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For deaf students, spelling acquisition is a considerable challenge, especially because the spelling code is based on an oral language to which most of them have limited access. Most studies conducted with deaf students have reported that they lag behind their hearing peers. However, few studies have used a fine-grained error classification grid. The use of such a grid makes it possible to draw a precise portrait of writers' orthographic knowledge. The purpose of this study was to describe the spelling skills of 19 deaf students (M age = 10.9 years) and to compare their errors with those of 20 hearing students of the same age and 17 younger hearing students at the same reading level. The results indicate that deaf students are not quantitatively different from hearing students but that their errors are qualitatively different from those of hearing students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared the reliability and validity of student scores from paper–pencil and e-based assessments using the "maze" and "silent reading fluency" (SRF) tasks. Forty students who were deaf and hard of hearing and reading between the second and fifth grade reading levels and their teachers (n  = 21) participated. For maze, alternate form reliability coefficients obtained from correct scores and correct scores adjusted for guessing ranged from r  = .61 to.84 (p s  <  .01); criterion-related validity coefficients ranged from r  = .33 to.67 (most p s < .01). For SRF, reliability coefficients obtained from correct scores ranged from r  = .50 to.75 (p s  <  .01); validity ranged from r  = .25 to.72. Differences between student performance on paper–pencil and e-based conditions were generally non-significant for maze; significant differences between conditions for SRF favored the paper–pencil condition. Findings suggest that maze holds promise, with inconclusive results for SRF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the available peer-reviewed research regarding literacy achievement in deaf children with cochlear implants. A related goal is to identify gaps in the empirical literature and suggest directions for future research. Included in this review are studies that exclusively report reading and writing outcomes for groups of students. A total of 21 studies were identified, representing those published over approximately a 20-year time period (1997-2016) and collectively reporting the literacy outcomes for over 1,000 cochlear implant users. Overall findings of the studies of reading comprehension suggest that the majority of participants achieved scores in the average range, although a wide-range of variability was reported. Only 3 studies of writing were available for review, with 2 reporting lower achievement in this area as compared to reading. Factors impacting outcomes achieved such as age at implantation, presence of additional disabilities, consistency of device use, and communication modality are explored and summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pressure that educators are experiencing to educate more students, with more challenges, to higher levels of learning than any time in the past is significantly changing their working conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of a national sample of teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing to ascertain their overall job satisfaction as well as to identify the specific factors that positively and negatively affect their ability to do their jobs well. In addition, responses of different subsets of teachers (e.g., itinerant, elementary, and secondary) were compared. Responses from 495 deaf educators are reported. Collectively, 89% of participants stated that they were satisfied to very satisfied with their overall job. Specific aspects of the job that respondents indicated that they were most satisfied or most dissatisfied with are presented and suggestions for addressing some of the identified challenges as well as recommendations for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in discourse reveals numerous cognitive connections between reading and writing. Rather than one being the inverse of the other, there are parallels and interactions between them. To understand the variables and possible connections in the reading and writing of adult deaf students, we manipulated writing conditions and reading texts. First, to test the hypothesis that a fluent writing process leads to richer content and a higher degree of coherence in a written summary, we interrupted the writing process with verbal and nonverbal intervening tasks. The negligible effect of the interference indicated that the stimuli texts were not equivalent in terms of coherence and revealed a relationship between coherence of the stimuli texts, amount of content recalled, and coherence of the written summaries. To test for a possible effect of coherence on reading comprehension, we manipulated the coherence of the texts. We found that students understood the more coherent versions of the passages better than the less coherent versions and were able to accurately distinguish between them. However, they were not able to judge comprehensibility. Implications for further research and classroom application are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents receptive and expressive American Sign Language skills of 85 students, 6 through 22 years of age at a residential school for the deaf using the American Sign Language Receptive Skills Test and the Ozcaliskan Motion Stimuli. Results are presented by ages and indicate that students' receptive skills increased with age and were still developing across this age range. Students' expressive skills, specifically classifier production, increased with age but did not approach adult-like performance. On both measures, deaf children with deaf parents scored higher than their peers with hearing parents and many components of the measures significantly correlated. These results suggest that these two measures provide a well-rounded snapshot of individual students' American Sign Language skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A questionnaire on bullying and cyberbullying was administered to 30 secondary students (Grades 7–12) in a charter school for the Deaf and hard of hearing and a matched group of 22 hearing students in a charter secondary school on the same campus. Because the sample size was small and distributions non-normal, results are primarily descriptive and correlational. No significant differences by hearing status were detected in rates of conventional or cyberbullying or both forms of victimization. Cyberbullying and cybervictimization were strongly correlated, as were conventional bullying and victimization. Moral disengagement was positively correlated only with conventional bullying. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing (SDHH) often need accommodations to participate in large-scale standardized assessments. One way to bridge the gap between the language of the test (English) and a student’s linguistic background (often including American Sign Language [ASL]) is to present test items in ASL. The specific aim of this project was to measure the effects of an ASL accommodation on standardized test scores for SDHH in reading and mathematics. A total of 64 fifth- to eighth-grade (ages 10–15) SDHH from schools for the deaf in the United States participated in this study. There were no overall differences in the mean percent of items students scored correctly in the standard vs. ASL-accommodated conditions for reading or mathematics. We then conducted hierarchical linear regression analyses to analyze whether measures of exposure to ASL (home and classroom) and student proficiency in the subject area predicted student performance in ASL-accommodated assessments. The models explained up to half of the variance in the scores, with subject area proficiency (mathematics or reading) as the strongest predictor. ASL exposure was not significant with the exception of ASL classroom instruction as a predictor of mathematics scores. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Four experiments, each building on the results of the previous ones, explored the effects of several manipulations on learning and the accuracy of metacognitive judgments among deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students. Experiment 1 examined learning and metacognitive accuracy from classroom lectures with or without prior scaffolding in the form of a description of main points and concepts. Experiment 2 compared the benefits of scaffolding when material was read versus when it was presented as a lecture signed for DHH students and spoken for hearing students. Experiment 3 compared scaffolding provided in the form of main points versus vocabulary, and Experiment 4 examined effects of material familiarity and a delay between study and test. Results indicated that although all students had a tendency to overestimate their performance, hearing students learned more and were more accurate in their metacognitive judgments than DHH students. Content familiarity improved the accuracy of metacognitive judgments by both DHH and hearing students, but the delay manipulation was effective only for hearing students. Consistent with other recent findings, DHH students learned as much from reading as they did from signed instruction. Differences between DHH and hearing students may indicate the need for explicit instruction for DHH students in academically relevant skills acquired incidentally by hearing students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Communication is frequently characterized by a sequence of questions and answers. Little is known about how well students who are deaf or hard of hearing (deaf/HH) understand their hearing classmates in the context of an inclusive setting. This study explored the communication skills used by deaf/HH children when asking and answering questions in a “trivia” game with their hearing peers. Thirty-four children with normal hearing and 34 children with a hearing loss ranging from mild to profound (>90 dB HL) participated in this study. Each of the 34 dyads included 1 child with normal hearing and 1 child with hearing loss, matched by gender and grade level at school. Dyads were videotaped and analyzed. Pairs were compared in terms of their capacity to repeat the question, strategies used to seek information, and accuracy of responses. Results showed that the group of hearing children was able to repeat more questions verbatim compared to the deaf/HH children. The deaf/HH group required a significantly greater number of repetitions, sought a greater number of general clarifications, and correctly answered more questions compared with the group of hearing children. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of peer communication and pragmatic skill development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the problems, limitations, constraints, opportunities, and new legislation for the implementation of new methods in Portugal's deaf education. For deaf student's education planning, the educational system must be able to derive solutions in order to linguistically, emotionally, socially and academically develop the deaf students. Based on the deaf students' performance, the Portuguese schools have been accounted of 28 percent intelligible oral discourse of all deaf students while 12 percent reveal Portuguese sign language (PSL) fluency. The sign-bilingual environment in deaf education has been acknowledged by the Portuguese government where deaf students are given the opportunity to attend regular schools or special schools upon their option.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internal use of language during problem solving is considered to play a key role in executive functioning. This role provides a means for self-reflection and self-questioning during the formation of rules and plans and a capacity to control and monitor behavior during problem-solving activity. Given that increasingly sophisticated language is required for effective executive functioning as an individual matures, it is likely that students with poor language abilities will have difficulties performing complex problem-solving tasks. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between language ability and verbal and nonverbal executive functioning in a group of deaf students who communicate using spoken English, as measured by their performance on two standardized tests of executive function: the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) 20 Questions Test and the D-KEFS Tower Test. Expressive language ability accounted for more than 40% of variability in performance on the D-KEFS 20 Questions Test. There was no significant relationship between language ability and performance on the D-KEFS Tower Test. There was no relationship between language ability and familiarity with the specific problem-solving strategies of both D-KEFS Tests. Implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined facilitators and detractors of academic success of 25 deaf or hard-of-hearing (Dill) students selected from a pool of 187 students attending general education classes and enrolled in a study of academic progress. Interviews with their teachers of DHH, general education teachers, principals, parents, interpreters, and students themselves were analyzed for child, family, and school facilitators and detractors of academic status. Facilitators included student self-advocacy and motivation, high family and school expectations, families' ability to help with homework, and good communication between professionals. Detractors included additional disabilities and poor family-school communication. A comparison of above- and below-average students revealed no single distinguishing facilitator or detractor. Each above-average student had many facilitators, whereas each below-average student had several significant detractors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study which investigates the testing accommodations used on 2004-2005 statewide standardized assessments and recommendations for deaf or hard of hearing (SDHH) students. It stated that an accommodation used for SDHH is to have the test directions interpreted (TDI) into American Sign Language (ASL) or other sign language with an access assistant. On the other hand, the participants of the study recommend that student academic level and communication mode should be taken into account when choosing accommodations for deaf students. It is suggested that it is necessary to provide ongoing training and support that focuses on the specific educational, social, and communicative needs of the deaf children.

The article discusses the signed reading fluency in children with hearing loss in the U.S. According to the National Reading Panel (NRP), fluency is the ability to read orally with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. It stated that signed reading fluency involves the automatic rendering of print into a spoken or signed form which requires the child to go beyond the simple reading of words at an appropriate rate. It is concluded that deaf readers who use sign language can become fluent readers comprising several signed reading fluency.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current study is to expand upon the effectiveness of using Visual Phonics in conjunction with Direct Instruction reading programs (B. J. Trezek & K. W. Malmgren, 2005; B. J. Trezek & Y. Wang, 2006) and to explore the results of utilizing Visual Phonics to supplement another phonics-based reading curriculum for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Twenty students with various degrees of hearing loss in kindergarten and first grade as well as 4 teachers participated in the study. Results of the investigation reveal that, given 1 year of instruction from a phonics-based reading curriculum supplemented by Visual Phonics, kindergarten and first-grade students who are deaf or hard of hearing can demonstrate statistically significant improvements in beginning reading skills as measured by standardized assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fingerspelling is an integral part of American Sign Language (ASL) and it is also an important aspect of becoming bilingual in English and ASL. Even though fingerspelling is based on English orthography, the development of fingerspelling does not parallel the development of reading in hearing children. Research reveals that deaf children may initially treat fingerspelled words as lexical items rather than a series of letters that represent English orthography and only later begin to learn to link handshapes to English graphemes. The purpose of this study is to determine whether a training method that uses fingerspelling and phonological patterns that resemble those found in lexicalized fingerspelling to teach deaf students unknown English vocabulary would increase their ability to learn the fingerspelled and orthographic version of a word. There were 21 deaf students (aged 4-14 years) who participated. Results show that students were better able to recognize and write the printed English word as well as fingerspell the word, when training incorporated fingerspelling that is more lexicalized. The discussion focuses on the degree to which fingerspelling can serve as a visual phonological bridge as an aid to decode English print. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both classroom instruction and lexical database development stand to benefit from applied research on sign language, which takes into consideration American Sign Language rules, pedagogical issues, and teacher characteristics. In this study of technical science signs, teachers' experience with signing and, especially, knowledge of content, were found to be essential for the identification of signs appropriate for instruction. The results of this study also indicate a need for a systematic approach to examine both sign selection and its impact on learning by deaf students. Recommendations are made for the development of lexical databases and areas of research for optimizing the use of sign language in instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The starting point for this study is the importance of linguistic competence in deaf students as part of their process of socialization and the