Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education - recent issues

Academic Status and Progress of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in General Education Classrooms

Antia, S. D., Jones, P. B., Reed, S., Kreimeyer, K. H. — 2009-06-10

The study participants were 197 deaf or hard-of-hearing students with mild to profound hearing loss who attended general education classes for 2 or more hours per day. We obtained scores on standardized achievement tests of math, reading, and language/writing, and standardized teacher's ratings of academic competence annually, for 5 years, together with other demographic and communication data. Results on standardized achievement tests indicated that, over the 5-year period, 63%–79% of students scored in the average or above-average range in math, 48%–68% in reading, and 55%–76% in language/writing. The standardized test scores for the group were, on average, half an SD below hearing norms. Average student progress in each subject area was consistent with or better than that made by the norm group of hearing students, and 79%–81% of students made one or more year's progress annually. Teachers rated 69%–81% of students as average or above average in academic competence over the 5 years. The teacher's ratings also indicated that 89% of students made average or above-average progress. Students’ expressive and receptive communication, classroom participation, communication mode, and parental participation in school were significantly, but moderately, related to academic outcomes.

Toward an Equal Level of Educational Attainment Between Deaf and Hearing People in Sweden?

Rydberg, E., Gellerstedt, L. C., Danermark, B. — 2009-06-10

Various educational reforms in Sweden have resulted in a formally equivalent educational system for deaf and hearing pupils. Has this resulted in equal levels of educational attainment? This article compares 2,144 people born between 1941 and 1980 who attended a special education program for the deaf and 100,000 randomly chosen individuals from the total population born between 1941 and 1980. Data consist of registered information about the individuals in the year 2005. Results demonstrate that the deaf population has a lower level of educational attainment than the reference population. Women have a higher level of educational attainment than men, and younger people have a higher level than older people in each population. Neither sex, age category, nor immigrant background accounts for the variance in the level of educational attainment between the populations. The educational reforms have not been sufficient to reduce the unequal level of educational attainment between deaf and hearing people.

Predicting Academic Success Among Deaf College Students

Convertino, C. M., Marschark, M., Sapere, P., Sarchet, T., Zupan, M. — 2009-06-10

For both practical and theoretical reasons, educators and educational researchers seek to determine predictors of academic success for students at different levels and from different populations. Studies involving hearing students at the postsecondary level have documented significant predictors of success relating to various demographic factors, school experience, and prior academic attainment. Studies involving deaf and hard-of-hearing students have focused primarily on younger students and variables such as degree of hearing loss, use of cochlear implants, educational placement, and communication factors—although these typically are considered only one or two at a time. The present investigation utilizes data from 10 previous experiments, all using the same paradigm, in an attempt to discern significant predictors of readiness for college (utilizing college entrance examination scores) and classroom learning at the college level (utilizing scores from tests in simulated classrooms). Academic preparation was a clear and consistent predictor in both domains, but the audiological and communication variables examined were not. Communication variables that were significant reflected benefits of language flexibility over skills in either spoken language or American Sign Language.

The Nature and Efficiency of the Word Reading Strategies of Orally Raised Deaf Students

Miller, P. — 2009-06-10

The main objective of this study was to unveil similarities and differences in the word reading strategies of orally raised individuals with prelingual deafness and hearing individuals. Relevant data were gathered by a computerized research paradigm asking participants to make rapid same/different judgments for words. There were three distinct study conditions: (a) a visual condition manipulating the visual–perceptional properties of the target word pairs, (b) a phonological condition manipulating their phonological properties, and (c) a control condition. Participants were 31 high school and postgraduate students with prelingual deafness and 59 hearing students (the control group). Analysis of response latencies and accuracy in the three study conditions suggests that the word reading strategies the groups relied upon to process the stimulus materials were of the same nature. Evidence further suggests that prelingual deafness does not undermine the efficiency with which readers use these strategies. To gain a broader understanding of the obtained evidence, participants’ performance in the word processing experiment was correlated with their phonemic awareness—the hypothesized hallmark of proficient word reading—and their reading comprehension skills. Findings are discussed with reference to a reading theory that assigns phonology a central role in proficient word reading.

