Thomas E. Allen

Deaf Students and Their Classroom Communication: An Evaluation of Higher Order Categorical Interactions Among School and Background Characteristics

This article investigated to what extent age, use of a cochlear implant, parental hearing status, and use of sign in the home determine language of instruction for profoundly deaf children. Categorical data from 8,325 profoundly deaf students from the 2008 Annual Survey of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children and Youth were analyzed using chi-square automated interaction detector, a stepwise analytic procedure that allows the assessment of higher order interactions among categorical variables. Results indicated that all characteristics were significantly related to classroom communication modality. Although younger and older students demonstrated a different distribution of communication modality, for both younger and older students, cochlear implantation had the greatest effect on differentiating students into communication modalities, yielding greater gains in the speech-only category for implanted students. For all subgroups defined by age and implantation status, the use of sign at home further segregated the sample into communication modality subgroups, reducing the likelihood of speech only and increasing the placement of students into signing classroom settings. Implications for future research in the field of deaf education are discussed.

The effects of schools and their curricula on the reading and mathematics achievement of hearing impaired students

Abstract This paper reports the result of a national study of achievement patterns of hearing impaired students. Data were collected by Gallaudet Universitys Center for Assessment and Demographic Studies during its 1983 norming of the Stanford Achievement Test with a sample of approximately 8,000 hearing impaired students. Teachers of a randomly selected subsample of over 2,000 students in both special schools and mainstream programs responded to specific questions regarding school and curricula. Factors examined in this study include time spent on learning tasks, reading and mathematics curricula content exposure, grade placement relative to other hearing impaired students of the same age, and classroom integration with hearing students. Multiple regression analysis, controlling for fixed demographic factors, demonstrates the relative contributions of these alterable factors to the prediction of achievement. Results indicate the overall importance of classroom factors, as well as some diminishing returns. Observed interactions for some factors indicate differential effects on population subgroups.

A Reply to Kishor: Choosing the Right Metric

Kishor (this issue) claims that the Stanford Achievement Test normed on deaf children (SAT-d) scaled scores offer the best metric for estimating IQ-Achievement correlations in samples of deaf children. We argue that he is partly right and mainly wrong. We agree with Kishor that SAT-d grade equivalents are inappropriate, although we could not replicate his results. However, Kishors simulations are logically and empirically flawed and, therefore, cannot address the relative value of SAT-d metrics. More appropriate simulations show (a) that in homogeneous age samples, all SAT-d metrics yield similar results, and (b) in heterogeneous age samples, age-referenced scores are superior to scaled scores and grade equivalents for estimating “true” IQ-Achievement correlations. Our results suggest two practical implications: (1) researchers should use age-based percentiles for achievement if they also use age-referenced IQs, and (b) available studies underestimate IQ-Achievement correlations in samples of deaf children.

Measures of General Cognitive Functioning

This chapter presents the data related to intellectual and executive functioning (EF) for the VL2 Psychometric Toolkit Project. The data were generated using a brief estimate of cognitive functioning using a nonverbal measure, the Matrices subtest of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, 2nd Edition (K-BIT), and three measures of EF, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-64 Card Version, Towers of Hanoi, and Tower of London, for a sample of deaf college students evaluated as part of the VL2 Psychometric Toolkit. In addition to providing descriptive statistics, correlations with measures of visuospatial, memory, and linguistic functioning and academic achievement administered concurrently as part of the VL2 Toolkit are presented. The relationships observed are discussed in the context of both research in the general population and, when available, previous research with deaf individuals.

Underlying Neurocognitive and Achievement Factors and Their Relationship to Student Background Characteristics

This chapter presents additional analyses investigating the underlying factors represented in the assessments performed for the VL2 Psychometric Toolkit as well as the relationships between these factors and background characteristics of the sample of deaf college students evaluated for the study. Ten factors were generated using a Principal Components Factor Analysis with Varimax rotation. The factors and the measures which load on them are discussed. Additionally, MANOVAs were performed to investigate relationships between a set of background variables and the first four factors produced in the above analysis. The resulting data are discussed as are the potential translational applications of the data generated by the VL2 Psychometric Toolkit Project.

