Supporting communication and learning of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in secondary schools: Perspectives of health and education professionals

While mathematics anxiety (MA) has been widely researched in recent decades, this study addresses significant gaps: namely, research that explores the relationship between MA and self‐reported mathematics experiences; samples adults with a range of MA levels; and controls for general anxiety. Additionally, the study sampled deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students, whose diverse life and educational experiences often differ from hearing students’. We investigated whether DHH students’ experiences with mathematics (i.e., parental behaviors, school environment, and mathematics feelings) and demographic variables (i.e., hearing status, age, and gender) predict their MA, and whether these relationships differ from those in hearing students. Self‐report questionnaires were completed by 296 DHH and hearing college students. Linear regression analyses controlling for general anxiety led to the following inference: DHH students who reported more positive attitudes toward mathematics and school environments demonstrated higher MA. Also, the relationships between mathematics feelings, parental behaviors, and MA differed between DHH and hearing students. Logistic regression analyses showed no contribution of MA to students’ likelihood of pursuing STEM degrees in either DHH or between DHH and hearing groups. Overall, this work breaks new ground in the study of MA in DHH students and challenges standard views of the relationships between MA and individual experiences.

Research shows that deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students frequently enter college and the workplace relatively unprepared for success in math, science, and reading. Based on data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), the present study focused on DHH students' college and career readiness by investigating their opportunities in secondary school to acquire college and career skills. DHH students earned more credits overall than hearing peers; both groups earned a similar number of credits in academic courses. However, DHH students took more vocational and nonacademic courses and fewer courses in science, social science, and foreign languages. There was evidence that DHH students' academic courses in math lacked the rigor of those taken by hearing peers, as DHH students earned more credits in basic math and fewer credits in midlevel math courses, and even fewer in advanced math courses, than hearing peers.

This chapter reports a study that assessed the social integration of a group of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) and hearing students "co-enrolled" in a mainstream setting in Hong Kong that adopts the philosophies and practices of sign bilingualism in deaf education. Psychosocial measures were used to evaluate peer relationships and hearing students' attitudes toward DHH students, as well as DHH students' attitudes toward their own deafness. Results are generally quite encouraging, as scores indicating positive social attitudes were obtained on most measures, as well as in the peer ratings of DHH and hearing students toward each other. That peer ratings correlated with positive attitudes toward deafness by DHH students and positive attitudes toward DHH students by hearing students offers a promising note that combining sign bilingualism and co-enrollment in mainstream, inclusive education may be a feasible option in raising and educating DHH students.

Four experiments, each building on the results of the previous ones, explored the effects of several manipulations on learning and the accuracy of metacognitive judgments among deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students. Experiment 1 examined learning and metacognitive accuracy from classroom lectures with or without prior scaffolding in the form of a description of main points and concepts. Experiment 2 compared the benefits of scaffolding when material was read versus when it was presented as a lecture signed for DHH students and spoken for hearing students. Experiment 3 compared scaffolding provided in the form of main points versus vocabulary, and Experiment 4 examined effects of material familiarity and a delay between study and test. Results indicated that although all students had a tendency to overestimate their performance, hearing students learned more and were more accurate in their metacognitive judgments than DHH students. Content familiarity improved the accuracy of metacognitive judgments by both DHH and hearing students, but the delay manipulation was effective only for hearing students. Consistent with other recent findings, DHH students learned as much from reading as they did from signed instruction. Differences between DHH and hearing students may indicate the need for explicit instruction for DHH students in academically relevant skills acquired incidentally by hearing students.

Increasingly, across the globe, deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students are educated in mainstream schools using spoken language for communication. Classroom interactions require the use of sophisticated pragmatic language skills. Pragmatic skills can be delayed in DHH students and create challenges for the social and emotional adjustment of DHH students at school. School-aged DHH children may present to pediatric health care providers with concerns about communicating effectively and forming friendships with hearing school peers. This review of pragmatic research between school-aged DHH students and their typically hearing peers reveals that this group of students displays some well-developed pragmatic skills such as turn taking, questioning, seeking general clarifications, and using a range of turn types. In it, we identify key areas in which DHH students experience significant challenges in both the social use of language and expository interactions (involving descriptions or explanations) that characterize classroom communication. DHH students tend to dominate interactions and have challenges with being contingent on their partners' contributions. In addition, many DHH students display some difficulty with sequencing instructions and may use referents poorly, making it difficult for peers to follow their instructions and fully grasp their meaning. The conversation model is presented in this article as a guide for pediatric health care providers, clinicians, educators, and parents and/or caregivers to understand these pragmatic challenges. The model guides medical and education practitioners with the development of targeted intervention that will support these students' ability to interact with others, learn more effectively, and develop friendships.

