Valid assessment of writing and access to academic discourse

One way to improve students' access to and retention in post-secondary degree progams is to assess their readiness for such programs accurately. To place deaf and hard-of-hearing students in preparatory courses and to determine their readiness for degree programs more accurately, a direct measure of writing was developed for deaf and hard-of-hearing students at a large technical university. The purpose of this study was to estimate the concurrent and predictive validity of this measure. The Test of Written English (Educational Testing Service, 1992) served as the criterion in the concurrent validity study, and student success in the university's gateway freshman composition course served as the criterion in the predictive validity study. Results provide evidence of the concurrent and predictive validity of the measure, supporting its use for course placement and early planning purposes.     

Large-scale academic achievement testing of deaf and hard-of-hearing students: past, present, and future

The first large-scale, nationwide academic achievement testing program using Stanford Achievement Test (Stanford) for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the United States started in 1969. Over the past three decades, the Stanford has served as a benchmark in the field of deaf education for assessing student academic achievement. However, the validity and reliability of using the Stanford for this special student population still require extensive scrutiny. Recent shifts in educational policy environment, which require that schools enable all children to achieve proficiency through accountability testing, warrants a close examination of the adequacy and relevance of the current large-scale testing of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. This study has three objectives: (a) it will summarize the historical data over the last three decades to indicate trends in academic achievement for this special population, (b) it will analyze the current federal laws and regulations related to educational testing and special education, thereby identifying gaps between policy and practice in the field, especially identifying the limitations of current testing programs in assessing what deaf and hard-of-hearing students know, and (c) it will offer some insights and suggestions for future testing programs for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.     

The relative difficulty of signed arithmetic story problems for primary level deaf and hard-of-hearing students

This study determines the relative difficulty and associated strategy use of arithmetic (addition and subtraction) story problems when presented in American Sign Language to primary level (K-3) deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Results showed that deaf and hard-of-hearing students may consider and respond to arithmetic story problems differently than their hearing peers, with the critical dimension in problem difficulty being based on the operation typically used to solve the problem, not the story within the problem. The types of strategies used by the students supported the order of problem difficulty. The visual-spatial nature of the problem presentation appeared not to assist the deaf and hard-of-hearing students in solving the problems. Factors that may have contributed to this pattern of problem difficulty are discussed so that educators can better align mathematics instruction to the thinking of the deaf child.     

Math in motion: origami math for students who are deaf and hard of hearing

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.     

听障学生计算机编程语言教学设计与实践

利用机器人仿真技术,探索在特殊教育领域中现代教育技术、信息技术在高等聋教育中的应用。利用图、文、做一体的简便方式,进行针对听障学生计算机编程语言教学的设计与实践。探索解决听障学生计算机编程语言学习"入门难"的问题的方法和手段,使他们对学习编程建立信心。用这种方法作为学习编程语言的"入门"的途径,改变枯燥的指令讲解。     

Deaf and hard-of-hearing adolescents’ experiences of inclusion and exclusion in mainstream and special schools in Sweden

This study examines the question of which school environment – special or mainstream school – is more favourable for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Sweden, when it comes to their well-being, and their social and academic inclusion. The aim is threefold: first to compare the well-being of adolescents who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and have additional disabilities, and who have no disabilities; second to compare the adolescents from the two deaf and hard-of-hearing groups and their experiences of inclusion and exclusion in school; and third to ascertain if any gender differences exist between the two groups of deaf and hard-of-hearing students concerning their experiences of inclusion and exclusion. A total of 7865 adolescents (13–18 years of age) answered a total survey about the life and health of young people in a county in Sweden. The results show that both boys and girls in the hard-of-hearing groups rated their well-being lower and were less satisfied with their lives than pupils without disabilities. They also show that the hard-of-hearing boys and girls attending special school were more satisfied with their lives and to a greater extent felt included both socially and academically than students in mainstream school.     

Assessing the writing of deaf college students: reevaluating a direct assessment of writing

The NTID Writing Test was developed to assess the writing ability of postsecondary deaf students entering the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and to determine their appropriate placement into developmental writing courses. While previous research (Albertini et al., 1986; Albertini et al., 1996; Bochner, Albertini, Samar, & Metz, 1992) has shown the test to be reliable between multiple test raters and as a valid measure of writing ability for placement into these courses, changes in curriculum and the rater pool necessitated a new look at interrater reliability and concurrent validity. We evaluated the rating scores for 236 samples from students who entered the college during the fall 2001. Using a multiprong approach, we confirmed the interrater reliability and the validity of this direct measure of assessment. The implications of continued use of this and similar tests in light of definitions of validity, local control, and the nature of writing are discussed.     

