Section 2: Assessment of Unique Needs

Purposes and Procedures of the Assessment Plan

Assessment is conducted for multiple purposes including determining eligibility and educational need, developing intervention goals, guiding program planning, tracking progress over time, post-secondary transitioning and providing the school team and family a more complete picture of the learner. DEA 2004 requires that a variety of assessment tools and strategies be used to gather relevant functional, developmental, and academic information about the students. Department of Education and Workforce has provided a list of approved assessments to measure the student’s’ progress. No single measure or assessment can be used as the sole criterion for eligibility determination.

For students who are D/HH, assessment must always consider the developmental areas most impacted by hearing loss, e.g., language, audition, and communication, as well as how various environmental conditions impact performance in these areas. Due to the unique nature of hearing loss, assessments should be completed by or with the assistance of deaf education professionals: a teacher of the deaf, educational audiologist, ASL interpreter with clinical experience, ASL specialist, speech and language pathologist and pupil services professionals (PT, OT, school psychologist) with experience working with students who are D/HH. Further, assessment must be in an environment that is free from visual and auditory distractions to increase the validity of the test performance. Physically positioning the examiner and student in a way to facilitate communication will be important. For example, sitting across from the student will be preferable, and ensuring that the examiner is not seated in front of a window, where bright light coming through could cause a head shadow and obscure lipreading cues or facial grammar of persons who communicate manually.

Students who are D/HH are assessed from the time of initial hearing loss identification through post-secondary transition until they exit special education. The primary objective when assessing a student who is D/HH must be to ensure that language is not a barrier to an accurate assessment.

The first goal of the assessment process is to gather valid information about the student’s present level of functioning in the school or home setting, or both, in order to determine eligibility for special education. If eligible, the assessment data is then used to construct a plan (an Individual Family Service Plan, IFSP, for the family of infants and toddler up to age 3, or an Individual Educational Program, IEP, or a 504 Plan for student age 3 and older) to meet the student’s special needs. The second goal of assessment is to identify appropriate services that address the identified goals. Finally, assessment is also used to monitor educational progress and assist with transition.

In assessing and identifying the unique needs of students who are D/HH, consideration should be given to a variety of aspects of the student’s developmental history that may contribute to his/her current individual performance.

These include:

• Family history
• Health and developmental histories
• Age of onset and age of diagnosis of hearing loss
• Type, severity, and etiology of hearing loss
• Age of amplification
• Use and consistency of use of hearing device/amplification
• Potential for use of residual hearing
• Cognitive ability
• Preferred communication evaluation modality
• Primary language used in the home
• Expressive and receptive language ability (in spoken English, sign supported speech, and/or ASL)
• Visual ability acuity
• Multiple disabling conditions
• Preferred communication approach (based on data)
• Educational history
• Family values, goals, and philosophy

Accommodations that provide full access to the procedure and minimize communication barriers must be used during all assessment activities. These may include sign, captions, demonstration and/or hearing and hearing assistance technology. Assessment should not proceed until accommodations that provide the student’s full access to the procedure are instituted.

Family involvement during the assessment process is crucial to obtain information needed to ensure an accurate profile of the student’s abilities and to accurately make decisions regarding communication and educational recommendations.

Assessment data may be collected through:

• Observations
• Family interviews (including a report of the history of communication approaches used to date)
• Medical and audiological history
• Gathering of developmental/educational information
• Play assessment
• Developmental scales
• Norm and criterion-referenced tests
• Performance-based assessments
• Portfolios
• Career/vocational interests/skills inventories
• Gathering of other appropriate information, such as grades, portfolios, etc.
• Parent and educator completed questionnaires
• Videotape recordings and associated analyses

Standardized Versus Non-Standardized Assessments

The nature of hearing loss and the linguistic differences of many students who are D/HH can affect the administration, performance, and interpretation of typical assessment protocols. Although few instruments have been standardized for deaf and hard-of-hearing populations, these assessments may be useful for some children. In addition to special modifications, they provide norms for deaf children. While in some cases it is preferable to use assessments normed on students who are D/HH, in many cases, it is appropriate to use the same assessments that are normed on hearing children with cautious interpretation. These assessments allow professionals to compare the development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children to hearing children. The goal of education for students who are D/HH is development and achievement at a commensurate level to their hearing peers. Assessors need to determine when to use a standardized instrument, to modify standardized instruments developed for hearing children, or to use instruments that have been standardized for students who are D/HH. The use of modifications may affect the validity of the standardized procedures, but the appropriate interpretation of assessment data under these conditions may justify the use of modifications. Modifications may include, but are not limited to, substituting the medium of the presentation of questions (i.e. using text) and accepting responses in the communication modality most comfortable for the child. Modifications may include, but are not limited to, using a different communication approach (e.g., sign language or cued speech), using a different method to present the test (e.g., written, oral, or demonstration), and/or rephrasing questions.

When a standardized test, even with accommodations or modifications, is determined by the IEP team to be inappropriate for a specific student, alternative assessments should be used as specified in the IFSP/IEP/504 Plan. The results of the alternative assessments, communication mode, and presentation modifications must be included in the assessment report.