Margery S. Miller - Psychological and Psychoeducational Assessment of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and Adolescents

Psychological and Psychoeducational Assessment of Children and AdolescentsWho Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Psychological and Psychoeducational Assessment of Children and Adolescents Who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Margery Miller, Tania N. Thomas-Presswood, Kurt Metz, and Jennifer Lukomski

Gallaudet University Press

Washington, DC 20002

http://gupress.gallaudet.edu

2015 by Gallaudet University

All rights reserved. Published 2015

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Miller, Margery Staman, 1945- author.

Title: Psychological and psychoeducational assessment of children and adolescents who are deaf and hard of hearing / Margery Miller, Tania N. Thomas-Presswood, Kurt Metz, and Jennifer Lukomski. Description: Washington, DC : Gallaudet University Press, [2015] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015036272| ISBN 9781563686504 (hardcover :alk. paper) | ISBN 9781563686511 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Deaf childrenPsychological testing. | Hearing impaired childrenPsychological testing. | Deaf studentsPsychological testing. |

Psychodiagnostics.

Classification: LCC HV2391 .M55 2015 | DDC 371.91/2dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015036272

This paper meets the requirements

of ANSI/NISO Z39.481992 (Permanence of Paper).

To Dr. McCay Mac Vernon

Dr. McCay Vernon devoted his professional life to enriching the lives of people who are deaf and hard of hearing by providing and advocating for psychological services that were linguistically accessible and made available by competent clinicians. He advocated for the use of American Sign Language and full language accessibility for deaf students. His research demonstrated that the nonverbal intelligence of people who are deaf and hard of hearing was similar to that of people with typical hearing, with similar variations in all ranges of functioning. He campaigned against the administration of tests of verbal intelligence through spoken language by nonsigning specialists, a process that resulted in the tests measuring lipreading (speechreading) rather than language comprehension and cognitive processing, and thus produced erroneous reports that the overall cognitive functioning of deaf students was far below their hearing peers. Dr. Vernon is greatly missed, but his enormous legacy in the field of deafness, forensic psychology with people who are deaf, and accessible psychological services for all lives on.

Preface

The general American school-age population is extremely heterogeneous, differing in ethnic status, race, home language, geographic location, socioeconomic status, and educational background, among other things. The deaf school-age population shares all of these characteristics, plus many others, such as age of onset of deafness, age of identification of hearing loss and provision of intervention services, extent of hearing loss, and presence of educationally significant conditions. As we will emphasize in the text, the incidence of educationally relevant disabilities is higher for deaf children than for the general school-age population. The presence of any of these characteristics in a deaf child increases the challenge of adequate assessment.

It is our contention that effective assessment is a complex process that involves more than merely administering tests and writing up the results. The practitioner and his or her ability to make and interpret meaningful observations are more important than the tests that are at the assessment specialists disposal. Assessment is both an art and a science, and we will develop this theme throughout the text. Readers will notice some overlap across chapters, but this is unavoidable because of the importance of language, communication, and verbal skills in assessing cognition, social-emotional development, and academic achievement. This has been the major area of concern for generations and it remains so today. Modes, systems, and languages of communication and instruction vary greatly, and we believe the proficient psychologist or other assessment professionals must be culturally aware and sensitive in order to select and interpret relevant tests and other instruments. They must also have the ability to communicate in English, American Sign Language, and Manual Codes on English, depending on the needs of the deaf or hard of hearing child being evaluated.

Standards for assessment practice with deaf and hard of hearing populations, especially those students who use American Sign Language for educational communication, must be established both in terms of test protocols and assessment frameworks and in terms of criteria for minimal qualifications of assessment specialists. We view this text as a beginning toward that end and by no means see ourselves as more knowledgeable than other experienced assessment specialists. It is our hope that this text will provide an impetus to the field to gather together to move to the next step of developing and expanding valid and reliable testing instruments for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. Psychologists, school psychologists, diplomates in school neuropsychology, neuropsychologists, psychoeducational experts, educators, and other professionals have come a long way in the use of appropriate assessment measures of students who are deaf and hard of hearing. Yet, surely, there is room for improvement.

Acknowledgments

This book has been a challenging, yet rewarding endeavor, made easier by working with a group of outstanding colleagues, with the addition of support from others. Several students in the graduate programs of Gallaudet Universitys Department of Psychology assisted with gathering and/or printing research articles. Erin McLaughlin, in particular, deserves special thanks and recognition. She is now Dr. Erin McLaughlin Zodda and holds a PhD in clinical psychology from Gallaudet. She was a supportive, bright, and capable student and her assistance was very valuable.

Others deserve acknowledgment as well. Dr. Peter Hauser generously allowed us to use an earlier draft of what is now as well. We want to thank Dr. Hauser for his contribution and his support of our efforts to publish this book.

We must also express our appreciation to Ivey Pittle Wallace of Gallaudet University Press for her support, guidance, and continued encouragement over the years.

Finally, we offer our thanks and appreciation for the opportunity to learn from all of the deaf and hard of hearing students and their parents with whom we have worked over the years.

Psychological and Psychoeducational Assessment of Children and AdolescentsWho Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Chapter 1

Introduction

The process of conducting a psychological and psychoeducational assessment is complex, and the conclusions reached by well-trained psychologists, school psychologists, neuropsychologists, and school neuropsychology diplomates can yield similar findings or widely different interpretations of the results. A number of factors may influence the analyses of these professionals, including their training, their assessment biases, what they are ultimately looking for (a diagnosis, a set of meaningful recommendations, educational placement eligibility, etc.), their ability to adequately communicate with the children they are testing, and their knowledge of the cultural issues relative to the child and/or the childs family. Each factor is critical to a valid assessment and to constructing meaningful sets of recommendations for home, school, and program placement.