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Educational intervention is known to enhance learners in general, including deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) learners in particular. This study is a systematic review to identify educational interventions in Arab experimental studies published from 2008 to 2019 concerning deaf and hard-of-hearing children in preschool. The study used Google Scholar and Academic Research Library to identify 30 studies that were examined in terms of their objectives, characteristics of the participants, types of interventions, findings and the country in which they were conducted. A positive effect of the educational interventions was observed in all targeted studies. However, there was an absence of interventions in the first 4 years of the period (2008–2011). Subsequently, in the last 4 years of the study period, there was a considerable increase in interventions. Fifty-seven percent of these studies were conducted in Egypt, followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (23%), Kuwait (10%) and finally Sudan (3%). This review indicates that the use of educational interventions for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the preschool period is promising. Educators and professionals should carefully consider these children's preferences, characteristics and actual abilities when making decisions about the design of appropriate educational interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research indicates that establishing a strong foundation in early mathematics is essential for later academic learning. Previous research with students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) has shown varying differences in the performance and achievement when compared to typically hearing (TH) students. While the majority of research in this area has been conducted in the United States, studies in other countries suggest that these differences may be global. The present study investigated the early mathematics abilities of 3-year-old DHH children enrolled in family-centred early intervention in the Netherlands. Fifty-three DHH and TH children were given an adapted version of the Early Mathematics Performance Diagnostic. Results showed that on average, the DHH and the TH children performed similarly on all domains, except for Measurement. Likewise, both groups showed similar mathematical knowledge in most early mathematics tasks measuring sub-concepts such as counting objects, shape matching, or measuring weight. Differences were identified in some basic tasks measuring the sub-concepts (e.g. rote counting, measuring time, solving puzzles), however, not on the more advanced tasks measuring these same sub-concepts. These findings are important for parents, teachers, and early interventionists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Students with hearing disabilities need more support in a university environment to achieve quality of academic life (QAL), as it is widely recognized that hearing is one of the most important keys to academic success, Although the enrollment of students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDHH) in the Saudi universities has increased due to generous laws and technological development, these students still face academic and social problems, and difficulties in facilities and services at the university. Purpose: This study aimed to identify the level of QAL for SDHH at Northern border university (NBU), Arar, Saudi Arabia. Despite several good studies on students with disabilities, there is a dearth of studies on the state of QAI in NBU. Method: The descriptive approach was adopted, where the QAL scale, consisting of (4) dimensions, was used with (25) SDHH at NBU. Findings: The results showed that the QAL for SDHH at NBU was within an above-average range. These findings and the limitations and implications of the current research are discussed. Implications for research and practice: The study is expected to contribute to empowerment of SDHH and students with disabilities and providing them fundamental rights including the rights of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional adjustment and problem-solving are crucial in the daily life of adolescents. This study aimed to explore the effects of emotion regulation intervention on social problem-solving skills in hard-of-hearing adolescents. The present research was a semi-randomized controlled trial design. Thirty hard-of-hearing adolescents were randomly selected from schools for the deaf in Isfahan, Iran. They were randomly allocated to control (n = 15) or intervention (n = 15) groups. The second group attended the 8-session emotion regulation training, while the first group did not attend this intervention. These groups filled out the Social Problem-Solving Inventory (SPSI) pre and post-treatment. The data were analyzed using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The results indicated that emotion regulation positively and significantly