An investigation of two-way text messaging use with deaf students at the secondary level

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students are often delayed in developing their independent living skills because of parental restrictions on activities outside the home due to worries about their child's inability to communicate, their whereabouts, and their general safety. Recent accounts of the use of two-way text messagers suggests that, like electronic mail, distance communication problems that have long plagued deaf people may be ameliorated--by the use of such technology (M. R. Power & D. Power, 2004; S. S. Rhone & Cox News Service, 2002). This project was designed as an initial foray into investigating the use of two-way text messaging technology as a way of increasing the independence of deaf adolescents and reducing their parents' anxiety about their safety and responsibility. All the deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the deaf and hard-of-hearing programs at two urban high schools (ages 13-19), the staff of the deaf departments at these two schools, and the parents/guardians of the students participated in this study. Preuse surveys, postuse surveys, and monthly statistics on the number of times each pager was used enabled us to chart how often the participants used the technology. The data were used to identify concerns that parents have about student independence and safety, the extent to which deaf students engage in independent activities, and expectations surrounding how two-way text messaging use might increase independence and literacy skills. The data collected on this project to date confirm that two-way text messaging technology is indeed useful for deaf adolescents and helps alleviate some of the concerns that have kept them from developing independence as quickly or readily as their hearing peers. The potential policy implications for this research are discussed.     

Using balanced and interactive writing instruction to improve the higher order and lower order writing skills of deaf students

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.     

The Stanford Achievement Test, 9th Edition: National Norming and Performance Standards for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students

This article presents a rich context of information for interpreting Stanford Achievement Test scores and for describing the achievement of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The publisher's national norming of the Stanford Achievement Test provides a context of actual performance of hearing students. The publisher's Performance Standards provide a context of expectations for hearing students as determined by a panel of experts. The Gallaudet Research Institute's norming of the test on a national sample of deaf and hard-of-hearing students provides a context of test performance by this special population. A smaller subsample of the deaf and hard-of-hearing students who take the same test levels as hearing students provides an additional reference group with respect to the Performance Standards. Information from these sources is brought together into two graphical contexts to address these questions: Can the normative data from the publisher's national standardization of the test with hearing students, and the normative data from the GRI's national norming of the test with deaf and hard-of-hearing students provide a useful context for the interpretation of individual test scores? Can they provide a useful way to examine achievement of groups of students? Can the new Performance Standards defined by the test publisher offer a useful context for test score interpretation for high-achieving deaf and hard-of-hearing students?     

Vocabulary Assessment of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children From Infancy Through the Preschool Years

The purpose of this article is to inform researchers and practitioners about potential challenges in the selection, administration, and interpretation of results of measures of vocabulary assessment when working with deaf and hard-of-hearing children. This article reviews methods that can be used to assess vocabulary of children through the age of 5 years, including naturalistic observation, parent report measures, and standardized vocabulary tests. The authors also describe procedures to assess word-learning processes available to children to facilitate vocabulary acquisition. General cautions regarding the use of assessment tools with deaf and hard-of-hearing children are reviewed, as well as cautions for specific assessment measures. Finally, based on available research, suggestions are offered regarding what each assessment test can tell us about deaf and hard-of-hearing children's vocabulary development.     

When parents are deaf versus hard of hearing: patterns of sign use and school placement of deaf and hard-of-hearing children

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.     

Written language of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in public schools

We obtained data on the writing of 110 deaf or hard-of-hearing students attending public schools who completed the spontaneous writing portion of the Test of Written Language. The average written quotient for the sample was in the below-average range but within 1 standard deviation of the test mean. Forty-nine percent of the sample received written quotients within or above the average range. Mean scores for the three subtests of contextual conventions, contextual language, and story construction were within the low-average range; between 55% and 68% of students scored within the average or above-average range for the subtests. Predictors of writing quotients were eligibility for free lunch, grade, degree of hearing loss and gender; however, only 18% of the variance in total writing quotients was explained by these variables. The data indicate that attention needs to be paid to the writing ability and instruction of many public-school students regardless of degree of hearing loss.     

