The COVID-19 pandemic placed stress on all aspects of the educational system. Many state departments of education acknowledged the disruption to individualized education program evaluation and implementation but insisted that evaluation timelines and services continue undisrupted. School psychologists were therefore forced to navigate the…

Many individuals who experience psychological, interpersonal, and social distress do not seek help. Deaf and hard of hearing individuals who use American Sign Language (ASL) as their primary language face additional barriers, such as communication inaccessibility, stigma, and prejudice, which can further impede help-seeking. The purpose of this…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has always had "individual" as part of its spirit and its letter. However, as a parent and an advocate who has attended many Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings, Janet DesGeorges has discovered that getting to "individual" can sometimes be a challenge,…

Purpose: This study focused on whether developmental communication disorders exist in American Sign Language (ASL) and how they might be characterized. ASL studies is an emerging field; educators and clinicians have minimal access to descriptions of communication disorders of the signed modality. Additionally, there are limited resources for…

Choosing a method of communication for a child with hearing loss is a complex process that must occur early to prevent developmental consequences. Research shows that parents' decisions are influenced by professionals; parental attitudes and knowledge also may be influential. The present study investigated additional influences on parents'…

This digest discusses hearing loss in children. Topics covered include: (1) the causes of hearing loss and the three major types of hearing losses, conductive loss, sensorineural loss, and central auditory processing disorder; (2) the federal definitions of "deaf" (hearing loss which adversely affects educational performance and which is…

This brief paper reports on a study of learning disabilities in students with deafness. The study attempted to first determine to what extent deficiencies in communication skills affect the screening of deaf students for learning disabilities and, second, to describe the phenomenon of learning disability in students with deafness. The research…