Characteristics of Psychologists Assessing Deaf and Hard of Hearing Clients.

Psychological assessment plays a large part in the practice of psychology. Over the years, steps have been taken towards ensuring ethical and culturally sensitive psychological assessment for underserved populations, but little is known about the current state of the field of assessment of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals. An exploratory survey of school and clinical psychologists who work with DHH clients (n = 30) was conducted to obtain a snapshot of the state of the field. The current article focuses on sociodemographic characteristics, clinical training, clinical experiences, and language abilities of clinical psychologists who work with DHH clients. Participants averaged 15 years of assessment experience and almost all participants had some type of specialized training in assessing DHH clients. More than half of participants reported their ability to use multiple languages and communication approaches as either excellent or good. Current findings were compared with a similar survey from nearly 50 years ago (Levine, E. S. (1974). Psychological tests and practices with the deaf: A survey of the state of the art. Volta Review, 76, 298-319), and significant differences were found in participants' self-reported experience with DHH clients, training, and methods of communication.

Development and initial validation of a questionnaire to measure hearing parents' perceptions of health care professionals' advice.

This study reports the development of The Hearing Parents' Perceptions of Health Professionals' Advice Questionnaire (HPP/HPQ). This questionnaire was designed to investigate the impact of the advice and information that parents receive from health professionals during the time when their child's hearing loss is identified and how parents, in turn, make initial decisions about services and interventions for their deaf child. Once developed, the HPP/HPQ was partially validated on 2 separate samples. Analysis of data from both samples supported a 14-item questionnaire, with all items loading onto a single composite factor. The implications of how this tool can be used to both help improve health professionals' services and gain an understanding of how the relationship between hearing parents and health professionals might influence developmental outcomes in deaf children are discussed.

Deaf and hard of hearing plus: Preliminary estimates of child and parent functioning.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) with additional special needs ("DHHPlus") have complex differences in psychological development that, when combined with aspects of their environment, often place them at an increased risk for psychological challenges. Further, their combination of special needs places unique demands on their parents. Despite the high proportion of DHH children in this particular subgroup, little research has been done to identify estimates of broad psychological functioning, the parent-child relationship, parent stressors, and parent satisfaction with resources independent of other samples. This study addresses that gap through collecting preliminary data on broad psychological functioning and related parent-child variables in a sample of children who are DHHPlus. RESEARCH METHOD/DESIGN: Thirty-one primary caregivers of children who were DHH with additional medical and/or mental health diagnoses completed several questionnaires about their child and family, including the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC-3) Parent Rating Scale, BASC-2 Parenting Relationship Questionnaire, and Family Stress Scale. The current DHHPlus sample was separated into two subgroups by age, including a preschool group (ages 2-5 years, n = 14) and child group (ages 6-11, n = 17) for visual comparison of mean scores with respective normative and clinical samples from each measure. RESULTS: When compared to normative and clinical samples, parents of DHHPlus children endorsed more concerns about their child's behavior, adaptive skills, the parent-child relationship, and higher levels of family-related stress, with a unique rank order of family stressors. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Results provide initial child and parent estimates to support assessment and treatment services for this diverse and underserved population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Review of intellectual assessment measures for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

OVERVIEW: Intellectual assessment of children who are deaf or hard of hearing presents unique challenges to the clinician charged with attempting to obtain an accurate representation of the child's skills. Selection of appropriate intellectual assessment instruments requires a working knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the measure and what changes in standardized administration might be necessary to accommodate for the needs of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. In the case of some available instruments, there is limited guidance and objective research available examining the performance of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. This review summarizes available information on widely used and most recent editions of intellectual assessment measures with special attention to guidance on accommodations, score interpretation, subtest selection and other test-specific considerations when assessing children who are deaf or hard of hearing. SUMMARY: There is much opportunity for further inquiry in the field of intellectual assessment as it applies to children who are deaf or hard of hearing, as many measures have not been closely scrutinized for their appropriate use with this population. Clinicians must recognize inherent difficulties with intellectual assessment measures with children who are deaf or hard of hearing and issues in providing for an accessible and accurate administration of test items.