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Responsiveness (yes/no decisions) to sound has been found to be similar for normal infants and profoundly multihandicapped children of comparable developmental ages (Flexer & Gans, 1985). The purpose of this investigation is to extend the comparison of these two groups by examining the distribution of their response behaviors to sound. Ten normal and 10 multihandicapped children were videotaped while various auditory signals were presented. Without knowledge of stimulus type, five judges listed the behaviors that occurred during 24 sound and 24 catch trials for each child. The behaviors were then evaluated as a function of the stimulus parameters of meaningfulness, bandwidth, and intensity. Results revealed that the profoundly multihandicapped children displayed relatively more reflexive than attentive type behaviors and exhibited fewer behaviors per response. The effects of stimulus-type on the numbers and distribution of responses are discussed.

Responses to sound were observed in two groups of children. One was developmentally normal; the other was older but profoundly multihandicapped. The groups had developmental ages from 2 to 4 months, as assessed by the Kent Infant Developmental Scale (Katoff, Reuter, & Dunn, 1978). Stimuli were speech and random noise, both unfiltered and band-pass filtered at 2000 Hz, presented at 40, 60, and 80 dB HL. Responsiveness was determined from the confidence levels of observers' judgments of videotapes. Results showed that there were no significant differences between the subject groups. In both groups, however, responsiveness was dependent on hearing level and bandwidth but not on meaningfulness. The results support the practice of evaluating auditory responsiveness of multihandicapped children in relation to developmental age.

Behavioural Observation Audiometry is an alternative to conditioning paradigms in the assessment of auditory sensitivity of handicapped children. Three observers evaluated the responses to sound from twenty-one mild to severely handicapped children. The results showed that inter-observer agreement was high and that responsitivity of the children was not affected by the mode of stimulus presentation.

When professionals treat a patient who has sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI), they should always be concerned about the patient’s hearing competency. Without adequate hearing, communication is compromised. The audiologist can provide expertise in assessing the hearing of persons who have sustained TBI and suggesting methods for enhancing listening skills. This article presents an overview of the audiological tests that can be administered, outlines modifications in the test procedures that might be necessary for the attention level of the patient, and provides suggestions for enhancing listening skills for the patient with even a mild hearing impairment. It presents justification for including the audiologist on the rehabilitation team for patients with TBI.

Because teachers manage and instruct students through verbal communication, it would seem logical that improvement of pupil's abilities to detect and attend to the teacher's speech could improve pupil performance. Using sound field amplification which increased the intensity of the teacher's voice by 10 dB, nine children who attended a primary-level class for children with developmental disabilities, made significantly fewer errors on a word identification task than they made without amplification. Observation showed the children to be more relaxed and to respond more quickly in the amplified condition.

Hearing-impaired students are the largest single population of children requiring special services in schools, and the majority of these children are being mainstreamed into regular classrooms. Because of the dearth of educational audiologists who are the most appropriate professionals to manage hearing loss, the job of providing "need-to-know" information and in-service to classroom teachers often falls to the school's speech-language pathologist. The information necessary for a hearing-impaired child's survival in regular classrooms revolves around three main issues: understanding the nature of hearing and consequences of hearing loss; the essential use of technology to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (typically FM equipment); and educational management strategies. The purpose of this article is to provide information which will enable the speech-language pathologist to deliver adequate services and to answer pertinent questions posed by teachers who have hearing-impaired children in their classrooms.

The purpose of this article is to explore a vital component of a language program for hearing-impaired adolescents—the development of writing literacy. A discussion of the writing process precedes the presentation of a detailed step-by-step program employed to teach writing skills to two hearing-impaired college students. This writing approach attempts to maximize students' residual hearing and improve listening skills through oral readings.

This paper describes the use of a low cost, portable, hardwire, assistive listening device. The unit is battery-operated with flexible features. It enabled students to monitor their own verbal productions better and enhanced the use of their residual hearing. The components for this unit are easy to assemble and readily available from local electronics outlets.