influenced social problem-solving in hard-of-hearing adolescents (p =.001). This research suggests that emotion regulation intervention can promote problem-solving skills in hard-of-hearing adolescents. Therefore, this intervention has positive consequences and may act as a buffer against the daily problems of these adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Early linguistic background, and in particular, access to language, lays the foundation of future reading skills in deaf and hard-of-hearing signers. The current study aims to estimate the impact of two factors - early access to sign and/or spoken language - on reading fluency in deaf and hard-of-hearing adult Russian Sign Language speakers. Methods: In the eye-tracking experiment, 26 deaf and 14 hard-of-hearing native Russian Sign Language speakers read 144 sentences from the Russian Sentence Corpus. Analysis of global eye-movement trajectories (scanpaths) was used to identify clusters of typical reading trajectories. The role of early access to sign and spoken language as well as vocabulary size as predictors of the more fluent reading pattern was tested. Results: Hard-of-hearing signers with early access to sign language read more fluently than those who were exposed to sign language later in life or deaf signers without access to speech sounds. No association between early access to spoken language and reading fluency was found. Discussion: Our results suggest a unique advantage for the hard-of-hearing individuals from having early access to both sign and spoken language and support the existing claims that early exposure to sign language is beneficial not only for deaf but also for hard-of-hearing children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionEarly linguistic background, and in particular, access to language, lays the foundation of future reading skills in deaf and hard-of-hearing signers. The current study aims to estimate the impact of two factors – early access to sign and/or spoken language – on reading fluency in deaf and hard-of-hearing adult Russian Sign Language speakers.MethodsIn the eye-tracking experiment, 26 deaf and 14 hard-of-hearing native Russian Sign Language speakers read 144 sentences from the Russian Sentence Corpus. Analysis of global eye-movement trajectories (scanpaths) was used to identify clusters of typical reading trajectories. The role of early access to sign and spoken language as well as vocabulary size as predictors of the more fluent reading pattern was tested.ResultsHard-of-hearing signers with early access to sign language read more fluently than those who were exposed to sign language later in life or deaf signers without access to speech sounds. No association between early access to spoken language and reading fluency was found.DiscussionOur results suggest a unique advantage for the hard-of-hearing individuals from having early access to both sign and spoken language and support the existing claims that early exposure to sign language is beneficial not only for deaf but also for hard-of-hearing children.

This paper presents the results of an online survey on digital participation through the use of social media of n = 38 German deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) adults. In addition, information about the respondents' mental health is collected with four different scales: the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Fear of Missing Out Scale (FoMoS), the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Social Isolation Scale (PRO-MIS SI-S) and the Social Media Disorder Scale (SMDS). Correlation analyses using Pearson correlation and Spearman rank correlation tests were conducted to identify relationships between mental health and use of social media. The results indicate that the DHH adults have 4.13 social media accounts on average and use social media 3.78 h per day. This is consistent with other research findings, so that the DHH individuals in this study do not differ from other DHH adults or hearing adults in the number of their social media accounts and in their media usage time. However, there are differences in usage of social media that concern, for example, the social media platforms that are used and time of usage due to communication modality (spoken language, sign language, bimodal bilingualism, and mixed forms). DHH individuals who use sign language use social media less overall compared to DHH people who use spoken language. In terms of mental health, it was found that, as expected, addictive social media behavior and high usage time are interrelated. Addictive behavior, in turn, is often associated with low self-esteem, a sense of social isolation, and a fear of missing out. In general, many participants in the study score high in scales for self-perception of social isolation and loneliness. Nevertheless, there are also positive effects and opportunities of using social media, especially in terms of digital participation, for DHH people, which are also discussed in the article.

