Work

Are We Slipping Them Through the Cracks? The Insufficiency of Norm-Referenced Assessments for Identifying Language Weaknesses in Children With Hearing Loss

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: Children with hearing loss who use listening and spoken language increasingly reach performance within or above the average range on norm-referenced assessments of language ability prior to entering school; however, they continue to perform below expectations on language-based academic skills, such as reading. The purpose of this article was to identify limitations of making service provision decisions primarily on the basis of norm-referenced assessments for children with hearing loss. We offer evidence from a group of children with hearing loss who scored within 1.5 standard deviations of the mean on a norm-referenced omnibus language measure. These children with hearing loss performed more poorly than age-matched children with normal hearing on several measures derived from a naturalistic language sample. Based on the limitations of norm-referenced assessments and the findings of this study, we propose that language sample analysis should be used as primary evidence of language weakness for children with hearing loss.

Source: Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups

DOI: 10.1044/persp2.sig9.43

Authors: Krystal L. Werfel, Michael Douglas

Institution: University of South Carolina

Language: English

Topic: Hearing Impairment and Communication

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Award: Early Language and Literacy Acquisition in Children with Hearing Loss