Suprasegmental Characteristics of Speech Produced during Simultaneous Communication by Inexperienced Signers

2009-06-10

This study investigated suprasegmental variables of syllable stress and intonation contours in contextual speech produced during simultaneous communication (SC) by inexperienced signers. Ten hearing inexperienced sign language users were recorded under SC and speech-alone (SA) conditions speaking a set of sentences containing stressed versus unstressed versions of the same syllables and a set of sentences containing interrogative versus declarative versions of the same words. Results indicated longer sentence durations for SC than SA for all speech materials. Vowel duration and fundamental frequency differences between stressed and unstressed syllables as well as intonation contour differences between declarative and interrogative sentences were essentially the same in both SC and SA conditions. The conclusion that prosodic rules were not violated by inexperienced signers in SC is consistent with previous research indicating that temporal alterations produced during SC do not involve degradation of other temporal or spectral characteristics of English speech.

Spoken Language Scores of Children Using Cochlear Implants Compared to Hearing Age-Mates at School Entry

Geers, A. E., Moog, J. S., Biedenstein, J., Brenner, C., Hayes, H. — 2009-06-10

This study investigated three questions: Is it realistic to expect age-appropriate spoken language skills in children with cochlear implants (CIs) who received auditory–oral intervention during the preschool years? What characteristics predict successful spoken language development in this population? Are children with CIs more proficient in some areas of language than others? We analyzed language skills of 153 children with CIs as measured by standardized tests. These children (mean age = 5 years and 10 months) attended programs in the United States (N = 39) that used an auditory–oral educational approach. Age-appropriate scores were observed in 50% of the children on measures of receptive vocabulary, 58% on expressive vocabulary, 46% on verbal intelligence, 47% on receptive language, and 39% on expressive language. Regression analysis indicated that, after controlling for the effects of nonverbal intelligence and parent education level, children who received their implants at young ages had higher scores on all language tests than children who were older at implantation. On average, children with CIs performed better on certain language measures than others, indicating that some areas of language may be more difficult for these children to master than others. Implications for educators of deaf children with CIs are discussed.

Telehealth and the Deaf: A Comparison Study

Wilson, J. A. B., Wells, M. G. — 2009-06-10

Within the deaf population, an extreme mental health professional shortage exists that may be alleviated with videoconferencing technology—also known as telehealth. Moreover, much needed mental health education within the deaf population remains largely inaccessible. Researchers have warned that the deaf population may remain underserved if significant changes do not take place with traditional service delivery methods. This article evaluated the efficacy of telehealth in teaching psychoeducational objectives, with special emphasis given to its application to the deaf population. Results indicate that telehealth can be regarded as an efficacious and cost-effective option in delivering health care to the deaf population. Participants also indicated satisfaction with the telehealth technology. The use of printed transcripts for educational purposes is encouraged given the significant findings in this article. The findings also have implications for the literature on single-session interventions.

Examining the Hearing Line

Searls, J. M. — 2009-06-10

Lend-Me 50 Dollar, Don't-Mind?

Poor, G. S. — 2009-06-10

In Their Own Words

Bowen, S. K. — 2009-06-10

The Unspoken Story

Hardy-Braz, S. — 2009-06-10

Erratum

2009-06-10

Phonological Representations in Deaf Children: Rethinking the "Functional Equivalence" Hypothesis

McQuarrie, L., Parrila, R. — 2009-03-16

The sources of knowledge that individuals use to make similarity judgments between words are thought to tap underlying phonological representations. We examined the effects of perceptual similarity between stimuli on deaf childrens' ability to make judgments about the phonological similarity between words at 3 levels of linguistic structure (syllable, rhyme, and phoneme). Manipulation of stimulus contrasts (acoustic, visual/orthographic, tactile/motoric) allowed a finer-grained estimate of the sources of knowledge that deaf individuals use to make similarity judgments between words. The results showed that the ability to make syllable-, rhyme-, and phoneme-level judgments was not tied to "phonological" facilitation when these conditions are contrasted. These findings are inconsistent with long-held assumptions of "functional" equivalence between "heard" and "seen" speech in the development of phonological representations in deaf learners. We argue that previous studies reporting evidence for phonological effects in similarity judgments have failed to sufficiently control for alternative sources of sensory information, namely, visual and tactile/motoric.