Sensory impairments are common in older adult populations and have notable impacts on aging outcomes. Relationships between sensory and cognitive functions have been clearly established, though the mechanisms underlying those relationships are not fully understood. Given the growing burden of dementia, older adults with sensory deficits are an important and growing population to study in cognitive aging research. Yet, cognitive research sometimes excludes those with uncorrected significant/severe sensory deficits and often poorly or inconsistently assesses those deficits. Observational and interventional studies that exclude participants with sensory deficits will be limited in their generalizability to the narrower subset of the older adult population without vision or hearing impairment and may be missing an opportunity to study a growing population of older adults at higher risk of cognitive impairment. Strategies exist for adapting cognitive testing instruments, and inroads could be made into collecting normative data to inform ongoing research. Bringing together psychometricians with researchers who specialize in vision and hearing impairments could launch highly innovative research on both measurement methods and cognitive disease etiology, as sensory organs provide readily accessible neuronal and vascular beds that may show pathology earlier and elucidate innovative screening opportunities for early signs of cognitive disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilience is an interactive process involving internal skills that should be promoted, especially in the early stages of development. This study aims to adapt and implement two themes from the European Curriculum for Resilience Promotion -- RESCUR, namely, 'Developing Communication Skills' and 'Establishing and Maintaining Healthy Relationships', for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students. The study included 37 children and adolescents from three Portuguese regions and its impact was evaluated through the perspectives of the students, their guardians and their teachers. Each 90-minute session was implemented weekly. The sessions followed the RESCUR curriculum structure with necessary adaptations to the mindfulness activities, stories, role-play and worksheets. The mean scores increased from pre- to post-intervention assessment on all instruments, namely, KIDSCREEN-10 (children/adolescents), KIDSCREEN-10 (guardians) and CYRM-28 (teachers). The implementation of adapted curricula promoting resilience seems to be beneficial to DHH children, allowing the development of specific resilience-associated skills, and thus enhancing health, well-being and quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media provides marginalized activists multiple options for constructing alternative narratives that challenge mainstream discourse. However, despite these platforms' increasing accessibility, disabled activists may struggle in creating their counter-narrative. Their inability to conform to able-bodied notions of activism leaves their individual experiences out of the discussion of social media activism. This paper addresses this gap by presenting the individual decision-making process of disabled social media users regarding activists' performances in social media as gleaned from the qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews. This process includes three phases that demonstrate the experiences of social media users with communicative concealable disabilities – autistics, hard-of-hearing (HoH), and people who stutter. First, these interviewees present a spectrum of perceptions of disability activism in social media. Second, these perceptions lead to a spectrum of motivations, which mirror the interviewees' various risk-benefit calculations regarding public self-disclosure as disabled. Third, these perceptions and motivations are manifested through interviewees' strategic design of their activist performances in private and public spheres. By rethinking key concepts in social media activism – risk-benefit calculation, slacktivism, and digital storytelling – this process illustrates taken-for-granted assumptions of personalization, visibility and representation, that challenge current discussions on social media activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To describe hearing‐health service use, especially use of telehealth, during the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic in deaf/hard‐of‐hearing children. In 2020, the Victorian Childhood Hearing Longitudinal Databank surveyed 497 (61.6%) families of deaf/hard‐of‐hearing children aged 0.4–19.6 years, with 449 (90.3%) providing quantitative data and 336 (67.6%) providing free‐text comments about COVID‐19's impact on service use and access. We summarised quantitative data using descriptive statistics and analysed free‐text responses using inductive and deductive reasoning. Of the 1152 services families used during the pandemic, 711 (62%) were accessed via telehealth. Parents reported several challenges and facilitators of service access during the pandemic, particularly regarding telehealth. Parents reported that their child found telehealth appointments more difficult (347/665, 52.1%) and of worse quality (363/649, 55.9%) compared to in‐person. These difficulties were more evident in pre‐school than school‐age children. Consideration of these factors when implementing telehealth practice beyond the pandemic would improve family experiences, ensuring quality of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linguistically diverse students are often def ined as students for whom English is not the primary oral language. Studies focusing on fanf iction writing with this population of student has supported fanf iction as being benef icial for students' acquisition of English language and writing. This article explores fanf iction writing's potential for supporting a broader def inition of linguistically diverse students: traditional English learners, students on the autism spectrum, and Deaf and hard-of-hearing students. While these three categories of learner do not encompass all students who may be considered linguistically diverse, this analysis explores the literature related to the language and writing needs of each of the three student categories, promising practices for writing instruction for each, and how these align with literature on fanf iction writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning how to perform an identity in social media is a complex, two-stage