often fossilizes and that many words deaf readers acquire will not reach the final stage of lexical development. We argue that this feature is consistent with many findings reported in the literature. Finally, we discuss the pedagogical implications of the model.

Mode of Acquisition as a Factor in Deaf Children's Reading Comprehension

Wauters, L. N., Tellings, A. E. J. M., van Bon, W. H. J., Mak, W. M. — 2008-02-04

This article examines the role of mode of acquisition (MoA) of word meanings in reading comprehension: children acquire word meanings using perceptual information (e.g., hearing, seeing, or smelling the referent) and/or linguistic information (e.g., verbal explanations). A total of 72 deaf and 99 hearing children between 7 and 15 years of age performed a self-paced reading task. Comprehension scores increased with age in both groups, but reading speed increased over age only for the hearing participants. For both groups, reading times on linguistically acquired words were longer than on perceptually acquired words. Although deaf children scored lower than hearing children in both conditions, comprehension scores for both groups were lower on linguistic items than on perceptual items. Thus, MoA influences reading comprehension, but the deaf show difficulty on both the perceptual and the linguistic items.

Parental Involvement in the Habilitation Process Following Children's Cochlear Implantation: An Action Theory Perspective

Zaidman-Zait, A., Young, R. A. — 2008-02-04

Action theory and the qualitative action-project method are used in this study to address and illustrate the complexity of parenting children who have received cochlear implants (CIs) as well as the intentionality of parents engaged in that process. "Action" refers to individual and joint goal-directed and intentional behaviors. Action theory has the advantage of using the perspectives provided by manifest behavior, internal processes, and social meaning in the analysis of action. Two cases are used to describe the individual and joint actions and projects, as related to parents' involvement in the habilitation process of children's postcochlear implantation. These joint projects are described at the levels of meanings/goals, functional processes, behaviors, structural support, and resources. From the rich descriptions and analysis of the cases, we draw potentially illuminative implications for the "current thinking" in relation to parenting children with CIs.

Motor Development of Deaf Children With and Without Cochlear Implants

Gheysen, F., Loots, G., Van Waelvelde, H. — 2008-02-04

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a cochlear implant (CI) on the motor development of deaf children. The study involved 36 mainstreamed deaf children (15 boys, 21 girls; 4- to 12-years old) without any developmental problems. Of these children, 20 had been implanted. Forty-three hearing children constituted a comparison group. Motor development was assessed by three standardized tests: the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, the Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder, and the One-leg standing test. Results showed that the hearing children performed on average significantly better than the deaf children (whether or not using a CI). Regarding the use of a CI, there was only a significant difference on one subtest between both groups, although there was a nonsignificant trend for the deaf +CI group to score somewhat worse on average than the deaf –CI group. This led to some significant differences between the hearing group and the deaf +CI group on measures requiring balance that did not hold for the hearing/deaf –CI comparison. Although this study could demonstrate neither a positive nor a negative impact of CI on balance and motor skills, the data raise the need for further, preferably longitudinal, research.

The Development of the Ability to Recognize the Meaning of Iconic Signs

Tolar, T. D., Lederberg, A. R., Gokhale, S., Tomasello, M. — 2008-02-04

Early developmental psychologists viewed iconic representation as cognitively less complex than other forms of symbolic thought. It is therefore surprising that iconic signs are not acquired more easily than arbitrary signs by young language learners. One explanation is that children younger than 3 years have difficulty interpreting iconicity. The current study assessed hearing children's ability to interpret the meaning of iconic signs. Sixty-six 2.5- to 5-year-olds who had no previous exposure to signs were required to match iconic signs to pictures of referents. Whereas few of the 2.5-year-olds recognized the meaning of the iconic signs consistently, more than half of the 3.0-year-olds and most of 3.5-year-olds performed above chance. Thus, the ability to recognize the meaning of iconic signs gradually develops during the preschool years. Implications of these findings for sign language development, receptive signed vocabulary tests, and the development of the ability to interpret iconic symbols are discussed.

