Standard 6: Persons Conducting the Specialized Assessment

The assessment of students who are D/HH, including those who are deafblind and those with multiple disabilities, must be conducted by licensed professionals who are knowledgeable about hearing (and vision) loss, who are skilled in administering the assessment tools, who are skilled in interpreting the results to ensure non-discriminatory testing, and who have the requisite communication skills. The family also performs a vital role in providing information as part of the assessment team.

Qualified professionals must gather background information and/or administer tests in each domain. These domains include:

• Audiological, to be performed by a pediatric or educational audiologist
• Health, to be performed by a nurse/physician
• Vision, to be performed by a vision specialist who has experience working with students who are D/HH
• Motor, to be performed by a physical therapist or occupational therapist who has experience working with students who are D/HH
• Psychological, to be performed by a psychologist who has expertise and experience working with children who are deaf/hard of hearing children.
• Speech and language, to be performed by a speech language pathologist and an ASL specialist/evaluator, if relevant.
• Cognition, to be performed by a psychologist who has experience working with students who are D/HH
• Academics/pre-academics, to be performed by a teacher of the deaf, intervention specialist, or psychologist
• Adaptive/self-advocacy skills, to be performed by a teacher of the deaf, intervention specialist, or psychologist
• Family needs, to be performed by parent mentor or social worker.
• Career/vocational interests and options, to be performed by a vocational rehabilitation counselor or transition specialist.
• Augmentative Communication Devices/Systems

It is recommended that the local educational agencies recognize their limitations on providing educational evaluations/assessments to the students who are D/HH to seek out professionals with the necessary expertise to assess students. The specialized professionals, who are knowledgeable of the assessment tools for students, can assist the local education agencies by assessing the students and providing the assessments in the student’s primary communication mode, as well as provide a dialogue on program placement concerns, address concerns over lack of progress, behavioral problems, specific learning problems, or a need for further instructional programming guidance.

In conjunction with local professionals, specialized professionals who are knowledgeable in the unique needs of students who are D/HH can work with the team to perform assessments of the student. The team can collect information through formal and informal testing, observation, and family interviews. At the end of the evaluation, the team meets with the family and appropriate school personnel to discuss the diagnostic findings and to outline educational recommendations for the student.

The Outreach Center for Deafness and Blindness at OCALI (The Outreach Center) provides resources for school districts, families, and communities serving students who are D/HH or blind/visually impaired. The goal of the Outreach Center is to increase access and equity for students, families, and communities through connections, resources, and supports as a means of supporting students where they are, with what they need, when they need it, to learn, grow, and live their best possible lives.

For education teams seeking assistance or direct support with assessments for students who are D/HH, the Department of Education and Workforce offers direct support through the Statewide Services Assessment Team located at the Ohio School for the Deaf.

Note: Special consideration should be made to ensure all hearing technologies (i.e. hearing aids, cochlear implants, FM systems, etc.) and vision assistance devices (glasses, magnifier, etc.) that a student uses to facilitate and understand communication be present and in good working order. The evaluator may need the assistance of another professional, such as an educational audiologist or teacher of the deaf or teacher of the visually impaired, to ensure the assistive device is working properly and the student has access to the evaluation materials and evaluator.