process: lifelong environmental learning through socialization and acculturation mediated by selfcomparison to others, and the transformation of this learned information into personal knowledge about how to develop one's identity online. However, disability performance complicates this learning process through oppressive able-bodied medicalization, especially of concealable communicative disabilities. Based on 31 in-depth interviews with autistics, stutterers, and hard-of-hearing users, and 7 social media documentation diaries, this article provides a comprehensive perspective that presents dis/ability performances as a product of powerful learning aspects that involve both disability-related and "ablebodied" dimensions of learning. Although individuals learn how to deal with social media violence regardless of their disabilities, social, cultural, and technical learning of how to be a disabled person in the world dramatically influences dis/ability performances and perpetuates the complexity of performing a disabled self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the communicative, cultural, and practical aspects of being a hard-of-hearing (HH) researcher who studies D/deaf people's smartphone use through 20 in-depth interviews. This context presents the conflict between seeing deafness as a disability and seeing Deaf people as members of a cultural minority. This complexity of 'subaltern-researcher' concept combines with the limitations caused by conducting research as a marginal member of the academy, which in turn prompts the researcher's conflict between the commitment to marginalized research participants and the able-bodied academic obligation to act according to able-bodied research, analysis, and standards for publication of findings. This paper suggests a reflexive description of identity, culture, senses, and communication, which interacts with the social responsibility of the disabled researcher, and the interviewees' expressed agency. As such, this article contributes methodological and communicative insights on inclusive qualitative methods regarding both disabled participants and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) screening tool is a research measure that has not been frequently employed within the scientific literature addressing deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) populations., Objective: To evaluate whether those who are DHH are more likely to cross-sectionally report a high-risk number of ACEs than those who are not DHH., Methods: Data consisting of a weighted total of n = 24,797,770 US adults' responses to the 2021 BRFSS survey were utilized for this study., Results: The DHH-ACE association was effect modified by age group. In the 25-to-34 (aOR = 2.98; 95 % aOR CI: 1.81, 4.92; P < 0.0001), 35-to-44 (aOR = 3.17; 95 % aOR CI: 1.98, 5.08; P < 0.0001), 45-to-54 (aOR = 1.74; 95 % aOR CI: 1.23, 2.45; P = 0.0016), and 55-to-64-year-old (aOR = 1.85; 95 % aOR CI: 1.41, 2.42; P < 0.0001) age groups, those who are DHH were significantly more likely than their same-age hearing peers to report a high-risk number of ACEs. The findings for the 18-24 years and 65+ age groups were not statistically significant., Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the need for trauma-informed care and improved early intervention and ACEs screenings for the DHH population., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Orientation: South Africa’s employment equity agenda towards persons with disabilities requires more insight to develop polices and standards of practice. Research purpose: This study sought to inductively inquire about job characteristics that employees with hearing impairment (EwHIs) experience as job demands. Motivation for the study: Scholarly research regarding job demands experienced by EwHIs is underrepresented in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and specifically on the African continent. Therefore, this study aimed to address this gap in literature within the South African context. Research approach/design and method: An exploratory, qualitative research approach was used. Social constructivism served as the paradigm. The approach was complemented by a descriptive phenomenological design aimed at deeply understanding the job demands of EwHIs within South Africa Purposive sampling was used to identify 14 respondents. Data were collected by using open-ended deaf-accessible questionnaires. Inductive qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. Main findings: Communication demands and environmental stimuli demands emerged as unique job demands experienced by EwHIs. These job demands were not previously listed in the literature. Practical/managerial implications: The findings of this study have implications for policy, practice and decision-making. The implications relate to overcoming communication and task barriers as well as minimising task orientation variance experienced by EwHIs. Contribution/value-add: Unlisted themes of job demands that apply to EwHIs in South Africa were discovered. The improved understanding of these job demands contributes to the body of knowledge on both the theory of job demands and managing the work environments of EwHIs.

Learners with hearing loss tend to learn visually. It attracted a teacher of hard-of-hearing (HH) students in a special needs school to implement multimodality that integrated all verbal and visual semiotic modes and used ICT in her English classroom. The study aims to explore the students’ perceptions of multimodal English learning. The interview of the two females and one male participant individually. In addition to the data gained from the interview, students' diaries were also analyzed based on themes that emerged from the codes and categories. The data were triangulated by checking the interviews with the diaries and confirming with the teacher and the students' parents. The findings of the study revealed both positive and negative perceptions emerged. The students perceived ICT-based multimodal learning positively to help them learn new vocabularies and understand a story quickly, increase their motivation to learn, improve their engagement, and make them able to learn autonomously. Meanwhile, they perceived the EFL learning negatively so that it took much time to learn all of the materials. Also, the students felt unconfident in performing activities. Therefore, it is recommended for HH teachers to provide more significant assistance, time, and patience to successfully support students in learning English.