Hyperlink Format, Categorization Abilities and Memory Span as Contributors to Deaf Users Hypertext Access

Farjardo, I., Arfe, B., Benedetti, P., Altoe, G. — 2008-02-04

Sixty deaf and hearing students were asked to search for goods in a Hypertext Supermarket with either graphical or textual links of high typicality, frequency, and familiarity. Additionally, they performed a picture and word categorization task and two working memory span tasks (spatial and verbal). Results showed that deaf students were faster in graphical than in verbal hypertext when the number of visited pages per search trial was blocked. Regardless of stimuli format, accuracy differences between groups did not appear, although deaf students were slower than hearing students in both Web search and categorization tasks (graphical or verbal). No relation between the two tasks was found. Correlation analyses showed that deaf students with higher spatial span were faster in graphical Web search, but no correlations emerged between verbal span and verbal Web search. A hypothesis of different strategies used by the two groups for searching information in hypertext is formulated. It is suggested that deaf users use a visual-matching strategy more than a semantic approach to make navigation decisions.

Using Balanced and Interactive Writing Instruction to Improve the Higher Order and Lower Order Writing Skills of Deaf Students

Wolbers, K. A. — 2008-02-04

This article reports the findings of balanced and interactive writing instruction used with 16 deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Although the instruction has been used previously, this was the first time it had been modified to suit the specific needs of deaf children and the first time it had been implemented with this subpopulation of students. The intervention took place in two elementary classrooms (N = 8) and one middle school classroom (N = 8) for a total of 21 days. A comparison of pre- and posttest scores on both writing and reading measures evidenced that students made significant gains with use of genre-specific traits, use of contextual language, editing/revising skills, and word identification. Students showed neither gains nor losses with conventions and total word count. In addition, a one-way multiple analysis of variance was used to detect any school-level effects. Elementary students made significantly greater gains with respect to conventions and word identification, and middle school students made significantly greater gains with editing and revising tasks.

Self-esteem and Satisfaction With Life of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People--A Resource-Oriented Approach to Identity Work

Hintermair, M. — 2008-02-04

In the context of the current identity discussions, the interrelations between acculturations, psychological resources, and self-esteem as well as the satisfaction with life of deaf and hard-of-hearing people (N = 629) were examined by means of a questionnaire-based survey. To check these interrelations, one-factor and two-factor analyses of variance were employed. The results show that bicultural, deaf, and hearing acculturation styles have the advantage over marginal acculturation, but the results for marginal acculturation need to be discussed in depth to ensure a comprehensive understanding of them. All in all, bicultural acculturation seems to be a secure option for psychosocial well-being. The availability of psychological resources (optimism, self-efficacy) seems to be of special importance for the quality of self-esteem and satisfaction with life. On the other hand, the power of these psychological resources is closely associated with good communicative conditions in the individual biographies of the participants in this study as well as with their education level. Going beyond a methodological discussion then, the mission for educators would seem to be one of making good communicative conditions available to each deaf or hard-of-hearing child and optimizing academic achievement so as to ensure a secure, comprehensive, and differentiated opening up of the world and psychological empowerment. In this way, a good foundation can be laid for developing quality of life.

DEAF THEIRS, DEAF OURS: The Deaf Way II Reader--Perspectives from the Second International Conference on Deaf Culture

Christie, K. — 2008-02-04

Disability Harassment

Johnson, H. A. — 2008-02-04

Anatomy?

Kelly, A. B. — 2008-02-04

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

Shannon, N. B. — 2008-02-04

Beautiful Minds

Adams, R. E. — 2008-02-04

Shopping for Perfection: Ethics and Deafness in the 21st Century

Mann, W. — 2008-02-04

From Research to Practice

Marschark, M., Johnson, H. A. — 2008-02-04

Sign Language and the Brain: A Review

Campbell, R., MacSweeney, M., Waters, D. — 2008-02-04

How are signed languages processed by the brain? This review briefly outlines some basic principles of brain structure and function and the methodological principles and techniques that have been used to investigate this question. We then summarize a number of different studies exploring brain activity associated with sign language processing especially as compared to speech processing. We focus on lateralization: is signed language lateralized to the left hemisphere (LH) of native signers, just as spoken language is lateralized to the LH of native speakers, or could sign processing involve the right hemisphere to a greater extent than speech processing? Experiments that have addressed this question are described, and some problems in obtaining a clear answer are outlined.

Social Integration of Deaf Children in Inclusive Settings

Wauters, L. N., Knoors, H. — 2008-02-04

This article examines social integration of deaf children in inclusive settings in The Netherlands. Eighteen Grade 1–5 deaf children and their 344 hearing classmates completed 2 sociometric tasks, peer ratings and peer nomination, to measure peer acceptance, social competence, and friendship relations. Deaf and hearing children were found to be similar in their peer acceptance and friendship relations, but differences occurred in social competence. Deaf children scored lower than hearing children on prosocial behavior and higher on socially withdrawn behavior. Structural equation modeling showed peer acceptance, social competence, and friendship relations to be stable over time, and the structure of interrelations between variables at 2 measurements were found to be the same for deaf and hearing participants.

