Disability and identity: A study of identity patterns in adolescents with hearing impairments.

Some children with physical disabilities are encouraged to identify exclusively with nondisabled persons, relinquishing any identity with others who have disabilities. The implications of such a personal identification on adjustment were examined by measuring identity choice in 111 students (aged 15–19 yrs) at a state school for persons with hearing impairments. Ss were classified into 3 groups: those with a predominant hearing identity (able-bodied identity), those with a primary deaf identity (disabled identity), and those who identified with both groups (dual identity). Analyses focused on the relationship between the Ss' identity and indicators of the Ss' social relations, self-evaluations, academic achievement, and perceived family acceptance of their disability. Data indicate that an able-bodied identity was consistently associated with poorer outcomes and a dual identity with better outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teachers' and deaf students' perceptions of communication ease and engagement.

Collected ratings of communication ease and of engagement for 95 deaf junior and senior high school students (aged 12–21 yrs) in a large, urban, multiethnic school for the deaf. Ratings were made by the students' English teachers and by the students themselves. High teacher ratings for communication ease and engagement were associated with high academic achievement as measured by the Stanford Achievement Test. High student ratings for communication ease were also associated with academic achievement. The 2 best predictors of academic achievement were student-rated communication ease and teacher-rated engagement. Findings suggest that it is important for teachers to be sensitive to the level of communication comfort of their students because students who enjoy easier communication may be more likely to be engaged, or more actively involved, in classroom learning and to demonstrate higher academic achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sibling relationships for deaf children: The impact of child and family characteristics.

Objective: To examine factors that affect relationships between deaf children who use cochlear implants or hearing aids and their hearing siblings. Study Design: Qualitative analysis of interview data from parents of deaf children. Participants: Parents of 29 deaf children with at least 1 sibling; 20 children used cochlear implants and 9 used hearing aids. Main Outcome Measure: Quality of deaf-hearing sibling relationships as assessed by an ordinal scale developed by the authors. Results: Birth order, family size, parents' anxiety about deafness, and negative comparisons by parents of hearing and deaf siblings were key factors in sibling relationships. Conclusions: Family context is important in understanding experiences of deaf children and their hearing siblings. The model replaces assumptions of hearing loss as individual disability with an emphasis on the social determinants of managing differences in siblings' hearing status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responses of deaf adolescents to differences in counselor method of communication and disability status.

This study tested the effects of disability status (deaf or hearing) and communication method (sign language, interpreter, or written) on deaf subjects' ratings of counselor social influence, counselor empathy, and willingness to see the counselor. Deaf adolescent subjects (53 female and 53 male) rated one of six videotapes portraying a deaf or hearing counselor using sign language, an intepreter, or written communication in counseling a deaf client on a topic of high relevance. The results indicated that counselors were rated higher on social influence, counselor effectiveness, and empathy if they used sign language rather than written communication. No significant differences were found for counselor or disability status. The subjects indicated a greater willingness to see a hearing counselor who used a sign language or an interpreter rather than written communication, although these results were not replicated for a deaf counselor. We discuss the implications for the use of sign language with deaf adolescent clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communication patterns of adult deaf.

Interviewed 162 former students of 2 Ontario residential and 1 urban day school for the deaf who were living in Toronto about their communication habits. In communicating to and from hearing people, most use speech, but they feel that, on average, only about half of what they say can be understood by a hearing person. Writing and even some manual communication is also used. Most communicate with other deaf manually. Day school students use speech more than residential school students, although there is no evidence of greater oral skills. A comparison with other studies indicates that schools differ more in their ability to motivate deaf students to use speech than they do in their ability to provide students with speech and speech-reading skills. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Filial Therapy with Teachers of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Preschool Children.

This study examined the effectiveness of filial therapy with teachers of deaf and hard of hearing preschool children and the effectiveness of filial therapy as a method of intervention for deaf and hard of hearing preschool students. Analysis of Covariance revealed that the teachers in the experimental group significantly improved their ability to communicate acceptance and empathy, as well as develop non-directive involvement with their students. Students whose teachers were in the experimental group exhibited significantly fewer overall behavior problems, including withdrawn and internalizing behaviors. Both quantitative and qualitative results indicated that preschool teachers of deaf and hard of hearing children may become effective therapeutic agents by learning and applying the basic skills of filial therapy training with their students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer interaction in young deaf children: The effect of partner hearing status and familiarity.