Alternate Assessment Use With Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Analysis of Portfolio, Checklists, and Out-of-Level Test Formats

Cawthon, S. W., Wurtz, K. A. — 2009-03-16

The purpose of this paper is to present findings on alternate assessments for students who are deaf or hard of hearing (SDHH). Drawn from the results of the "Second National Survey of Assessments and Accommodations for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing," this study investigated three alternate assessment formats: portfolio, checklists, and out-of-level testing. Analysis includes descriptive data of alternate assessment use across all three formats, qualitative analyses of teacher perspectives, and an exploratory logistic regression analysis on predictors of alternate assessment use. This exploratory analysis looks at predictors such as state policy, educational setting, grades served, language of instruction, and participant perspectives. Results indicate that predictors at the student, teacher, and system level may influence alternate assessment use for SDHH.

Computer-Based Exercises for Learning to Read and Spell by Deaf Children

Reitsma, P. — 2009-03-16

There is a surprising lack of systematic research evaluating the effects of reading exercises for young deaf children. Therefore, for this article, two computer-based exercises were developed and learning effects were determined by posttests. One (spelling oriented) exercise was to select the correct word among three orthographically similar alternatives that corresponds to a drawing or a sign (digital video). The other (meaning oriented) exercise was to select the correct sign or picture among three alternatives that corresponds to a written word. Eleven deaf Dutch children with a mean age of 7 years 10 months participated in the study. A first question was whether in single-word exercises the meaning or the spelling of a word should be emphasized. A second question was whether there was any effect of using drawings or signs to refer to the meaning of the word. The results reveal that emphasizing the word spelling is most effective for learning to read for deaf children and the findings also suggest that drawings are more efficient in the current exercises.

Visual Input Enhancement via Essay Coding Results in Deaf Learners' Long-Term Retention of Improved English Grammatical Knowledge

Berent, G. P., Kelly, R. R., Schmitz, K. L., Kenney, P. — 2009-03-16

This study explored the efficacy of visual input enhancement, specifically essay enhancement, for facilitating deaf college students' improvement in English grammatical knowledge. Results documented students' significant improvement immediately after a 10-week instructional intervention, a replication of recent research. Additionally, the results of delayed assessment documented students' significant retention of that improvement five and a half months beyond the instructional intervention period. Essay enhancement served to highlight, via a coding procedure, students' successful and unsuccessful production of discourse-required target grammatical structures. The procedure converted students' written communicative output into enhanced input for inducing noticing of grammatical form and, through essay revision, establishing form-meaning connections leading to acquisition. With its optimal design characteristics supported by theoretical and empirical research, essay enhancement is a highly effective methodology that can be easily implemented as primary or supplementary English instruction for deaf students. The results of this study hold great promise for facilitating deaf students' English language and literacy development and have broad implications for second-language research, teaching, and learning.

Spoken Language Development in Oral Preschool Children With Permanent Childhood Deafness

Sarant, J. Z., Holt, C. M., Dowell, R. C., Rickards, F. W., Blamey, P. J. — 2009-03-16

This article documented spoken language outcomes for preschool children with hearing loss and examined the relationships between language abilities and characteristics of children such as degree of hearing loss, cognitive abilities, age at entry to early intervention, and parent involvement in children's intervention programs. Participants were evaluated using a combination of the Child Development Inventory, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Preschool Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals depending on their age at the time of assessment. Maternal education, cognitive ability, and family involvement were also measured. Over half of the children who participated in this study had poor language outcomes overall. No significant differences were found in language outcomes on any of the measures for children who were diagnosed early and those diagnosed later. Multiple regression analyses showed that family participation, degree of hearing loss, and cognitive ability significantly predicted language outcomes and together accounted for almost 60% of the variance in scores. This article highlights the importance of family participation in intervention programs to enable children to achieve optimal language outcomes. Further work may clarify the effects of early diagnosis on language outcomes for preschool children.