The VL2 Toolkit Psychometric Study: Summary of Procedures and Description of Sample Characteristics

This chapter presents the development of the VL2 Psychometric Toolkit protocol, including the types of measures (standard, adapted, or developed for the project), the division of the tests into multiple assessment sessions, and the sequencing and counterbalancing of the measures. Sample recruitment, approaches to scoring of measures, and development of the database are described. The Background Questionnaire is introduced and the resulting sample characteristics in the areas of demographics, deafness-related factors, parental characteristics, linguistic practices, and educational history are presented. The similarities and differences between the sample evaluated for the project and the available national data concerning these factors are discussed, as are the implications for the generalizability of the results of the project. The benefits of the Toolkit data representing this unique sample of more severely to profoundly deaf individuals who report American Sign Language as their primary mode of communication for purposes of this project are presented.

The “Toolkit Project”: Introduction

This chapter presents the rational for the establishment of the VL2 Psychometric Toolkit, beginning with a brief history of psychometric testing with deaf individuals and the complexities of using psychometric instruments with this population. The chapter explains the goal of developing a set of achievement, cognitive, and language instruments which could be administered to a sample of deaf individuals as a set, rather than piecemeal, allowing for investigation of relationships among the areas of skill and functioning. Legal and ethical reasons that such investigations are need are reviewed, as is the unique nature of the relationship between literacy and cognitive functioning in this population. The cognitive and achievement constructs and the assessments used to evaluate them are introduced. This chapter functions as a brief introduction to the overall VL2 Psychometric Toolkit Project and its goal of providing information for a wide range of consumers, including researchers, clinicians, and students in many fields, concerning cognitive functioning, learning, and academic achievement, and the interactions among these parameters, in signing deaf individuals.

Test-Response Variations Between Hearing-Impaired and Hearing Students

A sample of 508 hearing-impaired students were administered a language-arts achievement test containing 25 items drawn from a computerized item bank developed with hearing students. A Rasch analysis was performed to determine if the item responses of the hearing-impaired students were comparable to those of the hearing students. Also, an analysis was undertaken to determine whether selected demographic and deafness-related characteristics could account for differencs in item-response patterns between hearing-impaired students and hearing students with similar raw scores. Results showed that the items did not form an adequate Rasch-based test. Furthermore, the difficulty order of the items differed in the hearing and hearing-impaired calibrations. The analysis of item-response patterns revealed no differences between subgroups of the sample. The article discusses the comparability of test scores and the use of test-score information by educators of the hearing impaired.

Exploring Hispanic parents’ beliefs and attitudes about deaf education

ABSTRACT Beliefs about disability play an enormous role in shaping parents’ decisions about the education of their children with disabilities. Using the Beliefs and Attitudes about Deaf Education Scale, we examine attitudinal differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic parents. We hypothesize that perceptions of disability among Hispanic parents orient their attitudes about deaf education more towards a medical rather than a cultural model when compared to non-Hispanic parents. Our analysis confirms our hypothesis. We posit that this orientation may influence the educational choices that Hispanic parents make for their children, and subsequently, their educational outcomes.

Measures of Visuospatial Ability

This chapter presents the data related to a visuospatial functioning for the VL2 Psychometric Toolkit Project. The data were generated from a measure of visuospatial memory, the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), and a mental rotation task, for a sample of deaf college students evaluated as part of the VL2 Psychometric Toolkit. In addition to providing descriptive statistics, correlations with a brief measure of nonverbal intelligence and measures of executive, memory, and linguistic functioning, and academic achievement administered concurrently as part of the VL2 Toolkit are presented. The relationships observed are discussed in the context of both research in the general population and, when available, previous research with deaf individuals.