formation of their self-concept. With the 56 deaf students who participated in the research, we consider the following sociodemographic variables: age, sex and degree of hearing loss, and the educational factor with respect to the mode of mainstream schooling. Self-concept was explored using the Spanish version of the Self Development Questionnaire (SDQ; I. Elexpuru, 1992) and the TST-WhoAm I? test, adapted from M. H. Kuhn and T S. McPartland (1954). To obtain the data for conversational competence, a conversation was held with a hearing adult. An explanation is given of the criteria for pragmatic analysis. The main results highlight the relationship between positive self-concept and most aspects of conversational competence. The study concludes with pedagogical procedures for integration, including specific strategies for teaching conversational skills to deaf pupils through nondeaf pupils and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of the National Survey of Accommodations and Alternate Assessments for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in the United States (National Survey). This study focused on the use of accommodations and alternate assessments in statewide assessments used with students who are deaf or hard of hearing. A total of 258 participants responded to the survey, including 32 representing schools for the deaf, 168 from districtwide/school programs, and 58 from mainstreamed settings. These schools and programs served a total of nearly 12,000 students who are deaf or hard of hearing nationwide. The most prevalent accommodations used in 2003-2004 statewide standardized assessments in mathematics and reading were extended time, an interpreter for directions, and a separate room for test administration. Read aloud and signed question-response accommodations were often prevalent, used more often for mathematics than in reading assessments. Participants from mainstreamed settings reported a more frequent use of accommodations than those in schools for the deaf or districtwide/school programs. In contrast, schools for the deaf were most likely to have students participate in alternate assessments. The top three alternate assessment formats used across all settings were out-of-level testing, work samples, and portfolios. Using the National Survey results as a starting point, future research will need to investigate the validity of accommodations used with students who are deaf or hard of hearing. In the context of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 accountability policies, the accommodations and alternate assessment formats used with students who are deaf or hard of hearing may result in restrictions in how scores are integrated into state accountability frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to provide an overview of the use of origami in teaching mathematics to deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The author posits that in both the general and special education settings, origami can be very useful for students who are deaf and hard of hearing as many of them need to see and feel to learn and are likely to be concrete learners. Suggestions about how to conduct an origami math lesson for deaf and hard-of-hearing students are included in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research studies on the determinants of self-esteem of deaf individuals often yield inconsistent findings. The current study assessed the effects on self-esteem of factors related to deafness, such as the means of communication at home and severity of hearing loss with hearing aid, as well as the coping styles that deaf people adopt to cope with everyday life in a hearing world. Data were collected among the deaf students of California State University, Northridge. Hierarchical regression modeling showed that identification with the Deaf community significantly contributed to positive self-esteem. Results also revealed that deaf students with greater degree of hearing loss and with bicultural skills that help them function in both the hearing and the Deaf community generally have higher self-esteem. Implications for further study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extends the findings of Gaustad, Kelly, Payne, and Lylak (2002), which showed that deaf college students and hearing middle school students appeared to have approximately the same morphological knowledge and word segmentation skills. Because the average grade level reading abilities for the two groups of students were also similar, those research findings suggested that deaf students' morphological development was progressing as might be expected relative to reading level. This study further examined the specific relationship between morphologically based word identification skills and reading achievement levels, as well as differences in the error patterns of deaf and hearing readers. Comparison of performance between pairs of deaf college students and hearing middle school students matched for reading achievement level shows significant superiority of younger hearing participants for skills relating especially to the meaning of derivational morphemes and roots, and the segmentation of words containing multiple types of morphemes. Group subtest comparisons and item analysis comparisons of specific morpheme knowledge and word segmentation show clear differences in the morphographic skills of hearing middle school readers over deaf college students, even though they were matched and appear to read at the same grade levels, as measured by standardized tests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides a brief review of the history of deaf education in Australia, Australian Sign Language (Auslan), and Auslan interpreting. A panel of Australian deaf university students from diverse linguistic and educational backgrounds provides insights into their perceptions of sign language interpreting provision in university lectures. They commented on their interpreting preferences after viewing two videotaped segments of university lecture interpretation, one demonstrating a predominantly free approach and the other a predominantly literal