The Characteristics and Extent of Participation of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in Regular Classes in Australian Schools

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.     

职高聋生文言文教学探索

从心理需求上来说,职高聋生也希望能学些篇幅短小精悍的古诗文名篇。职高聋生学习古诗文名篇有助于丰富他们的语言材料、提高他们的语文素养,但由于听力障碍,聋生文言文的学习难以达到新课标的要求。笔者认为聋校语文教师在进行文言文教学时要制定一个适合聋生实际的目标,并通过恰当的教学措施予以关注与指导。     

Improving DHH students' grammar through an individualized software program

The purpose of this study was to determine if the frequent use of a targeted, computer software grammar instruction program, used as an individualized classroom activity, would influence the comprehension of morphosyntax structures (determiners, tense, and complementizers) in deaf/hard-of-hearing (DHH) participants who use American Sign Language (ASL). Twenty-six students from an urban day school for the deaf participated in this study. Two hierarchical linear modeling growth curve analyses showed that the influence of LanguageLinks: Syntax Assessment and Intervention (LL) resulted in statistically significant gains in participants' comprehension of morphosyntax structures. Two dependent t tests revealed statistically significant results between the pre- and postintervention assessments on the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation-Norm Referenced. The daily use of LL increased the morphosyntax comprehension of the participants in this study and may be a promising practice for DHH students who use ASL.     

Considerations in educating deaf and hard-of-hearing students in inclusive settings

This article provides an overview of key issues pertinent to an inclusive approach to the education of deaf students in order to establish a context for interpreting and integrating the articles in this issue. It discusses definitions of inclusion, integration, and mainstreaming from placement-related, philosophical, and pragmatic perspectives. The article provides demographic information pertinent to an inclusive approach. It also compares perspectives on inclusion in the general field of special education with those in the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. It considers the challenges of using an inclusive approach to achieve academic and social integration of students, as based on research on the learning and adjustment of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in regular classes. The article concludes with an overview of the topics addressed in the issue.     

Transition for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students: A Blueprint for Change

The large and growing number of deaf and hard-of-hearing adults who are "low-functioning deaf" (LFD), the unmet needs of many young people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and the continuing high rates of dropping out argue for a change in secondary programming for multiply disabled deaf and hard-of-hearing students and for others who are at risk of becoming LFD as adults. The LFD designation refers to youth and adults who read at very low levels, whether or not they have a second disability in addition to hearing impairment. This article reviews research related to transition for adolescents with disabilities as well as those who are deaf or hard of hearing. It then offers a case for change, one that, for the United States, represents a poignant return to a time past.     

Kitchen notes, 'the grapevine', and other writing in childhood

In semistructured interviews, 20 men and 20 women (10 deaf and 10 hearing) between the ages of 18 and 28 recalled instances of instrumental, social, and expressive writing from their childhood. In contrast to earlier research, we found that instrumental writing occurred as frequently between deaf children and their hearing parents as between deaf children and their deaf parents and that all homes with a deaf family member had telecommunication devices for the deaf(TTYs). Whereas all respondents engaged in some form of social writing, deaf respondents did less personal or expressive writing than their hearing peers. Implications for literacy instruction and further research are that (a) teachers should take advantage of the writing experience that students bring to the classroom, (b) writing should be used as a tool for learning and classroom communication, and (c) the effects of experience, genre, school setting, and technology on the writing of deaf students should be examined.     

The criterion-related validity of the WISC-R performance scale and other nonverbal IQ tests for deaf children

Despite the popularity of nonverbal IQ tests for psychoeducational assessment of deaf children, criterion-related validity is lacking. This may be because nonverbal IQ tests lack criterion-related validity, or because inappropriate scaling attenuates IQ achievement correlations. Two studies used samples of deaf children to test these hypotheses. The first study (N = 33) correlated WISC-R PIQs with Stanford Achievement Test-Hearing Impaired Edition (SAT-HI) grade equivalents and age-based percentiles (rs less than .37, NS). The second study (N = 64) correlated nonverbal IQs from many tests with SAT-HI scores (rs .05 to .42). The results implicate the hypothesis that criterion scale affects IQ-achievement correlations. The role of nonverbal IQ in the psychoeducational assessment of deaf children is discussed.