Deaf and hard of hearing students' performance on arithmetic word problems

There has been limited research into the intersection of language and arithmetic performance of students who are deaf or hard of hearing, although previous research has shown that many of these students are delayed in both language acquisition and arithmetic performance. The researchers examined the performance on arithmetic word problems of deaf and hard of hearing students in the South-East Queensland region of Australia; they also examined these students' problem-solving strategies. It was found that performance on word problems was similar for deaf and hearing students, but that deaf students experienced delays in achieving successful performance on word problems relative to their hearing peers. The results confirm the findings of other studies showing that students who are deaf or hard of hearing experience delayed language acquisition, which affects their capacity to solve arithmetic word problems. The study conclusions stress the need for greater use of direct teaching of analytic and strategic approaches to arithmetic word problems.     

Deaf college students' comprehension of relational language in arithmetic compare problems

In this study of deaf college students' performance solving compare word problems, relational statements were either consistent or inconsistent with the arithmetic operation required for the solutions. The results support the consistency hypothesis Lewis and Mayer (1987) proposed based on research with hearing students. That is, deaf students were more likely to miscomprehend a relational statement and commit a reversal error when the required arithmetic operation was inconsistent with the statement's relational term (e.g., having to add when the relational term was less than). Also, the reversal error effect with inconsistent word problems was magnified when the relational statement was a marked term (e.g., a negative adjective such as less than) rather than an unmarked term (e.g., a positive adjective such as more than). Reading ability levels of deaf students influenced their performance in a number of ways. As predicted, there was a decrease in goal-monitoring errors, multiple errors, and the number of problems left blank as the reading levels of students increased. Contrary to expectations, higher reading skills did not affect the frequency of reversal errors.     

Deaf children's use of cognitive strategies in simple arithmetic problems

Research shows that deaf children have inferior achievement in simple arithmetic compared to their hearing agemates. The reported study investigates whether the reasons for deaf children's poor achievement can be sought in their strategy development. As this is a central issue, the strategies used by deaf children when solving symbolic addition and subtraction problems are identified, classified and compared to findings from earlier research, involving both deaf and hearing children. The effect of Sign Language in strategy invention and use is the main concern in this study. One result from the present study is that structural aspects of Sign Language counting may influence deaf children's thinking in a way that does not lead to a developed conceptual knowledge base, but instead to refined procedural competence. This is a development in simple arithmetic that is compatible with that of less able hearing children. The counting procedures used by the deaf children involve both oral counting and Sign Language counting. Due to the small sample size, and the shortcomings of the research design, the results are more suggestive than conclusive. Thus, further studies are needed in this area.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

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.     

Deaf and hearing students' morphological knowledge applied to printed English

The study examined the ability of deaf and hearing students at the college and middle school levels to discern and apply knowledge of printed word morphology. There were 70 deaf and 58 hearing participants. A two-part paper-and-pencil test of morphological knowledge examined subjects' ability to (a) perceive segmentation of morphemes within printed words and (b) recognize meanings associated with various printed morphemes. The hearing college students performed best on every dependent measure of the two-part test. The deaf college students scored significantly lower than the hearing college students but similarly to the hearing middle school students. Deaf middle school students consistently scored the lowest on both parts of the test. While all students' performance declined as the difficulty of the morphemic content increased within both tasks, the decline was greatest among middle school deaf students. Although segmentation and semantic analysis skills necessary to morphographic decoding were apparent in the deaf students, their mastery levels fell significantly below those of the hearing subjects.     

The signed reading fluency of students who are deaf/hard of hearing

Reading fluency in deaf children whose primary mode of communication is visual, whether English-like or American Sign Language, is difficult to measure since most measures of fluency require a child to read aloud. This article opens the discussion of a new construct, namely, signed reading fluency (i.e., rendering of printed text in a visually fluent manner) in children with hearing loss whose primary means of expressive language includes some form of sign. Further, it describes the development of an assessment rubric to measure signed reading fluency. A comparison of fluency scores and scores on tests of vocabulary and text comprehension of 29 middle school students who attended a school for the deaf indicated that signed reading fluency, as defined and measured by this instrument, correlates highly both with word and passage comprehension.     