Exploring deaf students’ disaster awareness and preparedness in U.S. higher education settings: Implications for university-level DRR policy and programming

When choosing a future profession, it is important for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students to be aware of the limitations that can be caused by a hearing loss. However, due to common prejudices, factors such as gender of a DHH person or the prestige level of the desired profession, can also be perceived as limiting. This paper deals with the assessment of occupational competence of DHH men and women made by DHH primary and secondary school students, in relation to the assumed occupational prestige and the required level of communication. The sample consisted of 97 DHH students of the last two grades of primary, and all grades of secondary schools for DHH students in Serbia. The adapted version of the "Evaluation of occupational competence" (EOC) scale (Sela & Weisel, 1992, according to Weisel & Cinamon, 2005) used in this study was further adapted for testing in Serbia. The results obtained after data analysis indicate the existence of significant differences in assessing occupational competence of DHH men and women in relation to occupational prestige and the required level of communication.

Purpose: This tutorial describes how a speech-language pathologist (SLP) might incorporate writing-based principles into therapy sessions to target a variety of speech and language goals for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children in addition to writing. We present an illustrative example of one SLP's experience implementing Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI), an approach to writing instruction designed for DHH students, within a public elementary school setting. Method: We motivate this tutorial by first reviewing the literature related to the challenges for SLPs in targeting written language within therapy settings and then discuss writing and communication difficulties for DHH students. We describe the components of SIWI with illustrative examples of how one SLP applied these principles within her therapy sessions with DHH students. The SIWI instructional approach integrates well with the roles and responsibilities of an SLP in providing therapy across a variety of communication domains for the DHH students. This tutorial describes how the SLP scaffolds production of various morphological and syntactic linguistic structures as a natural part of cocreating text with her students. The highly interactive nature of SIWI allows for targeting pragmatic language goals with student–student and student–SLP interactions. Students also have opportunities for practicing articulation when generating or revising ideas for the cocreated text and when rereading the text. Conclusions: SIWI provides a framework to address DHH students' speech and language goals within authentic writing activities that may support increased generalization into classroom academic tasks. We provide suggestions about how an SLP can incorporate the principles of SIWI into therapy sessions to integrate writing instruction with the various speech and language goals they already target as a part of implementing a student's Individualized Education Program.

Deaf and hard‐of‐hearing (DHH) children typically lag behind hearing age‐mates in academic achievement. This paper describes recent findings indicating language and cognitive differences between DHH and hearing students that appear to explain some of their classroom challenges. There is currently only limited evidence with regard to the effectiveness of particular interventions, and thus relatively few are offered here. However, recognition of the language and cognitive differences both between DHH and hearing students and within a population of DHH students suggests opportunities for modification of instructional materials and methods in ways to accommodate DHH students' needs and build on their strengths.

For many years, researchers have sought to understand the reading development of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Guided by prior research on DHH and hearing students, in this study we investigate the hypothesis that for secondary school DHH students enrolled in American Sign Language (ASL)/English bilingual schools for the deaf, academic English proficiency would be a significant predictor of reading comprehension alongside ASL proficiency. Using linear regression, we found statistically significant interaction effects between academic English knowledge and word reading fluency in predicting the reading comprehension scores of the participants. However, ASL remained the strongest and most consistent predictor of reading comprehension within the sample. Findings support a model in which socio-demographic factors, ASL proficiency, and word reading fluency are primary predictors of reading comprehension for secondary DHH students.