Theory of Mind and Language in Children With Cochlear Implants

Remmel, E., Peters, K. — 2009-03-16

Thirty children with cochlear implants (CI children), age range 3–12 years, and 30 children with normal hearing (NH children), age range 4–6 years, were tested on theory of mind and language measures. The CI children showed little to no delay on either theory of mind, relative to the NH children, or spoken language, relative to hearing norms. The CI children showed a slightly atypical sequence of acquisition of theory of mind concepts. The CI children's theory of mind performance was associated with general syntactic proficiency more than measures of complement syntax, and with time since implantation more than age at implantation. Results suggest that cochlear implantation can benefit spoken language ability, which may then benefit theory of mind, perhaps by increasing access to mental state language.

Eye Gaze During Comprehension of American Sign Language by Native and Beginning Signers

Emmorey, K., Thompson, R., Colvin, R. — 2009-03-16

An eye-tracking experiment investigated where deaf native signers (N = 9) and hearing beginning signers (N = 10) look while comprehending a short narrative and a spatial description in American Sign Language produced live by a fluent signer. Both groups fixated primarily on the signer's face (more than 80% of the time) but differed with respect to fixation location. Beginning signers fixated on or near the signer's mouth, perhaps to better perceive English mouthing, whereas native signers tended to fixate on or near the eyes. Beginning signers shifted gaze away from the signer's face more frequently than native signers, but the pattern of gaze shifts was similar for both groups. When a shift in gaze occurred, the sign narrator was almost always looking at his or her hands and was most often producing a classifier construction. We conclude that joint visual attention and attention to mouthing (for beginning signers), rather than linguistic complexity or processing load, affect gaze fixation patterns during sign language comprehension.

Correlates of Psychosocial Adjustment in Deaf Adolescents With and Without Cochlear Implants: A Preliminary Investigation

Leigh, I. W., Maxwell-McCaw, D., Bat-Chava, Y., Christiansen, J. B. — 2009-03-16

The number of children who have received cochlear implants (CIs) has increased dramatically in the past two decades. In view of potential concerns about their psychosocial adjustment, our aim was to assess the effect of implants on the adolescents’ psychosocial functioning among a group of 57 deaf adolescents with and without CIs, using published and validated measures completed by the adolescents themselves, their parents, and teachers. Adolescents with CI tended to be more hearing acculturated, whereas those without CI tended to be more Deaf acculturated. Despite some differences in background characteristics between the two groups, there were no differences between them on the psychosocial variables assessed in this study, regardless of the reporting sources. Rather than having a direct effect on the psychosocial outcomes assessed in this study, it is through the mediating effect of acculturation and school setting that CI status exerts an influence over many of this study's outcomes. Recommendations for future research are made in light of our findings.

Deaf Children's Informal Knowledge of Multiplicative Reasoning

Nunes, T., Bryant, P., Burman, D., Bell, D., Evans, D., Hallett, D. — 2009-03-16

Multiplicative reasoning is required in different contexts in mathematics: it is necessary to understand the concept of multipart units, involved in learning place value and measurement, and also to solve multiplication and division problems. Measures of hearing children's multiplicative reasoning at school entry are reliable and specific predictors of their mathematics achievement in school. An analysis of deaf children's informal multiplicative reasoning showed that deaf children under-perform in comparison to the hearing cohorts in their first two years of school. However, a brief training study, which significantly improved their success on these problems, suggested that this may be a performance, rather than a competence difference. Thus, it is possible and desirable to promote deaf children's multiplicative reasoning when they start school so that they are provided with a more solid basis for learning mathematics.

Congenitally Deafblind Children and Cochlear Implants: Effects on Communication

Dammeyer, J. — 2009-03-16

There has been much research conducted demonstrating the positive benefits of cochlear implantation (CI) in children who are deaf. Research on CI in children who are both deaf and blind, however, is lacking. The purpose of this article is to present a study of five congenitally deafblind children who received cochlear implants between 2.2 and 4.2 years of age. Ratings of video observations were used to measure the children's early communication development with and without the use of their cochlear implants. In addition, parental interviews were used to assess the benefits parents perceived regarding their children's cochlear implants. Two examples are included in this article to illustrate the parents’ perspectives about CI in their deafblind children. Benefits of CI in this cohort of children included improved attention and emotional response as well as greater use of objects in interaction with adults. The best overall outcome of CI is not spoken language but better communication.

