A-218 Development of an American Sign Language Cognitive Screening Measure for Deaf Adults

Abstract

Abstract Objective: The Deaf community in the United States is recognized as a unique linguistic and cultural minority group. However, there are almost no American Sign Language (ASL) cognitive screening measures for this population (Dean et al., 2009; Atkinson et al., 2015). This study approached the development of a valid and conceptually equivalent measure of cognitive functioning with the involvement of Deaf community support and feedback. Method: Measure development was conducted by a team of neuropsychologists and clinical psychology PhD students with expertise in ASL linguistics and Deaf culture. The formal linguistic development included two native Deaf signers, one Deaf Interpreter, and one Certified Deaf Interpreter. The measure was then administered to a pilot sample of 20, cognitively intact, Deaf adults (Age: M=40.10, SD=5.50) fluent in ASL. Results: The measure showed good internal reliability for preliminary analyses (α= .72, λ-2 = .77, KR20 = .75) and it positively correlated with ASL fluency as determined by the ASL-Comprehension Test (r(18)= .54, p=.01; Hauser et al., 2016). There were no significant correlations with self-reported educational attainment (r(18)=-.21, p= .39) or race/ethnicity (r(18)=-.11, p= .64). Conclusion: Preliminary analysis of an ASL cognitive screening measures developed for use with culturally Deaf signers shows promise. This is one of the first attempts to create such a measure in the United States and next requires further development and piloting with a sample of cognitively intact older adult Deaf signers.