In the Western world, for deaf and hard-of-hearing children, hearing aids or cochlear implants are available to provide access to sound, with the overall goal of increasing their wellbeing. If and how this goal is achieved becomes increasingly multifarious when these children reach adolescence and young adulthood and start to participate in society in other ways. An approach to wellbeing that includes personal differences and the relative advantages and disadvantages that people have, is the capability approach, as developed by Nobel Prize laureate Amartya Sen. Capability is the set of real opportunities people have to do and be things they have reason to value. We interviewed 59 young people, aged 13 through 25, with cochlear implants (37) or hearing aids (22) to capture their capability. We found that their hearing devices enabled them to actively participate in a predominantly hearing society, with few differences between cochlear implant and hearing aid recipients. They did, however, report challenges associated with prejudices and expectations, and with feeling poorly understood, all of which appeared to impact their capability. Through the lens of capability, alleged differences between hearing aid and cochlear implant recipients began to fade. We discuss the implications for initiatives focused on the long-term support young recipients of hearing devices to meet their specific requirements over time.

Despite the increased technical accessibility of social media, disabled users' attempts to be socially included are still understudied. These users' agency-based choices are impacted by constant able-bodied surveillance and disciplining, especially when it comes to dis/ability visibility and potential context collapse. This paper develops the concept of disability performance within social media studies, presenting a qualitative study of social media users with concealable communicative disabilities: autistics, hard-of-hearing and people who stutter. Four factors were found to shape users' dis/ability performances: the use of social media interfaces for the compartmentalization of disabled identity; users' continuous efforts to make their social environment inclusionary; the centrality of users' disabled identity and intersectionality; and the design of the performance's message. Together, these show disability performances to be deliberate expressions of agency on the part of vulnerable social media users, who perform dis/ability according to their own evaluation of authenticity to increase their social inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wanka adapted this procedure for 13 participants with CHARGE Syndrome, among which Janosch was the most representative. The findings indicated that Janosch did not associate his core identity with CHARGE syndrome, but gives more relevance to other areas of significance in his life, such as animals and to the community to which he belongs. Many syndromes can lead to deafblindness, CHARGE syndrome being the most common for congenital deafblindness, and different types of USHER syndrome for acquired deafblindness (Regenbogen and Coscas, [7]). Keywords: deafblindness; dual sensory impairment; education; rehabilitation; low vision; hard-of-hearing EN deafblindness dual sensory impairment education rehabilitation low vision hard-of-hearing 1 4 4 12/13/21 20211209 NES 211209 Dual sensory loss, also known as deafblindness, affects individuals at every developmental stage and age. [Extracted from the article]

This study examined knowledge sharing and problem solving in teams that included teammates who were deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). Eighteen teams of four students were comprised of either all deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), all hearing, or two DHH and two hearing postsecondary students who participated in group problem-solving. Successful problem solution, recall, and recognition of knowledge shared by team members were assessed. Hearing teams shared the most team knowledge and achieved the most complete problem solutions, followed by the mixed DHH/hearing teams. DHH teams did not perform as well as the other two types of teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hearing loss is highly prevalent in older adults, particularly among those living with dementia and residing in long-term care homes (LTCHs). Sensory declines can have deleterious effects on functioning and contribute to frailty, but the hearing needs of residents are often unrecognized or unaddressed.Objective: To identify valid and reliable screening measures that are effective for the identification of hearing loss and are suitable for use by nursing staff providing care to residents with dementia in LTCHs.Methods: Electronic databases (Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, CENTRAL, and CINAHL) were searched using comprehensive search strategies, and a stepwise approach based on Arksey & O'Malley's scoping review and appraisal process was followed.Results: There were 193 scientific papers included in the review. Pure-tone audiometry was the most frequently reported measure to test hearing in older adults living with dementia. However, measures including self- or other-reports and questionnaires, review of medical records, otoscopy, and the whisper test were found to be most suitable for use by nurses working with older adults living with dementia in LTCHs.Conclusion: Although frequently used, the suitability of pure-tone audiometry for use by nursing staff in LTCHs is limited, as