This digest discusses the assessment of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Topics addressed include: (1) the purpose of an assessment of children who are deaf or hard of hearing; (2) problems associated with assessment, including the diagnostician's lack of experience with the deaf population, communication problems, tests that are normed on typical children, interpretation of test results, and assessments carried out in isolation; (3) qualifications for the examiner who conducts such an assessment, including credentials to administer formal tests used in the assessment, familiarity with the effects of hearing loss on test and classroom performance, experience with intervention with children who are deaf or hard of hearing, the ability to communicate effectively with the child, parents, and teachers, and access to previous assessment and educational information relating to the child being tested; (4) the benefits of assessment; (5) the limitations of assessment; and (6) questions that need to be asked during the assessment, including why the assessment is being done and how results will be used, how environmental and other factors influence the assessment, how findings of other diagnosticians fit with these test results, and what community resources are available to implement the recommendations from the assessment. Contains 11 references. (CR)