The study participants were 197 deaf or hard-of-hearing students with mild to profound hearing loss who attended general education classes for 2 or more hours per day. We obtained scores on standardized achievement tests of math, reading, and language/writing, and standardized teacher's ratings of academic competence annually, for 5 years, together with other demographic and communication data. Results on standardized achievement tests indicated that, over the 5-year period, 63%-79% of students scored in the average or above-average range in math, 48%-68% in reading, and 55%-76% in language/writing. The standardized test scores for the group were, on average, half an SD below hearing norms. Average student progress in each subject area was consistent with or better than that made by the norm group of hearing students, and 79%-81% of students made one or more year's progress annually. Teachers rated 69%-81% of students as average or above average in academic competence over the 5 years. The teacher's ratings also indicated that 89% of students made average or above-average progress. Students' expressive and receptive communication, classroom participation, communication mode, and parental participation in school were significantly, but moderately, related to academic outcomes.
We obtained data on the writing of 110 deaf or hard-of-hearing students attending public schools who completed the spontaneous writing portion of the Test of Written Language. The average written quotient for the sample was in the below-average range but within 1 standard deviation of the test mean. Forty-nine percent of the sample received written quotients within or above the average range. Mean scores for the three subtests of contextual conventions, contextual language, and story construction were within the low-average range; between 55% and 68% of students scored within the average or above-average range for the subtests. Predictors of writing quotients were eligibility for free lunch, grade, degree of hearing loss and gender; however, only 18% of the variance in total writing quotients was explained by these variables. The data indicate that attention needs to be paid to the writing ability and instruction of many public-school students regardless of degree of hearing loss.
The study examined the effects of two interventions on the peer social interaction of 105 young children with and without hearing impairments. Total positive peer interaction and interaction of children with peers of different hearing status increased from preintervention to postintervention but decreased after the intervention was withdrawn. The integrated-activities intervention resulted in greater gains in total positive peer interaction than the social skills intervention. Children with hearing impairments interacted as frequently with their same-status peers as did the children without hearing impairments with their same-status peers. Results indicate the benefits of long-term interventions conducted within small, stable groups of children with and without hearing impairments.
Peer interaction is an important contributor to social development in all children. Hearing loss can create barriers in communication between children, thus the quality and quantity of peer interaction of deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) children is a topic of interest to both practitioners and researchers. D/HH children have been found to interact less with peers and engage in less social play than hearing children of the same age. In contexts where both D/HH and hearing children are present, D/HH children prefer to interact with D/HH rather than hearing peers. Although D/HH children initiate interaction at rates similar to that of hearing children, they have fewer successful initiations, and have more difficulty maintaining interactions. However, they are able to moderate their initiation strategies based on the hearing status of their peers. Their communication during social play is likely to be focused on literal and current topics rather than on symbolic or fantasy topics. The quality and quantity of peer interaction between D/HH and hearing children appears to be related to language and communication ability, mode of communication, and familiarity. Intervention programs to increase peer interaction have succeeded in increasing interaction of D/HH children with D/HH but not with hearing peers. However, long-term intensive interventions that provide opportunities for peer familiarity, such as co-enrolled programs may be likely to produce positive results. Finally, little current research has been conducted on peer interaction, thus little is known about early-identified or early-implanted D/HH children who are in inclusive programs.
S ocial relationships add quality to one's life and contribute to one's ability to think and learn. A growing body of research indicates that having good social skills is critical for succeeding in society (Caprara, Barbaranelli, Pastorelli, Bandura, & Zimbardo, 2000;Malecki & Elliott, 2002), including success in the labor market (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, 1991;Valdes, Williamson, & Wagner, 1990). Research also documents the negative impact of a lack of social skills. Elksnin and Elksnin (2006) indicated that individuals who lack social skills are often 489
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