14 deaf 54–83 mo olds were videotaped playing once with each of 4 partners: a familiar deaf playmate, a familiar hearing playmate, an unfamiliar hearing child who was a playmate of another deaf child, and an unfamiliar hearing child who had little experience playing with deaf children. 21 hearing and 7 deaf playmates participated. Deaf Ss rarely used language, and formal language use was not related to measures of interaction or play even when playing with another deaf child. Instead, interaction and pretense seemed to be related to the deaf Ss' nonlinguistic communication abilities. Partner hearing status primarily affected communication, with communication between deaf playmates being more visual (both linguistic and nonlinguistic) and less object-based than communication between deaf and hearing playmates. Familiarity played a larger role than experience in improving interaction between deaf and hearing children. The hearing children were more responsive to and used more visual communication devices with their deaf playmate than an unfamiliar deaf child. But the hearing playmates were no better at playing with an unfamiliar deaf child than were hearing children who had little experience playing with deaf children. Implications for the understanding of young children's communication abilities and for deaf educational programs are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

English as the second language of deaf children.

Administered the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to 13 deaf adolescents with deaf parents and to 13 deaf adolescents with hearing parents. Scores achieved by all Ss on the Paragraph Meaning and Language subtests of the Stanford Achievement Test were also available. Ss with deaf parents scored significantly higher than Ss with hearing parents on all but 1 measure. Performance by hearing, foreign students on the TOEFL was more highly correlated with the performance by Ss with deaf parents than with the performance by Ss with hearing parents. Results indicate that English may be a 2nd language for deaf children and that early experience with sign language may facilitate later learning of English. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hearing research career development for deaf students

One goal of the Americans with Disabilities Act is to enhance access to career opportunities for individuals with hearing loss. Hearing-impaired professionals are woefully underrepresented among the cadre of scientists currently involved in hearing and deafness research. Information was obtained by questionnaire from 190 consecutive attendees (13 through 17 years of age) at a summer program for gifted hearing-impaired adolescents regarding career goals, attitudes toward academic and extracurricular activities, educational placement, primary communication modality, and parental hearing status. A follow-up questionnaire completed by 80 of these youth, presently attending college, provided comparison data regarding type of college attended and academic major. Males were significantly more likely to select majors in mathematics and science-related disciplines. The percentage of college attendees majoring in the sciences was much lower than the percentage of high school students who aspired to a scientific career. Strategies for attracting qualified hearing-impaired students into science majors should include educational efforts directed at students, parents, and academic advisors.     

College diversity courses and cognitive development among students from privileged and marginalized groups.

Previous research has suggested that diversity courses generally have positive effects on college students’ cognitive development. However, it is unclear how many courses students need to take to maximize their cognitive gains, or whether some groups of students benefit more from taking these courses. Within a longitudinal sample of over 3,000 first-year students at 19 institutions, students who take at least one diversity course have greater gains in their general interest in ideas and effortful thinking than those who take no courses; however, taking more than one course is not associated with greater benefits than taking a single course. In addition, the number of diversity courses taken is virtually unrelated to gains in critical thinking and moral reasoning. Further analyses reveal that students from middle- or lower-income families and White students experience the greatest cognitive growth from taking diversity courses. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's achievement-related expectancies as a function of academic performance histories and sex.

60 male and 60 female 1st and 3rd graders, classified by teacher ratings as high, average, and low achievers, were compared on (a) their expectations for success prior to an anagrams task, (b) their subsequent perceptions of the cause of failure on the task, and (c) their expectations for future success. Results indicate that boys with a history of low academic success in school had lower expectations for success on the task and tended to be more likely to attribute failure to lack of ability than boys with a history of average or high academic success. In contrast, high-achieving girls had lower expectations for success than low- and average-achieving girls. Furthermore, Ss who attributed failure to low ability reported relatively low expectations for future success. This finding suggests that children's perceptions of the causes of past performance outcomes mediate their subsequent expectations, as is claimed by attribution theorists. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensional ratings of teaching effectiveness by students from different academic settings and their relation to student/course/instructor characteristics.

Students' responses to the Students' Evaluation of Education Quality (SEEQ) survey were collected in 4,471 graduate and undergraduate courses, and these courses were separated into groups representing diverse academic disciplines and settings. Separate factor analyses of 6 groups of courses each clearly identified the evaluation factors that SEEQ was designed to measure, demonstrating the replicability and generality of the factors. The SEEQ factors were then correlated with a set of 16 student/course/instructor characteristics (e.g., class size, expected grades, teacher rank) in each group of courses. These correlations were typically small, and proportion of variance in the ratings that could be predicted by the combined set of characteristics (based on stepwise multiple regression) varied between .08 and .20 in the 6 groups of courses. Most of the predictable variance in each group of courses could be explained by the same 4 characteristics; more favorable ratings were associated with higher prior subject interest, higher expected grades, higher levels of workload/difficulty, and a higher percentage of students taking a course for general interest. Discussion indicates that the interpretation of these effects as a bias to student ratings is unwarranted, and alternative approaches are presented. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Body thiamine level in acute alcohol psychoses