The Signed Reading Fluency of Students Who Are Deaf/Hard of Hearing

Easterbrooks, S. R., Huston, S. G. — 2008-02-04

Reading fluency in deaf children whose primary mode of communication is visual, whether English-like or American Sign Language, is difficult to measure since most measures of fluency require a child to read aloud. This article opens the discussion of a new construct, namely, signed reading fluency (i.e., rendering of printed text in a visually fluent manner) in children with hearing loss whose primary means of expressive language includes some form of sign. Further, it describes the development of an assessment rubric to measure signed reading fluency. A comparison of fluency scores and scores on tests of vocabulary and text comprehension of 29 middle school students who attended a school for the deaf indicated that signed reading fluency, as defined and measured by this instrument, correlates highly both with word and passage comprehension.

Accommodations Use for Statewide Standardized Assessments: Prevalence and Recommendations for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Cawthon, S. W., Online Research Lab — 2008-02-04

The Second Annual National Survey on Assessments and Accommodations for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing investigated the types of testing accommodations used on 2004–2005 statewide standardized assessments as well as recommendations for best practices. A total of 444 participants who served over 9,000 students as teachers, administrators, or other educational professionals responded to the survey. The most widely used accommodations were small-group testing, interpreting test directions, and extended time. With the exception of interpreting or reading test items aloud, accommodations were largely used for both reading and math assessments. Participants perceived all listed accommodations as both valid and easy to use. Participants recommended that student academic level, communication mode, and additional disabilities be taken into account when choosing accommodations for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Your Case Will Now Be Heard: Sign Language Interpreters as Problematic Accommodations in Legal Interactions

Brunson, J. L. — 2008-02-04

This paper uses data from open-ended, videotaped interviews with 12 deaf people to examine their experiences negotiating access during interactions with legal authorities. In every case, these deaf persons preferred an accommodation that involved the use of an American Sign Language interpreter, and in every case, these accommodations were problematic. Three major themes emerged from the informants' narratives: difficulty obtaining the desired accommodation, dealing with a problematic accommodation, and enduring a partial accommodation. These findings suggest that accommodations involving sign language interpreters are not neutral and transparent and that they often have tangible effects on the experiences of and outcomes for deaf persons in the context of dealing with legal matters. Deaf people have very little control over the accommodation they receive and yet are held fully responsible for ensuring its efficacy. These results are discussed in relation to policies and procedures for ensuring that deaf persons have full access in their interactions with American legal institutions.

Text Communication Preferences of Deaf People in the United Kingdom

Pilling, D., Barrett, P. — 2008-02-04

This study is the only comprehensive survey to date of the text communication preferences of deaf people who cannot or prefer not to use voice telephony in the United Kingdom. Respondents covered a wide age range, became deaf or hard of hearing at different ages, and had different communication preferences. Generally, respondents used several forms of text communication, selecting them for particular purposes. E-mail was the most widely used form of text communication, but SMS was the most used by younger respondents. The most prominent reasons for liking different forms of text communication were that they were easy or fast. Older respondents were more likely to give "not knowing how to" as a reason for not using particular forms of communication and would have liked more information about what text communication is available.

Parents' Views on Changing Communication After Cochlear Implantation

Watson, L. M., Hardie, T., Archbold, S. M., Wheeler, A. — 2008-02-04

We sent questionnaires to families of all 288 children who had received cochlear implants at one center in the United Kingdom at least 5 years previously. Thus, it was a large, unselected group. We received 142 replies and 119 indicated that the child and family had changed their communication approach following cochlear implantation. In 113 cases the change was toward spoken language and in 6 cases the change was toward signed communication. Parents were asked to respond to statements about communication with their deaf child, and their responses indicated that parents wanted the most effective means of communication and one that their child would find most useful in the future. Findings that emerged from parents' comments indicated that the change toward greater use of spoken language was child-led and driven by increased audition. Parents also valued the contribution of signed communication.

Phonological Awareness, Vocabulary, and Word Reading in Children Who Use Cochlear Implants: Does Age of Implantation Explain Individual Variability in Performance Outcomes and Growth?