Different studies have shown that deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students face many difficulties in learning applied disciplines in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics. The development of videos or avatars to aid in the teaching of programming for positively affects DHH students. The use of sign language increases the understanding of DHH, therefore, it will be utilized in the proposed virtual and Augmented reality environment which will hopefully improve students’ performance in learning about computer programming as well as enhance their engagement and facilitate the accessibility of learning for learners suffering from deafness in Saudi Arabia. This thesis aims to help deaf and hearing-impaired students in Saudi Arabia to tackle applied subjects like computer programming and equip them for careers in the technological field. Computer programming is an integral component in this field that can greatly assist in developing technological solutions. The study reveals important considerations in the creation of a virtual learning environment for DHH students to learn computer programming and showed that DHH students performed well, understood the topics, and could write a small program. The research methodology shows how to create an avatar for teaching computer programming using Arabic sign language. This gives DHH students opportunities to join the scientific world as they were previously unable to do so. Three expert signers evaluated the proposed Arabic Sign Language (ArSL) dictionary with 450 technological terms and added 114 new signs to the signer dictionary. Therefore, to make an overall evaluation, Augmented Reality (AR) as a knowledge technology will be applied through the 6 unit of the proposed “Java programming” course. Accordingly, 6 designed flashcards will be used, one flashcard for each course unit to retrieve summarized knowledge discovery of this unit. Also, many tools will be used to support augmented reality such as Vuforia and Unity library.

The demand for employment in specific computing fields is high, during the last years. However, the deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) persons are significantly underrepresented. In this paper, we study methods for increasing the participation of DHH students in computing fields, in order to provide them equal opportunities with normal students. We focus on the following two key research questions: What is an appropriate inclusive curriculum in Higher Education for supporting DHH students studying information technology? What kind of assistive technology resources (e.g., vocabularies in Sign Language) should be embedded in the curriculum, and how DHH students can be enabled to access and use such resources? A systematic review of the literature is conducted, and the design of an introductory academic course on information technology literacy for DHH students is examined.

This study compares the socio-emotional problems experienced by deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students with those of hearing students in Ethiopia. The research involved a sample of 103 grade 4 students attending a special school for the deaf, a special class for the deaf and a regular school. Socio-emotional problems were measured using Goodman's self-report measure, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for children and adolescents. Participants were selected from seven towns in Ethiopia. The results show that, compared to the hearing sample, the DHH students experienced more severe socio-emotional problems across all dimensions, regardless of whether they were in special classes or special schools. The DHH children reported that socio-emotional difficulties interfered with their home lives, friendships, classroom learning, and ability to get along with the people around them. The DHH students scored higher in the externalising behavioural domains than did the hearing students. There was no statistically significant difference between the DHH students in the special school and special class settings. The results show that DHH children expressed great concern about their socio-emotional difficulties. Teachers and other professionals need to raise their awareness about DHH issues in order to help these children overcome their challenges.

This study aims to examine the relative contributions of phonological awareness (PA), orthographical awareness (OA), morphological awareness (MA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) to word reading accuracy and fluency in Chinese deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Measures of PA, OA, MA, RAN, word reading accuracy, and word reading fluency were administered to 133 DHH and 127 hearing students in Grades 4-6. After controlling for chronological age, hierarchical regression analysis showed that PA made an independent contribution to word reading accuracy and fluency among the DHH students. The unique effect of OA was significant on word reading accuracy in DHH students; whereas, its predictive role was played on word reading fluency in hearing students. RAN accounted for additional variance only in word reading accuracy in DHH students. MA significantly explained the variance in both reading abilities and in both groups. This suggests that for DHH students, they use nonphonological clues (MA and OA) to learn to read. To a lesser degree, however, they do rely on PA to reading words. For hearing students, they mainly rely on MA to their word reading. There are some similarities and differences in the mechanisms underlying word reading in DHH and hearing children.

Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students often experience systemic barriers to academic success, especially low expectations of what they know and can do. Longitudinal data analysis is critical to understanding how academic achievement for DHH students progresses over time and where they may need additional support on their academic journey to achieve at the level of their hearing peers. This study provides an analysis of NWEA MAP® Growth™ data from grades 2 to 8 across seven reading and mathematics domains over a period of 5years. Results indicate that both DHH and hearing students continue to build skills through this period, and that DHH students, contrary to many previously held assumptions, do not necessarily plateau in the elementary grades.