standardized audiometry presents challenges for many residents, and specific training is needed to successfully adapt test administration procedures and interpret results. The whisper test was considered to be more suitable for use by staff in LTCH; however, it yields a limited characterization of hearing loss. There remains an urgent need to develop new approaches to screen hearing in LTCHs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In academic writing about disability, the impetus is typically used to subvert society's ableist structures and challenge misconceptions and misunderstanding around disability. However, due to the world-wide spread of COVID-19 and the restrictions put in place to reduce the virus's impact, such as asking people to wear masks in public places and the closing of universities and moving to entirely online learning, the author, who is deaf, found herself vulnerable and confronting a lack of access due to these measures. This reflexive paper will investigate how the pandemic and its effects forced the author to reconsider her ownership of her deafness. It will add to a growing body of autoethnographic disability research by contributing another facet to understandings around disability and self as they are actualized in the midst of the pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The State-Federal Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Program provides rehabilitation services to people with disabilities with the intention of assisting them in securing competitive employment. The VR services offer substantial resources to help individuals who are hard-of-hearing to enhance their quality of life and employment opportunities. OBJECTIVE: The current study investigated the impact of demographic variables and the use of VR services on employment outcomes among hard-of-hearing consumers. Specific VR services that lead to successful employment among hard-of-hearing consumers were thoroughly examined. METHODS: Binary logistic regression, Chi-square, and Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector analyses were used to analyze the data extracted from the 2014 fiscal year US. Department of Education Rehabilitation Service Administration Case Service Report (RSA-911). RESULTS: Logistic regression reveals that VR services such as diagnosis and treatment of impairments (p-value 0.000), counseling, and guidance (p-value 0.000), and rehabilitation technology (p-value 0.000) were influential factors in determining the successful employment outcome among the consumers. The relative importance of the factors based on the mean decrease in accuracy in CHAID identifies rehabilitation technology (0.264), diagnosis and treatment of impairments (0.090), job placement assistance (0.016), transportation (0.016), and secondary disability (0.010) to be among the most contributing factors. CONCLUSION: Overall, rehabilitation technology services were especially beneficial, particularly for minority consumers, in achieving a successful employment outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slow speech-language development and reduced communication skills can affect weaker experiences in different activities. The aim of the research was to determine interests and aspirations for sports of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The sample consisted of 94 examinees, divided into two groups. The first group consisted of 47 deaf and hard-of-hearing students, and the second, control group, the same number of their hearing peers, both sexes, average age of 16 ± 1.27 years. The test used for research was Test for Interests and Aspirations of Students of 20 Assertions - Indicators of attitudes about participation and opportunities provided by eight different activities, of which sport is one of them. The obtained data were processed with descriptive analysis, and the differences between the groups tested with the t-test. Deaf and hard-of-hearing students recognize the importance of dealing with sports, but feel that they do not participate enough. The examinees without hearing impairments pleaded more favorably about participation in sport activities than examinees with hearing impairment, and the statistically significant difference was established. Statistically significant difference was not determined in the case of pleading about the possibilities provided by sport. Deaf and hard-of-hearing students believe that sport can have significant impact on better socialization, wherefore it is necessary to include these persons in sport activities at an early age.

The aim of the paper was to determine the perception of parental support and understanding by deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The sample consisted of 47 deaf and hard-of-hearing students, both genders, with an average age of 16 ± 1.27 years. Children's Perceptions of Parents Scale, (Grolnick, Ryan & Deci, 1991), which consists of three subscales, and which measure parental involvement, support of autonomy and parental warmth, especially for the mother, especially for the father was used in this research. The data were processed by descriptive analysis, and the t-test was used to test the mother's support perception difference in relation to father’s support perception. The results showed that deaf and hard-of-hearing students mostly positively perceived the parent involvement, support of autonomy and warmth of both parents, but a statistically significant difference in the individual perception of parents was found in favor of the mothers.