James, D., Rajput, K., Brinton, J., Goswami, U. — 2008-02-04

The phonological awareness (PA), vocabulary, and word reading abilities of 19 children with cochlear implants (CI) were assessed. Nine children had an implant early (between 2 and 3.6 years) and 10 had an implant later (between 5 and 7 years). Participants were tested twice over a 12-month period on syllable, rhyme, and phoneme awareness (see James et al., 2005). Performance of CI users was compared against younger hearing children matched for reading level. Two standardized assessments of vocabulary and single word reading were administered. As a group, the children fitted early had better performance outcomes on PA, vocabulary, and reading compared to hearing benchmark groups. The early group had significant growth on rhyme awareness, whereas the late group showed no significant gains in PA over time. There was wide individual variation in performance and growth in the CI users. Two participants with the best overall development were both fitted with an implant late in childhood.

Adapting Tests of Sign Language Assessment for Other Sign Languages--A Review of Linguistic, Cultural, and Psychometric Problems

Haug, T., Mann, W. — 2008-02-04

Given the current lack of appropriate assessment tools for measuring deaf children's sign language skills, many test developers have used existing tests of other sign languages as templates to measure the sign language used by deaf people in their country. This article discusses factors that may influence the adaptation of assessment tests from one natural sign language to another. Two tests which have been adapted for several other sign languages are focused upon: the Test for American Sign Language and the British Sign Language Receptive Skills Test. A brief description is given of each test as well as insights from ongoing adaptations of these tests for other sign languages. The problems reported in these adaptations were found to be grounded in linguistic and cultural differences, which need to be considered for future test adaptations. Other reported shortcomings of test adaptation are related to the question of how well psychometric measures transfer from one instrument to another.

Why We Do What We Do: Research Underpinnings of Children's Hearing Assessment

De Filippo, C. L. — 2008-02-04

Check Your Cultural Baggage Here

Finton, L. — 2008-02-04

The Visual History of Deaf America

Searls, J. M. — 2008-02-04

The Second Half of the Story

Hyde, M. — 2008-02-04

Ringo and mikan: deaf vs. Deaf in Japan

Fischer, S. D. — 2008-02-04

New Approaches?

Seal, B. C. — 2008-02-04

What Really Matters in the Early Literacy Development of Deaf Children

Mayer, C. — 2007-09-05

With much earlier identification of hearing loss come expectations that increasing numbers of deaf children will develop literacy abilities comparable to their hearing age peers. To date, despite claims in the literature for parallel development between hearing and deaf learners with respect to early literacy learning, it remains the case that many deaf children do not go on to develop age-appropriate reading and writing abilities. Using written language examples from both deaf and hearing children and drawing on the developmental models of E. Ferreiro (1990) and D. Olson (1994), the discussion focuses on the ways in which deaf children draw apart from hearing children in the third stage of early literacy development, in the critical move from emergent to conventional literacy. Reasons for, and the significance of, this deviation are explored, with an eye to proposing implications for pedagogy and research, as we reconsider what really matters in the early literacy development of deaf children.

Visual Spatial Representation in Mathematical Problem Solving by Deaf and Hearing Students

Blatto-Vallee, G., Kelly, R. R., Gaustad, M. G., Porter, J., Fonzi, J. — 2007-09-05

This research examined the use of visual–spatial representation by deaf and hearing students while solving mathematical problems. The connection between spatial skills and success in mathematics performance has long been established in the literature. This study examined the distinction between visual–spatial "schematic" representations that encode the spatial relations described in a problem versus visual–spatial "pictorial" representations that encode only the visual appearance of the objects described in a problem. A total of 305 hearing (n = 156) and deaf (n = 149) participants from middle school, high school, and college participated in this study. At all educational levels, the hearing students performed significantly better in solving the mathematical problems compared to their deaf peers. Although the deaf baccalaureate students exhibited the highest performance of all the deaf participants, they only performed as well as the hearing middle school students who were the lowest scoring hearing group. Deaf students remained flat in their performance on the mathematical problem-solving task from middle school through the college associate degree level. The analysis of the students’ problem representations showed that the hearing participants utilized visual–spatial schematic representation to a greater extent than did the deaf participants. However, the use of visual–spatial schematic representations was a stronger positive predictor of mathematical problem-solving performance for the deaf students. When deaf students’ problem representation focused simply on the visual–spatial pictorial or iconic aspects of the mathematical problems, there was a negative predictive relationship with their problem-solving performance. On two measures of visual–spatial abilities, the hearing students in high school and college performed significantly better than their deaf peers.