Language : Gesture :: Evolution : Origin: Armstrong, D. F., & Wilcox, S. E. (2007). The Gestural Origin of Language. New York: Oxford University Press. $22.95 Hardcover. ISBN: 978-0-19-516348-3.

Rosen, R. S. — 2009-03-16

"Well, It Is Complicated ...": Edwards, L. & Crocker, S. (Eds.). (2008). Psychological Processes in Deaf Children With Complex Needs: An Evidence-Based Practical Guide. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 204 pages. $34.95.

Brice, P. J. — 2009-03-16

A Range of Considerations and Perspectives on Interpreting: Metzger, M. & Fleetwood, E. (Eds.). (2007). Translation, Sociolinguistic, and Consumer Issues in Interpreting. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. 226 pages. Hardcover.

Madden, M. J. — 2009-03-16

An Intelligibly Expounded Journey into Signed Languages and their Origins: Fox, M. (2007). Talking Hands. What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. 354 pages. Hardcover. $27.00.

Tellings, A. — 2009-03-16

Evaluating Phonological Processing Skills in Children With Prelingual Deafness Who Use Cochlear Implants

Spencer, L. J., Tomblin, J. B. — 2008-12-09

This study investigated the phonological processing skills of 29 children with prelingual, profound hearing loss with 4 years of cochlear implant experience. Results were group matched with regard to word-reading ability and mother’s educational level with the performance of 29 hearing children. Results revealed that it is possible to obtain a valid measure of phonological processing (PP) skills in children using CIs. They could complete rhyming tasks and were able to complete sound-based tasks using standard test materials provided by a commercial test distributor. The CI children completed tasks measuring PP, but there were performance differences between the CI users and the hearing children. The process of learning phonological awareness (PA) for the children with CIs was characterized by a longer, more protracted learning phase than their counterparts with hearing. Tests of phonological memory skills indicated that when the tasks were controlled for presentation method and response modality, there were no differences between the performance of children with CIs and their counterparts with hearing. Tests of rapid naming revealed that there were no differences between rapid letter and number naming between the two groups. Results yielded a possible PP test battery for children with CI experience.

Literacy Skills in Children With Cochlear Implants: The Importance of Early Oral Language and Joint Storybook Reading

DesJardin, J. L., Ambrose, S. E., Eisenberg, L. S. — 2008-12-09

The goal of this study was to longitudinally examine relationships between early factors (child and mother) that may influence children's phonological awareness and reading skills 3 years later in a group of young children with cochlear implants (N = 16). Mothers and children were videotaped during two storybook interactions, and children's oral language skills were assessed using the "Reynell Developmental Language Scales, third edition." Three years later, phonological awareness, reading skills, and language skills were assessed using the "Phonological Awareness Test," the "Woodcock–Johnson-III Diagnostic Reading Battery," and the "Oral Written Language Scales." Variables included in the data analyses were child (age, age at implant, and language skills) and mother factors (facilitative language techniques) and children's phonological awareness and reading standard scores. Results indicate that children's early expressive oral language skills and mothers’ use of a higher level facilitative language technique (open-ended question) during storybook reading, although related, each contributed uniquely to children's literacy skills. Individual analyses revealed that the children with expressive standard scores below 70 at Time 1 also performed below average (<85) on phonological awareness and total reading tasks 3 years later. Guidelines for professionals are provided to support literacy skills in young children with cochlear implants.

Word-Learning Abilities in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Preschoolers: Effect of Lexicon Size and Language Modality

Lederberg, A. R., Spencer, P. E. — 2008-12-09

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children's ability to rapidly learn novel words through direct reference and through novel mapping (i.e., inferring that a novel word refers to a novel object) was examined. Ninety-eight DHH children, ranging from 27 to 82 months old, drawn from 12 schools in five states participated. In two tasks that differed in how reference was established, word-learning abilities were measured by children's ability to learn novel words after only three exposures. Three levels of word-learning abilities were identified. Twelve children did not rapidly learn novel words. Thirty-six children learned novel words rapidly but only in the direct reference task. Forty-nine children learned novel words rapidly in both direct reference and novel mapping tasks. These levels of word-learning abilities were evident in children who were in oral-only and in signing environments, in children with cochlear implants, and in deaf children of deaf parents. Children's word-learning abilities were more strongly correlated to lexicon size than age, and this relation was similar for children in these different language-learning environments. Acquisition of these word-learning abilities seems based on linguistic mechanisms that are available to children in a wide range of linguistic environments. In addition, the word-learning tasks offer a promising dynamic assessment tool.