The article discusses the current state of sign language interpreting in Bulgaria. It analyzes a range of historical, social and professional issues regarding policymaking, sign language education and methodology. Presented here are three interrelated factors influencing the interpreting practice in the country such as limited knowledge about the linguistic status of Bulgarian Sign Language, traditions in Bulgarian deaf education and social attitude of the hearing majority regarding the linguistic skills of deaf and hard-of-hearing people.

Objective: To compare the epidemiology of concussion between athletes who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (D/HoH) and athletes who are hearing. Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Data were collected from 2 Division III athletic programs. One institution is the world's only university designed to be barrier-free for students who are D/HoH. Participants: Six hundred ninety-three athletes who are D/HoH and 1284 athletes who are hearing were included in this study. Athletes participated in collegiate athletics during the 2012 to 2013 through the 2016 to 2017 academic years. Interventions: Concussion data were provided by the athletic training staff at each institution. Main outcome measures: Concussion counts, concussion rate, and injury rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results: Thirty athletes who are D/HoH and 104 athletes who are hearing suffered concussions. Athletes who are hearing had an increased injury rate compared with athletes who are D/HoH for all sports combined (IRR = 1.87, 95% CI, 1.26-2.78). Football athletes who are hearing also had an increased injury rate compared with football athletes who are D/HoH (IRR = 3.30, 95% CI, 1.71-6.37). Concussion rate was higher for male athletes who are hearing than male athletes who are D/HoH (IRR = 2.84, 95% CI, 1.62-4.97). No other significant differences regarding concussion risk were identified. Conclusions: Athletes who are D/HoH in sex-comparable sports may not have a higher rate of concussion than athletes who are hearing. Rate of concussion in football may be greater among athletes who are hearing compared with athletes who are D/HoH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the current endeavors by the government in Bahrain to promote inclusion of students with special educational needs, the perceptions of deaf and hard-of-hearing students’ inclusion is yet to be examined in the art or design classroom. The research involves a thematic analysis of the challenges and opportunities of inclusive education in art and design higher educational settings, and investigates the perceptions of educators, parents, and students of it. It mainly aims to provide guidelines and recommendations for the implementation of the most effective teaching approaches in art and design higher education for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Bahrain. The study involves two stages; the first involved conducting semi-structured interviews with parents and the second stage was based upon interviews and focus groups with deaf and hard-of-hearing students enrolled in the BA Art and Design program at the University of Bahrain. The study is undertaken to determine the most effective strategies, pedagogies and approaches that can be employed by educators to enhance deaf and hard-of-hearing students’ learning process. It mainly concludes that segregating deaf and hard-of-hearing students in self-contained classrooms for theory-based courses and customizing the theoretical content to suit their linguistic capabilities will maximize their educational attainment.