Factors Predicting Recall of Mathematics Terms by Deaf Students: Implications for Teaching

Lang, H., Pagliaro, C. — 2007-09-05

In this study of deaf high school students, imagery and familiarity were found to be the best predictors of geometry word recall, whereas neither concreteness nor signability of the terms was a significant predictor variable. Recall of high imagery terms was significantly better than for low imagery terms, and the same result was found for high- over low-familiarity and signability. Concrete terms were recalled significantly better than abstract terms. Geometry terms that could be represented with single signs were recalled significantly better than those that are usually fingerspelled or those represented by compound signs. Teachers with degrees and/or certification in mathematics had significantly higher self-ratings for the strongest predictor variables, imagery (visualization), and familiarity, as compared with those without such formal training. Based on these findings, implications for mathematics instruction, teacher education, and research are provided.

Neuropsychological Correlates of Vocabulary, Reading, and Working Memory in Deaf Children With Cochlear Implants

Fagan, M. K., Pisoni, D. B., Horn, D. L., Dillon, C. M. — 2007-09-05

The performance of deaf children with cochlear implants was assessed using measures standardized on hearing children. To investigate nonverbal cognitive and sensorimotor processes associated with postimplant variability, five selected sensorimotor and visuospatial subtests from A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment (NEPSY) were compared with standardized vocabulary, reading, and digit span measures. Participants were 26 deaf children, ages 6–14 years, who received a cochlear implant between ages 1 and 6 years; duration of implant use ranged from 3 to 11 years. Results indicated significant correlations between standard scores on the Design Copying subtest of the NEPSY and standard scores on vocabulary comprehension, reading, and digit span measures. The results contribute to our understanding of the benefits of cochlear implantation and cognitive processes that may support postimplant language and academic functioning.

Nonword Repetition with Spectrally Reduced Speech: Some Developmental and Clinical Findings from Pediatric Cochlear Implantation

Burkholder-Juhasz, R. A., Levi, S. V., Dillon, C. M., Pisoni, D. B. — 2007-09-05

Nonword repetition skills were examined in 24 pediatric cochlear implant (CI) users and 18 normal-hearing (NH) adult listeners listening through a CI simulator. Two separate groups of NH adult listeners assigned accuracy ratings to the nonword responses of the pediatric CI users and the NH adult speakers. Overall, the nonword repetitions of children using CIs were rated as more accurate than the nonword repetitions of the adults. The nonword repetition accuracy ratings from both groups of subjects were correlated with open- and closed-set word recognition scores and forward digit spans. Only the perceptual accuracy scores from pediatric CI users were correlated with measures of speech production accuracy. These results suggest that although the pediatric CI users had more experience and success in perceiving speech under degraded auditory conditions, developmental differences in their memory skills prevent them from performing as well on working memory tasks as mature listeners.

Deaf College Students' Perceptions of Their Social-Emotional Adjustment

Lukomski, J. — 2007-09-05

This study examined differences between deaf and hearing students' perceptions of their social emotional adjustment as they transition to college. The 16PF-Adolescent Personality Questionnaire Life Difficulties Scale was completed by 205 deaf students and 185 hearing students. A multivariate analyses of variance and subsequent univariate tests found that deaf students rated themselves as experiencing significantly higher home life difficulties than hearing students, and deaf students rated themselves as having fewer coping difficulties than hearing students. Results also revealed a hearing status by gender interaction with deaf females rating themselves significantly higher on worry than deaf males, hearing females, and hearing males. An exploratory factor analysis of the Life Difficulties subscales yielded three factors of life difficulties for deaf college students but only two factors for hearing college students. These findings suggest that there are differences between deaf and hearing students who are transitioning to college with regards to their social-emotional adjustment.

Speech Intelligibility, Loneliness, and Sense of Coherence Among Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children in Individual Inclusion and Group Inclusion

Most, T. — 2007-09-05

This study examined the sense of coherence and loneliness of 19 children aged 12–14 years with severe to profound hearing loss. These feelings and their interrelations with speech intelligibility (SI) were examined in 2 settings: in special classes within regular schools (group inclusion) or individuals integrated into regular classes (individual inclusion). Two self-report measures (Loneliness Questionnaire and Sense of Coherence Scale) and one SI measure were utilized. Results indicated no significant differences between sense of coherence and loneliness scores of children in the 2 settings. Children in group inclusion received a significantly lower average SI score than did children who were in individual inclusion. Examination of the relations between SI and loneliness and coherence in each educational setting revealed no significant relations among these measures for the children in the group inclusion, whereas significant correlations did emerge for the children who were in individual inclusion. The study emphasized the importance of good SI not only for basic communication but also as a factor that affects the child's social and emotional feelings. In selecting a school setting, it is important to look beyond academic factors and not to ignore the significant effect of SI on the child's well being in school.

