The Self-Determination Inventory: Student Report American Sign Language Translation.

Research literature and community narratives both emphasize the importance of self-determination in the lives of deaf youth. This paper describes the development, initial validation, and potential applications of a translated measure of self-determination for deaf youth, the SDI:SR ASL Translation (SDI:SR ASL). A sample of 3,309 young people who completed the SDI:SR, of whom 392 were deaf, was used in this validation study. Results provide preliminary support for the use of SDI:SR ASL with deaf youth. Findings also indicate that deaf youth who take the SDI:SR ASL score more similarly to youth without disabilities taking the SDI:SR than youth with disabilities. The SDI:SR ASL can be an important tool for researchers and practitioners to better understand self-determination among deaf youth and facilitate continued development of self-determination skills.

Secondary School-based Interventions and Social Engagement of Deaf Young Adults.

Successful social engagement is one of many important outcomes for deaf youth as they transition from high school to adult life. This study examined the effect of self-advocacy and social/life skill trainings in secondary school settings on social engagement after high school using propensity score modeling and data from the large-scale and nationally representative National Longitudinal Transition Study-2. Analyses focused on three types of post-high school social engagement: frequency of seeing friends, involvement in group activities, and participation in community service. A fourth outcome variable was created to indicate whether the individual was at least minimally engaged. Results found that deaf youth who received self-advocacy training in secondary school were significantly more likely to be at least minimally engaged than those who had not. These findings suggest that self-advocacy training in high school can help protect deaf youth against social isolation in young adulthood.

Assessing English literacy as a predictor of postschool outcomes in the lives of deaf individuals.

Lower English literacy achievement of deaf students is often hypothesized to be an impediment for successful adult life experiences. Yet, literacy practices that individuals engage in throughout their daily lives are much more complex than what school-based measures of English can capture and particularly so for deaf individuals. A national large-scale data set with a sample of over 1,000 deaf youths was used to assess what, precisely, standardized measures of literacy may predict in terms of postschool outcomes in three domains: life, employment, and education. Regression analyses indicate that these measures predicted some postschool outcomes, but not all, and if significant, only a small amount of variation in the outcomes was explained. Findings suggest that English literacy, particularly the narrow conceptualization of English literacy skills that are measured through school-based assessments, may not play a significant role in the lives of deaf individuals, contrary to expectations.

Atypical signed language development: a case study of challenges with visual-spatial processing.

In signed languages, the articulatory space in front of the signer is used grammatically, topographically, and to depict a real or imagined space around a signer and thus is an important consideration in signed language acquisition. It has been suggested that children who acquire signed languages rely on concomitant visual-spatial development to support their linguistic development. We consider the case of a native-signing deaf adolescent female with average intelligence who had been reported to struggle with spatial aspects of American Sign Language (ASL) as a child. Results of a battery of linguistic and nonlinguistic tests suggest that she has relatively good ASL skills with the exception of some specific difficulties on spatial tasks that require attention to ASL and nonlinguistic topographic space or changes in visual perspective (e.g., classifiers and referential shift). This child has some difficulties with visual-spatial abilities, and we suggest that this has affected her acquisition of those aspects of ASL that are heavily dependent on visual-spatial processing.

A national perspective on teachers' efficacy beliefs in deaf education.

Teachers' sense of efficacy, or the belief that teachers have of their capacity to make an impact on students' performance, is an unexplored construct in deaf education research. This study included data from 296 respondents to examine the relationship of teacher and school characteristics with teachers' sense of efficacy in 80 different deaf education settings in the US. Deaf education teachers reported high overall efficacy beliefs but significantly lower efficacy beliefs in the area of student engagement than in instructional strategies and classroom management. Teachers' years of experience showed a significant relationship with efficacy beliefs, yet it was the teachers' perceived collective efficacy of their educational setting that ultimately predicted teachers' sense of efficacy. These findings lend credence to the need for further examination of school processes that influence teacher beliefs and attitudes in deaf education settings.

The effects of American Sign Language as an assessment accommodation for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing (SDHH) often need accommodations to participate in large-scale standardized assessments. One way to bridge the gap between the language of the test (English) and a student's linguistic background (often including American Sign Language [ASL]) is to present test items in ASL. The specific aim of this project was to measure the effects of an ASL accommodation on standardized test scores for SDHH in reading and mathematics. A total of 64 fifth- to eighth-grade (ages 10-15) SDHH from schools for the deaf in the United States participated in this study. There were no overall differences in the mean percent of items students scored correctly in the standard vs. ASL-accommodated conditions for reading or mathematics. We then conducted hierarchical linear regression analyses to analyze whether measures of exposure to ASL (home and classroom) and student proficiency in the subject area predicted student performance in ASL-accommodated assessments. The models explained up to half of the variance in the scores, with subject area proficiency (mathematics or reading) as the strongest predictor. ASL exposure was not significant with the exception of ASL classroom instruction as a predictor of mathematics scores.

Current Research in Pragmatic Language Use Among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children.

In this article, we provide a narrative review of research literature on the development of pragmatic skills and the social uses of language in children and adolescents, with a focus on those who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH). In the review, we consider how pragmatic skills may develop over time for DHH children and adolescents depending on age, language context, amplification devices, and languages and communication modalities. The implications of these findings for enhancing intervention programs for DHH children and adolescents and for considering ideal contexts for optimizing the pragmatic development of DHH children are considered.

Role Models as Facilitators of Social Capital for Deaf Individuals: A Research Synthesis.

in a variety of contexts, deaf individuals often must navigate multiple societal, psychological, and physical barriers. It is frequently proposed that role models meet an important need for successful navigation in such contexts. The present article, a research synthesis, explores available literature on role models for deaf individuals, drawing from social capital theory to conceptualize how individuals in social networks can facilitate the development of resources necessary for navigating various settings. Four key themes were identified, two being that role models (a) address a critical need and (b) contribute to important developmental processes. In addition, (c) key elements appear to be necessary for effective role modeling, and (d) multidimensional cultural affiliations are important considerations within the role model process. Though more research is needed, the findings suggest that role models play an important role in how deaf individuals build social capital.