Services for families of young children with low-incidence disabilities (e.g. deaf/hard-of-hearing, DHH) are expensive to deliver and may not be available in all geographic regions. Parents of children who are DHH may be taught and coached to implement strategies to encourage communication. The purpose of this single-case multiple-baseline design study was to implement and assess telepractice teaching and coaching of a parent whose child is hard-of-hearing. The parent was taught to implement naturalistic teaching strategies for communication using the Parent-implemented Communication Strategies (PiCS) protocols (Meadan, H., Angell, M. E., Stoner, J. B., & Daczewitz, M. E. (2014). Parent-implemented social-pragmatic communication intervention: A pilot study. Focus on Autism and other Developmental Disabilities, 29, 1–16. doi:). Results varied across strategies, and the parent expressed satisfaction with the goals, procedures, and outcomes of the intervention. Implications include recommendations for practitioners and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research found a beneficial effect of augmentative signs (signs from a sign language used alongside speech) on spoken word learning by signing deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. The present study compared oral DHH children, and hearing children in a condition with babble noise in order to investigate whether prolonged experience with limited auditory access is required for a sign effect to occur. Nine- to 11-year-old children participated in a word learning task in which half of the words were presented with an augmentative sign. Non-signing DHH children (N = 19) were trained in normal sound, whereas a control group of hearing peers (N = 38) were trained in multi-speaker babble noise. The researchers also measured verbal short-term memory (STM). For the DHH children, there was a sign effect on speed of spoken word recognition, but not accuracy, and no interaction between the sign effect in reaction times and verbal STM. The hearing children showed no sign effect for either speed or accuracy. These results suggest that not necessarily sign language knowledge, but rather prolonged experience with limited auditory access is required for children to benefit from signs for spoken word learning regardless of children's verbal STM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined potential influences of childhood rehabilitation and over-normalization on coping with disability in adulthood. A total of 88 deaf and hard-of-hearing students were interviewed retrospectively about their childhood and completed self-report questionnaires assessing psychological environment-directedness and present emotional and behavioral coping with deafness. It was partially supported that over-normative parental attitude negatively affected coping with deafness through the mediation of elevated environment-directedness. Intensity of childhood rehabilitation was not found to affect adulthood coping with deafness. However, post-hoc analyses supported this mediation path when rehabilitation had been intensive yet not prolonged. Alleviating changes in the perception and practice of rehabilitation are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most standardized reading assessments used with deaf and hard‐of‐hearing (d/Dhh) students do not accommodate their frequent lack of spoken language fluency. Such tests are rarely normed on d/Dhh individuals and do not adjust for potentially biased test items. Yet, accurate and valid measures of reading skills are essential for making appropriate instructional and programmatic decisions. The miscue analysis procedure is an individualized reading assessment using an authentic reading experience with systematic procedures for evaluating a reader's meaning‐making processes. It has been used successfully with struggling, successful, bilingual, and diverse hearing readers to identify distinctive skill patterns. Its flexible and individualized procedures may lead to similar insights regarding the reading processes utilized by d/Dhh students. This manuscript describes adaptations of the reading miscue analysis for d/Dhh students who use spoken language, English‐based sign systems, or American Sign Language. Similar to running record procedures, the miscue analysis utilizes a comprehensive analytic process. In addition, each miscue is categorized across graphophonic/visual, semantic, and syntactic aspects of the reading process to identify unique meaning making patterns. This type of comprehensive and authentic assessment can lead to an improved understanding of the strengths and needs of d/Dhh students that result in improved achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper describes a reception study into subtitling music in subtitles for the d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing. The study makes use of a database of film fragments that were selected and tested for eliciting a specific emotion. The research involves two highly emotional clips from the database as well as one control clip. The three excerpts were shown to a control group of 26 hearing people. Then, three versions of subtitles were added to each clip – one with music description, another with the composition title and the name of the performer, and another one with no information on the music. Subsequently, the fragments were shown to a test group of 60 d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers divided into three groups. The participants reported on the emotions they felt by filling a Differential Emotions Scale questionnaire. For every emotion the clips were supposed to elicit, the results for each subtitling method are very similar to each other, suggesting that either method of subtitling music is equally effective in an emotional scene. Moreover, the emotion intensity the d/Deaf felt is also very close to the intensity experienced by the hard-of-hearing and the hearing control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Using advanced hearing amplification devices such as hearing aids and cochlear implants (CI) may have multiple effects on different aspects of life of individuals with hearing loss. The purpose of this study was to compare social skills in 6-9-year-old children with CI with those with hearing aids. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) and Test of Language Development (TOLD-3) were used to evaluate social behaviors and language development in 118 children with hearing impairment (58 with CI and 60 with hearing aids) in Shiraz, Iran. The collected data were analyzed using MANCOVA. Results: By controlling the language development level, the results showed a significant difference between the two groups in terms of social skills (P < 0.001). Children with CI showed more appropriate social skills (P < 0.001) and lower aggression (P < 0.001), but more difficulties in peer relationships than those with hearing aids (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Children with CI experience more problems in peer relationships, and educational and treatment interventions are necessary in this regard.