Career and Workplace Experiences of Australian University Graduates Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Punch, R., Hyde, M., Power, D. — 2007-09-05

This article reports on the experiences of a group of deaf and hard-of-hearing alumni of Griffith University in south-east Queensland, Australia. Participants completed a survey answering questions about their communication patterns and preferences, working lives, career barriers or difficulties anticipated and encountered, and workplace accommodations used or sought. Results revealed a range of career barriers and workplace difficulties encountered by these participants, as well as solutions found and strategies used by them. Differences in employment sector, job-search activities, difficult workplace situations, and use of accommodations were noted between 2 groups: those who communicated primarily in Australian Sign Language and considered themselves to have a Deaf or bicultural identity and those who communicated primarily in spoken English and considered themselves to have a hearing identity. Implications for university services supporting deaf and hard-of-hearing students are outlined, and suggestions for further research are made.

Parents of Deaf Children Seeking Hearing Loss-Related Information on the Internet: the Australian Experience

Porter, A., Edirippulige, S. — 2007-09-05

Parents whose children are diagnosed in an infant screening program are required to make some difficult choices about the management of the hearing loss at a time when they are emotionally vulnerable. They are required to evaluate information and outcomes regarding issues such as technology for hearing impairment, communication options, education, and rehabilitation. The World Wide Web has become an important resource of health information for both health consumers and practitioners. The ability to obtain accurate health information online quickly, conveniently, and privately provides opportunity to make informed decisions. However, little is known about the level of the use of the Internet to acquire health information, particularly in the case of parents of deaf children seeking information. This study confirms that searches for health information on the Internet are conducted primarily by mothers. In the Australian context, there is minimal online information available to families beyond early intervention. Information on education issues, mental health, and deafness or the day-to-day management of a child or adolescent with a hearing loss are neglected topics on Web sites. This study also revealed that the majority of respondents had never visited HealthInsite or Medline Plus, two gateway sites for reliable consumer health information, although the information on these sites is more generic in nature and unlikely to assist parents to make informed choices on complex issues such as communication options or education. However, the study suggested that half the parents have talked to their doctor or hearing professional about information they found on the Internet, which is an encouraging tendency.

Language Approaches Used With Deaf Pupils in Scottish Schools: 2001 2004

Grimes, M., Thoutenhoofd, E. D., Byrne, D. — 2007-09-05

In this article we address "language approach" data as a key variable in quantitative, large-scale research on educational achievement, focusing on our work for the Achievements of Deaf Pupils in Scotland (ADPS) project. The complexity of approaches is addressed, with a particular focus on a "no-exclusion" model of service. In this context 3 years of language-related data are discussed, using constructions of language variables that take into account the variability in deaf pupils’ hearing loss levels, types of provision, and professional practice. We see this as a necessary first step toward offering a nuanced context for understanding patterns in the educational outcomes among the ADPS population to be reported in a later article. The ADPS data on language approach can reveal general patterns at macro levels: our analysis suggests that, in Scotland, the extent and quality of British Sign Language/English provision may be determined more by local factors than by linguistic requirements and that ostensibly responsive policies can mask a limited spectrum for pupils and their families. However, the ADPS data are insufficiently sensitive to detailed and local variations to reflect the full complexity of language situations over time—a situation which represents an ongoing challenge for all long-term, large-scale studies.

Representations of Sound in American Deaf Literature

Rosen, R. S. — 2007-09-05

Sound plays a prominent role in narrative description of characters and environs in mainstream American literature. A review of American Deaf literature shows that the representations of sound held for deaf writers are in extensional and oppositional terms. American deaf writers, in their descriptions of entities, characters, functions, and settings, have created different representations of sound. In American Deaf literature, the representations of sound are filled with altered-acoustic and extra-acoustic images of sounds. The representations reflect psychophysiological experiences that presume the existence of an acoustic world by American deaf and hard-of-hearing writers, independent of the age when their hearing was lost, and changes in American Deaf culture.