Lexical and Grammatical Abilities in Deaf Italian Preschoolers: The Role of Duration of Formal Language Experience

Rinaldi, P., Caselli, C. — 2008-12-09

We evaluated language development in deaf Italian preschoolers with hearing parents, taking into account the duration of formal language experience (i.e., the time elapsed since wearing a hearing aid and beginning language education) and different methods of language education. Twenty deaf children were matched with 20 hearing children for age and with another 20 hearing children for duration of experience. Deaf children showed a significant delay in both vocabulary and grammar when compared to same-age hearing children yet a similar development compared to hearing children matched for duration of formal language experience. The delay in linguistic development could be attributable to shorter formal language experience and not to deafness itself. Deaf children exposed to spoken language accompanied by signs tended to understand and produce more words than children exposed only to spoken language. We suggest that deaf children be evaluated based on their linguistic experience and cognitive and communicative potential.

The Appropriateness of the NC State-Mandated Reading Competency Test for Deaf Students as a Criterion for High School Graduation

Lollis, J., LaSasso, C. — 2008-12-09

Deaf students consistently score lower on standardized measures of reading comprehension than their hearing peers. Most of the studies that have been conducted to explain this phenomenon have focused on variables within the reader, and important differences have been found between deaf and hearing readers. More recently, in the face of increasingly high-stakes consequences, researchers are looking "outside" the reader, at the tests themselves, to determine whether there are fairness issues for special populations, such as deaf students. The study reported here, the first of its kind with deaf students, examines the North Carolina (NC) reading comprehension test. The study employs the same method used originally by NC to determine its appropriateness of the test for the general population of NC students. The experts in this article, like those in the original construction of the NC test, are familiar with the content of the reading curriculum in NC; however, the raters in this article bring a special perspective related to teaching and testing reading of students who are deaf. Findings from this study raise questions about the appropriateness of the NC reading test for deaf students. Implications for future research and instructional practice are discussed.

The Use of Visual Feedback During Signing: Evidence From Signers With Impaired Vision

Emmorey, K., Korpics, F., Petronio, K. — 2008-12-09

The role of visual feedback during the production of American Sign Language was investigated by comparing the size of signing space during conversations and narrative monologues for normally sighted signers, signers with tunnel vision due to Usher syndrome, and functionally blind signers. The interlocutor for all groups was a normally sighted deaf person. Signers with tunnel vision produced a greater proportion of signs near the face than blind and normally sighted signers, who did not differ from each other. Both groups of visually impaired signers produced signs within a smaller signing space for conversations than for monologues, but we hypothesize that they did so for different reasons. Signers with tunnel vision may align their signing space with that of their interlocutor. In contrast, blind signers may enhance proprioceptive feedback by producing signs within an enlarged signing space for monologues, which do not require switching between tactile and visual signing. Overall, we hypothesize that signers use visual feedback to phonetically calibrate the dimensions of signing space, rather than to monitor language output.

Social Construction of American Sign Language--English Interpreters

McDermid, C. — 2008-12-09

Instructors in 5 American Sign Language—English Interpreter Programs and 4 Deaf Studies Programs in Canada were interviewed and asked to discuss their experiences as educators. Within a qualitative research paradigm, their comments were grouped into a number of categories tied to the social construction of American Sign Language—English interpreters, such as learners’ age and education and the characteristics of good citizens within the Deaf community. According to the participants, younger students were adept at language acquisition, whereas older learners more readily understood the purpose of lessons. Children of deaf adults were seen as more culturally aware. The participants’ beliefs echoed the theories of P. Freire (1970/1970) that educators consider the reality of each student and their praxis and were responsible for facilitating student self-awareness. Important characteristics in the social construction of students included independence, an appropriate attitude, an understanding of Deaf culture, ethical behavior, community involvement, and a willingness to pursue lifelong learning.

Creating Inclusive Learning Environments: Difficulties and Opportunities Within the New Political Ethos

Freire, S. — 2008-12-09