PURPOSE: To compare admission data and academic performances of medical students younger and older than 25, and to qualify older students' experiences and perceptions in medical school. METHOD: The authors reviewed 1988-1991 data for applications to the McGill University Faculty of Medicine. Data included GPAs and MCAT scores, as well as ratings for reference letters, autobiographical statements, and interviews. For those same years, the authors measured students' academic performances in the preclinical and clinical years. The authors compared the data by students' age: "younger" students, aged 17 to 24; and "older" students, aged 25 and above. All enrolled students took the Derogatis Stress Profile, and the older students participated in focus groups. RESULTS: The older applicants had lower GPAs and MCAT scores, but higher interview and reference letter ratings. For older accepted students, basic science course scores were lower than those of younger students, but clinical scores did not differ significantly between the groups. The two groups had similar stress levels, although older students tested lower in driven behavior, relaxation potential, attitude posture, and hostility. In focus groups, the older students spoke of learning style differences, loss of social support, and loss of professional identity. CONCLUSION: Different scores in admission criteria suggest that McGill uses different standards to select older medical students. Older students admitted under different criteria, however, do just as well as do younger students by their clinical years. A broad-based study of admission criteria and outcomes for the older student population is warranted.     

Factor analysis of the WISC–III with deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Third Edition (WISC–III; D. Wechsler, 1991 ) was factor analyzed on a sample of 106 deaf and hard-of-hearing children, ages 6 to 16 years. Two factors emerged and were labeled Language Comprehension (l) and Visual–Spatial Organization (v–s). There were no differences in Verbal, Performance, or Full Scale IQs between children attending mainstreamed vs. residential schools; children who were administered the test through an interpreter or by an examiner who used sign language or the oral-only directions; children whose communication mode was oral, American Sign Language (ASL), or signed English (SE); boys and girls; or children with moderate-to-severe or profound hearing impairments. Children with known etiologies of hearing loss (i.e., meningitis, perinatal complications, rubella, cytomegaloviral inclusion, or genetic anomalies) earned significantly lower Performance IQs and Object Assembly scores than children with unknown etiologies. Implications and future directions for the intellectual assessment of deaf and hard-of-hearing children are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student ratings and instructor-defined extenuating circumstances.

Examined the relationships between student ratings of instructor performance and 7 instructor-defined extenuating circumstances. Data were collected in 195 courses from a total of 3,625 students taught by 138 faculty members. For each extenuating circumstance, mean ratings of the group of faculty who said it applied to their course were compared with mean ratings of the group who said that it did not apply. The only extenuating circumstance that produced a statistically significant difference was "Class is too large to adequately present the material." Findings suggest that this set of instructors' rationalizations for not receiving better evaluations does not really explain them, even though there was a tendency for class ratings to be lower for the groups responding "Yes, the extenuating circumstances did apply to this course." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changing attitudes about the employability of the deaf and hard of hearing

Hearing students viewed a videotape featuring positive deaf and hard of hearing role models in a variety of employment settings. Attitudes about the employability of these individuals were measured in a pretest posttest control group design. Attitudes after viewing the role model videotape were significantly more positive than those reported prior to viewing the videotape. Respondents were able to generalize their positive attitudes beyond the limited number of occupations featured in the tape to other occupations. Further, the attitude change was of an enduring nature, with posttest two results indicating no significant attitude change from posttest one attitudes. The findings of the present study indicate that video-tape can be an effective means of introducing positive deaf and hard of hearing role models in both educational and employment settings.     

Color-object paired associates in deaf and hearing children with and without response competition.

Deaf and hearing Ss, aged 6 and 10, were compared in 2 nonverbally presented paired-associates tasks. One condition used neutral color stimuli unrelated to toy response objects and another condition had colors systematically related to the same objects to provide interfering response competition. Age differences were observed, while task interacted with deafness such that hearing but not deaf Ss were impeded by the interference condition relative to the neutral condition. It was concluded that deaf Ss showed no perceptual rigidity and that covert verbalizations of hearing Ss or experiential poverty in deaf Ss produced the differential task effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communicative interactions of deaf and hearing children in a day care center. An exploratory study

Interactions were observed in a day care center serving deaf and hearing children. Observations focused on eight children (two deaf with deaf parents, two deaf with hearing parents, two hearing with deaf parents and two hearing with hearing parents) between 2 and 3 years of age. Center classes included deaf and hearing teachers and all children were encouraged to sign. Deaf and hearing children alike frequently interacted with other children and teachers whose hearing status differed from their own. However, each group showed a stronger tendency to initiate communication with same hearing status peers. Hearing children displayed the ability to modify their communications modes to match the hearing status of their intended communication partner. Language ability, not hearing status, was associated with the frequency of communication experienced by each child.