Comparing deaf and hearing college students' mental arithmetic calculations under two interference conditions

Deaf and hearing college students' mean reaction times (RTs) were compared on a mental calculation task in which they had to verify the accuracy of solutions to addition and multiplication problems. The deaf students were divided into higher and lower readers. Higher deaf readers and hearing students had similar RTs and accuracy on addition problems; their RTs were greater in the voicing interference mode than in the manual tapping interference mode. The lower deaf readers showed no RT differences between the two interference modes and had consistently lower RT performance and score accuracy across the verification tasks. On the verification task for multiplication problems, all participants showed a greater RT effect for manual tapping. The lower deaf readers were significantly less accurate on multiplication problems.     

Deaf and hard of hearing children and adolescents in China: their fears and anxieties

The study examined the fears and anxieties of Chinese deaf and hard of hearing children and adolescents, and the ability of parents and teachers to report the presence of these fears and anxieties. Chinese deaf youth are at risk due to a lack of trained teachers, an overemphasis on oral education in schools, negative stereotypes, and parental overprotectiveness. The deaf children and adolescents in the study reported significantly higher levels of total fears, total anxieties, fear of the unknown, fear of injury and small animals, fear of medical procedures, and concentration anxiety than their hearing counterparts. Girls reported more total fears, fear of the unknown, fear of minor injury and small animals, and fear of failure and criticism than boys. Parents showed a better ability than teachers to confirm these reports of fears and anxieties. Implications and directions for future studies are presented.     

Reread-adapt and answer-comprehend intervention with Deaf and hard of hearing readers: effect on fluency and reading achievement

The researchers investigated the effect of the Reread-Adapt and Answer-Comprehend intervention (Therrien, Gormley, & Kubina, 2006) on the reading fluency and achievement of d/Deaf and hard of hearing elementary-level students. Children in the third, fifth, and sixth grades at a state school for d/Deaf and hard of hearing students received a fluency intervention that was supplemental to their regular reading instruction. Significant improvement was found on a generalized measure of reading fluency after intervention. Though the researchers found no significant improvement in performance on a generalized measure of comprehension after intervention, the students demonstrated consistently good comprehension on both literal and inferential questions during the intervention sessions. The findings support the importance of incorporating a comprehension monitoring strategy in fluency instruction.     

Deaf and hard of hearing Americans' instant messaging and e-mail use: a national survey

An online survey of 884 deaf and hard of hearing adults asked about their current and past use of communication technologies, notably TTY, telecommunications relay services, e-mail, and instant messaging (IM). Results showed that respondents were using e-mail and IM far more than TTY and relay services. The study participants virtually all had e-mail and IM at home. In fact, about one quarter had a high-speed ("broadband") connection at home. While the vast majority also had and used e-mail at work, just 1 in 3 had IM at his or her place of employment. The findings have several implications. Most important for educators is that strong reading and writing skills are essential if adults who are deaf or hard of hearing are to take advantage of today's communications technologies. Another conclusion is that some workers who are deaf or hard of hearing appear to face discrimination in employment because office policies forbid the use of a highly effective reasonable accommodation, instant messaging.     

The effect of superfluous information on children's solution of story arithmetic problems

Forty 6- to 7-year-old children were tested with single-step, addition/subtraction story problems with and without superfluous numerical information. Half of the children were allowed to find out the solution using objects and half were given pen and paper. Fewer problems with superfluous information than those without such information were solved accurately. Less than half of the problems were attempted with spontaneous modelling with objects and rarely were pen and paper used. In many cases, the use of objects could not facilitate solution of problems with superfluous information thus suggesting that in these cases children's failure to solve the problems could not be explained just by an increase in the cognitive demand for selective attention to, and memory of, the relevant information.     

