Guidelines for the Assessment and Educational Evaluation of Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Eligibility Factors
To be considered for certain educational or related services, a child must be determined as eligible. As part of the educational evaluation process, the following factors should be considered for students who are deaf or hard of hearing:
Audiological Factors
- Age of onset
- Age of identification
- Auditory skills and use of residual hearing
- Speech perception
- Effectiveness of amplification technology
- Age of full-time amplification
- Etiology of the hearing loss and associated risk factors
- Type and degree of hearing loss
- Functional listening evaluation and skills
Behavioral Factors
- Attitudinal and motivational levels
- Psychosocial behaviors
- Adverse childhood experiences or trauma
- Behavioral functioning
Communication Factors
- Augmentative communication devices
- Assistive technology
- Primary language
- Preferred mode of communication
- Language processing skills
Educational Factors
- Additional eligibilities or exceptionalities
- Attendance consistency and stability
- Early education
- Performance on curriculum-based assessment
- Classroom environment (e.g., acoustics, lighting, participation strategies, interpreter, captioning, technology)
- Access to language throughout day
Family History
- Birth history and results of Universal Newborn Hearing
- Screening
- Medical and audiological histories
- Social and developmental history
- Mode of communication, home language, cultural factors
- Educational history (e.g., grades,portfolios)
- Description of the student’s strengths, weaknesses, and interests
- Description of the student’s temperament and behavior
- Other pertinent information
- Complete adaptive behavior or other inventories, as requested
Psycho-Social-Emotional Factors
- Family history
- Genetic history
- Home language
- Social behavior
- Medical concerns: risk factors (e.g., infections, syndromes, routine medications)
- Mental health
- Family member(s)
- Parent/family knowledge and support
- Hearing status of child
- Hearing status of family member