approach. Expectations of the deaf students were explored in relation to the educational backgrounds and qualifications of university interpreters; comprehension of interpreters is also discussed. Results suggest that the university students preferred interpreters to combine both interpretation styles, switching between literal and free approaches when appropriate. In doing so, students can access lecture content in Auslan while accessing subject-specific terminology or academic language in English. In terms of qualifications, the students advocated for interpreters to have a university qualification in general, especially if they are working in a university context. However, the students also acknowledged that interpreting did not provide them with full access in educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2000, the 11th Circuit Court provided the largest single award in special education history to date, approximately $2.5 million, to two teenaged students who were deaf. The students were judged to have been denied a free, appropriate public education (FAPE), having spent their academic careers in generic special education classes for students with multiple disabilities without the benefit of access to a communication system; the services of a certified, qualified teacher of the deaf; or related services. This article describes the case from the perspective of FAPE, least restrictive environment, and due process in the presence of guardians who did not understand the implications of the Individual Education Program (IEP) teams' decisions; presents a chronology of the case; explores the implications for various stakeholders; and discusses the catastrophic impact on the social, emotional, communication, and academic development and earning potential of the students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the use of the Disability Discrimination Act (Commonwealth of Australia, 1992) by parents seeking access for their deaf children to native sign language in the classroom. It reviews a number of cases in which Australian parents have claimed indirect discrimination by educational authorities over their children's lack of access to instruction through Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and discusses the outcomes of such litigation. The policies endorsed by deafness organizations are contrasted with those of state educational authorities. The author discusses the limitations of a complaints-based system to address systemic discrimination and suggests the need for legislation to protect the linguistic rights of deaf children. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the importance of knowing whether or not deaf and hard-of-hearing students have one or more deaf or hard-of-hearing parents. As noted by Mitchell and Karchmer (2004), deaf and hard-of-hearing school-age children and youth in the United States with at least one parent identified as “hearing impaired” are nearly evenly split between having at least one deaf parent and having at least one hard-of-hearing parent. However, there is no literature on the importance, if any, of this distinction. Findings from the investigation reported herein suggest that the distinction between having a deaf versus a hard-of-hearing parent is quite substantial, particularly as it pertains to the use of signing in the home. Further, signing in the home, which is reliably predicted by parental hearing status, is a significant predictor of the school setting in which the student is currently placed and the instructional use of signing in the classroom. Limitations related to the available measure of parental hearing status are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The written English vocabulary of 72 deaf elementary school students of various proficiency levels in American Sign Language (ASL) was compared with the performance of 60 hearing English-as-a-second-language (ESL) speakers and 61 hearing monolingual speakers of English, all of similar age. Students were asked to retell “The Tortoise and the Hare” story (previously viewed on video) in a writing activity. Writing samples were later scored for total number of words, use of words known to be highly frequent in children's writing, redundancy in writing, and use of English function words. All deaf writers showed significantly lower use of function words as compared to their hearing peers. Low-ASL-proficient students demonstrated a highly formulaic writing style, drawing mostly on high-frequency words and repetitive use of a limited range of function words. The moderate- and high-ASL-proficient deaf students' writing was not formulaic and incorporated novel, low-frequency vocabulary to communicate their thoughts. The moderate- and high-ASL students' performance revealed a departure from findings one might expect based on previous studies with deaf writers and their vocabulary use. The writing of the deaf writers also differed from the writing of hearing ESL speakers. Implications for deaf education and literacy instruction are discussed, with special attention to the fact that ASL-proficient, deaf second-language learners of English may be approaching English vocabulary acquisition in ways that are different from hearing ESL learners. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This investigation compared 267 students with a hearing loss and 178 students with no declared form of disability who were taking courses by distance learning in terms of their scores on an abbreviated version of the Academic Engagement Form. Students with a hearing loss obtained lower scores than students with no disability with regard to communication with other students, but some felt that communication was easier than in a traditional academic situation. Students who were postvocationally deaf had lower scores than students with no disability on learning from other students, but they obtained higher scores on student autonomy and student control. In general, the impact of a hearing loss on engagement in distance education is relatively slight. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study was planned with the knowledge that the tasks of reading require the same acquisition of skills, whether a child is hearing or deaf, monolingual, or bilingual. Reading and language research literature was reviewed. Subjects were 31 deaf students (7.9–17.9 years of age) who attended one of three U.S. programs. Performance on 15 language and literacy measures was analyzed. Results were that students who scored highest on a passage-comprehension measure also were more able (a) to provide synonyms, antonyms, and analogies of read words and phrases, (b) to read more listed words, and (c) to substitute one phoneme more correctly for another to create new words than were readers with lower scores. Two groups of students also were compared: a Longer Exposure to English Group (n = 22) who used Signing Exact English (SEE) for 5 years or more and a Shorter Exposure Group (n = 8) exposed to SEE for less than 2 years. A correlational analysis revealed that there were no significant relationships among 14 background variables with the exception of “age of identification of hearing loss,” a variable then covaried in subsequent analysis of covariance. Students in the Longer Exposure Group scored higher on all measures. Significant differences were found between groups for short-term memory, receptive and expressive English, and five phonological subtests. Mini-case studies and the performance of eight students in the Longer Exposure Group who scored lowest on the comprehension measure also are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Deafness is more than a medical condition. Recent theories have emphasized the importance of environmental factors on the psychosocial development of deaf children. As part of a larger scale study, this article aims to investigate the impact of the following variables on deaf students' psychosocial adjustment in Turkey: student-related background and experiential characteristics, parent-related variables, school-related factors, and teacher-related variables. The sample of 1,097 deaf students enrolled in the elementary, secondary, and high schools was drawn from 34 schools in 24 cities on a national geographical spread. The multiple regression analysis revealed that degree of hearing loss, additional handicap, and age at onset of deafness were negatively related to psychosocial adjustment of deaf students. However, there was a positive relationship between psychosocial variables and some of the independent variables, such as use of hearing aids, speech intelligibility, academic achievement, parental hearing status, and communication methods used at school. The findings of the study do not support a “pathological” view of deafness, suggesting that it was not deafness per se but that some environmental factors were also influential on the psychosocial adjustment of deaf students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Deaf readers often fail to achieve age-appropriate reading levels. In hearing children, two cognitive factors correlated with reading delay are phonological awareness and decoding (PAD) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) of visual material. In this study we explored the contribution of these factors to reading and reading delay in a sample of deaf students (N = 49, mean age 13 years) whose reading age (RA) was around 7 years. Although PAD performance was poor in the deaf students compared with RA-matched hearing controls, it nevertheless correlated with their RA. Whether tested in sign or speech, RAN was much faster in the deaf group than in RA-matched hearing controls but showed no direct relationship with reading level or reading delay. We conclude that in contrast to PAD, which is a factor in both deaf and hearing reading achievement, RAN may be only indirectly related to reading in deaf students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We report results showing that working memory for American Sign Language (ASL) is sensitive to irrelevant signed input (and other structured visual input) in a manner similar to the effects of irrelevant auditory input on working memory for speech. Deaf signers were disrupted on serial recall of lists of ASL signs when either pseudosigns or moving shapes were presented during a retention interval. Hearing subjects asked to recall lists of printed English words did not show disruption under the same interference conditions. The results favor models that hypothesize modality-specific representations of language within working memory, as opposed to amodal representations. The results further indicate that working memory for sign language involves visual or quasi-visual representations, suggesting parallels to visuospatial working memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to identify the reading strategies used by students who are deaf by investigating their self-reported thinking during reading. The participants were 10 elementary students attending a residential state school for the deaf. After each page of reading a short story, the participants were asked to think aloud (or think visibly, in the case of sign language). Analysis of these verbal reports indicated that the participants constructed meaning, monitored comprehension and activated strategies to improve comprehension, and evaluated, but did not demonstrate, each reading strategy within these three classifications. They engaged in a considerably greater variety of reading strategies for constructing meaning than for the other two classifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this survey was to determine how many residential and day schools for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the United States described themselves as bilingual-bicultural (BiBi) programs and to describe characteristics of those programs related to initial implementation, whether a single language (e.g., English or ASL) is promoted as the first language (L1) and the language of instruction for all deaf students, how English is conveyed conversationally to deaf students, the quality of ASL abilities of BiBi instructional and support staff; general characteristics of the curriculum and the specific reading and bicultural components of the curriculum; and