Solving story-based arithmetic problems: achievement of children with hearing impairment and their interpretation of meaning

This article considers how a sample of Norwegian school children, ages 6 through 10 with hearing impairment, master three different types of elementary arithmetic problems presented in a nonreading format. The article outlines the effect of task-specific factors on the level of difficulty, as well as the children's understanding of problem structures. The results showed that semantic structure of the problems affected the level of difficulty. The problems were not solved significantly better by students from grade 4 than students from grade 1. Qualitative analyses revealed that the children interpreted the meaning of the imposed problems in three different ways: (1) as numbers and procedures, (2) as take-away situations, and (3) as part-part-whole relations.     

The effect of language modification of mathematics story problems on problem-solving in online homework

Instructional Science - Students’ grasp of the non-mathematical language in a mathematics story problem—such as vocabulary and syntax—may have an important effect on their...     

Identification, assessment, and intervention strategies for deaf and hard of hearing students with learning disabilities

The purpose of the study was to ascertain methods of identification used by teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing who were working with students with learning disabilities, the training these teachers had received, and the accommodations and modifications they had implemented for their students. A 10-item survey was designed to solicit opinions and implementation procedures. Surveys went to teachers in a four-state region of the Midwest; 91 responded. Teachers indicated the use of various criteria to identify deaf and hard of hearing students with learning disabilities, and indicted that they incorporated a variety of accommodations to meet these students' needs. The survey showed that 50% of respondents did not feel adequately prepared to teach deaf and hard of hearing students with learning disabilities. Teachers expressed a desire for more training in identification, assessment, and intervention.     

Prevalence of socioemotional problems in deaf and hard of hearing children in Germany

The German version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used in a study to examine its usefulness in diagnosing socioemotional problems of deaf and hard of hearing children. The SDQ parent version was completed by 213 mothers and 213 fathers. The factor structure and reliability were tested, and the prevalence rate of socioemotional problems determined and compared to the German standardization sample. The statistical data were uniformly satisfactory; thus, the SDQ can serve as a valid yet economical screening procedure to identify endangered children at an early age, and to refer them to more exact diagnosis and subsequent advice and therapy. This is very important, as the prevalence of socioemotional problems in the sample of deaf and hard of hearing children was clearly greater for almost all scores, a result that is nearly identical with findings from many other recent studies.     

Deaf college students' reading comprehension and strategy use

Two comprehension studies were conducted with 46 deaf college students. In the first, 20 deaf college students representing higher and lower reading-ability levels were tested for correctly stating the main idea of a passage, answering content questions, indicating their understanding of the words and phrases, and recognizing a topically incongruent sentence embedded in the passage. The results suggest that deaf students profess a better understanding of what they read than they are able to demonstrate. The students' inability to identify a topically incongruent sentence in the passage further suggests a need for them to more carefully and accurately evaluate their understanding of what they are reading. A second study investigated the effect of strategy review instruction on deaf college students' comprehension of short reading passages. Students reading at a higher level showed improved comprehension on the posttraining passage, but students reading at a lower level did not. Similarly, the control group of deaf students comparable to the higher-level readers did not show improved comprehension.     

Three suggested teaching strategies for students who are deaf or hard of hearing

This paper addresses current issues in deaf education including poor academic progress and employment outcomes of individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) as well as provides suggestions for improving overall academic achievement of this population. Specifically, three instructional strategies are recommended for teachers: choral responding, response cards, and peer tutoring. These three strategies have been shown to increase active student responding in classrooms for children who are typically developing and children who have disabilities. For international deaf students in countries that may rely on volunteers who lack basic requisite skills these general education teaching strategies are easy to use even by novice teachers. Recommendations are tendered for how teachers can include these simple teaching strategies in classrooms serving students who are D/HH.