characteristics of research being conducted to establish the efficacy of BiBi methods. Ninety-one percent (n = 71) of the 78 day and residential schools listed in the 1998 Directory of the American Annals of the Deaf participated in the survey, with 19 schools identifying themselves as BiBi. These included 16 residential schools and 3 day schools. Depending on the source for numbers of students in residential and day schools at the time of the survey, between 36% and 40% of students were in programs that identified themselves as BiBi. Sixteen of the programs reported becoming a BiBi program between 1989 and 1994 and only three after 1994. Of the 19 programs, 37% reported use of manually coded English (MCE) for conveying English to the students. Fluency in ASL of instructional and support staff varied, with 47% of the programs reporting that no more than half of the instructional staff were fluent in ASL and 68% of the programs reporting that no more than half of the support staff were fluent. Only 21% of the 19 programs reported having a formal BiBi curriculum with annual goals and suggested materials and procedures for teachers. Research implications of these data are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers some of the student and family factors influencing the educational achievements of deaf children. It is based on a study of 16-year-old deaf students in mainstream schools in England. Findings indicate the complexity of interpreting statistical results, especially on the effect of degree of hearing loss. The discussion addresses the specific question of why this factor is often reported as not significant in academic achievement. It also considers the surprisingly low effect of family socioeconomic status, speculates on the size of the “school effect” in deaf education, and considers the coding of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of research on deaf students in higher education reveals a significant body of knowledge about the barriers these students face in gaining access to information in the classroom. Much less is known about the potential solutions to these problems. In addition, there is a dearth of research on the effectiveness of such support services as interpreting, note taking, real-time captioning, and tutoring, particularly with regard to their impact on academic achievement. This article summarizes relevant research and suggests directions for educational researchers interested in enhancing academic success and the retention of deaf students in higher education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A national randomly selected survey of a sample of deaf and hard-of-hearing students included in regular classes from kindergarten to high school in Australian preschools and schools was conducted via a questionnaire to itinerant teachers working with such students. This article reports the analysis of a questionnaire that surveyed the demographic characteristics of such students and a set of characteristics of their behavior in their placement in terms of “participation” in aspects of regular class activities. These aspects were level of integration, academic participation, level of independence, and social participation. Data are reported and analyzed in terms of the above demographic and participatory characteristics of the students. We consider comparisons with comparable reports from the United States and Great Britain and discuss implications for deaf and hard-of-hearing students included in regular classes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A sample of 163 preservice and in-service teachers of deaf and hard-of-hearing students was surveyed on perceptions of the roles of teacher, students, and the classroom. The participants' perceptions were examined utilizing the Survey of Practical Knowledge (SPK) designed and developed by the researcher for the study. The SPK asked the participants to respond to different “images” of teachers, students, and classrooms. Through factor analysis, the following images were generated: the teacher as artisan, the teacher as custodian, the student as subordinate, the student as peer, the classroom as arena, and the classroom as refuge. Beginning education students, graduating education students, novice teachers, and experienced teachers were assessed on their endorsement of those images. Beginning education students tended to view students more as peers than members of the other three groups. In-service teachers were more consistent and flexible in their images than preservice teachers were. Deaf and hard-of-hearing teachers viewed students more as subordinates than did hearing teachers. The dominant view among the study participants conceptualized the teacher as artisan, the students as subordinates, and the classroom as a refuge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Studies of social processes and outcomes of the placement of deaf students with hearing peers cannot be easily summarized, but can be grouped into a least four major categories of focus: social skills, interaction and participation, sociometric status and acceptance, and affective functioning. We review 33 studies available since 1980 in which a mainstreamed or included deaf sample was compared to another group. Studies indicated (1) that hearing students were more socially mature than deaf students in public schools, (2) that deaf students interacted with deaf classmates more than hearing ones, (3) that deaf students were somewhat accepted by their hearing classmates, and (4) that self-esteem was not related to extent of mainstreaming. There was a tendency for studies to use observational methods with very young children, teacher evaluations with middle school children, and questionnaires with older children. Three major areas of methodology limit general conclusions: samples, measurements of variables, and experimental manipulations. The reviewed studies provide a basis for understanding the social processes and outcomes in these placement situations; however, it is not possible to make broad generalizations about effects of placement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]