Syftet med studien är att beskriva och försöka förstå hur en eventuell förändring av identitet/självuppfattning hos personer med hörselskada, som har haft det talade språket som förstaspråk men i vuxen ålder kommer i kontakt med teckenspråket och interagerar med dövkulturen. De karaktäristiska kategorierna som används för att skapa en spridning i närmandet av en beskrivning och förståelse kring mötet med dövkulturen är, kön, ålder och cochlea implantat. Detta för att motsvara den spridning som råder inom den heterogena gruppen hörselskadade. Frågeställningarna som används är: Har kön, ålder och cochlea implantat betydelse för en eventuell förändring kring hur personer med hörselskada samspelar före, under och efter mötet med dövkulturen? och Hur har dessa eventuella förändringar påverkat individens sätt att betrakta sig själv? Resultatet visar att informanterna beskriver hur deras identitet och självuppfattning har förändrats i en positiv riktning under och efter mötet med dövkulturen. Innan mötet med dövkulturen har informanterna betraktat sig som hörande och mötet med dövkulturen har medfört en insikt av hörselskadans konsekvenser. Majoriteten av informanterna betraktar sig numera som hörselskadade, endast en betraktar sig själv som Döv. De yngre informanterna visade sig ha lättare att interagera med dövkulturen under perioden på Västanviks Folkhögskola men att de inte känner sig fullt accepterade i dövgruppen utanför skolan. / The study aims to describe and understand how a possible change of identity/self-perception might happen of people with hard of hearing, who has had spoken Swedish as its first language but as an adult comes in contact with sign language and interact with the deaf culture in Sweden. The characteristic categories are used to create a spread in the rapprochement of the description and understandings of the meeting with deaf culture are gender, age and cochlear implants. This is to reflect the spread that exists within the heterogeneous group of hard of hearing people. The questions used are: Does gender, age and cochlear implants have any significance of any change on how people with hearing loss interact before, during and after the meeting with the deaf culture? And how have these changes affected the individual's way of looking at itself? The results show that the informants described how their identity and self-perception has changed in a positive direction during and after the meeting with the deaf culture. Before meeting with the deaf culture the informants have viewed themselves as hearing and the meeting with the deaf culture has brought an awareness of the effects of a hearing loss. The majority of the informants regard themselves now as hard of hearing, only one considers himself deaf. The younger informants turned out to have an easier time interacting with the deaf culture whilst attending Västanvik Folkhögskola but they do not feel fully accepted in the deaf culture outside the school.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a supplemental vocabulary intervention on the content area vocabulary word and definition knowledge of DHH student in grades K-2, the integrity with which itinerant teachers implemented the supplemental vocabulary intervention, and the effects and benefits of coaching to support treatment integrity. Mixed methods were employed; a single subject multiple baseline across subjects and content design was used to investigate student word and definition knowledge, while quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used to examine the effects of coaching on teachers' treatment integrity. The supplemental vocabulary intervention included explicit and implicit strategies and was designed to fit the context of itinerant teacher services. Various levels of support were employed to coach teachers as they gained familiarity with the intervention and improved their treatment integrity during implementation. Student word and definition knowledge was examined in relation to teacher treatment integrity to determine if teacher implementation had an effect on student outcomes. Results showed a functional relationship between the supplemental vocabulary intervention and student word and definition knowledge. Teachers' treatment integrity was found to have a greater effect on student definition knowledge than word knowledge. Teachers responded positively to the coaching they received, and their implementation improved over the course of the study. Practical and research implications for using supplemental vocabulary instruction with DHH students, as well as the need to provide support to teachers to improve treatment integrity, are discussed.

In this observational study the researcher examined the Academic Engagement of deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students in a co-enrollment setting. Academic Engagement refers to attention, class participation, and time-on-task. Co-Enrollment is a model of group inclusion that provides D/HH students with access to a D/HH peer group as well as access to the general education curriculum. D/HH students typically lag behind their hearing peers in achievement, due in part to difficulties with accessing the general education curriculum both in special schools for the Deaf or self-contained classrooms, as well as in traditional inclusive settings. One way to know if a student has actually had access to, rather than mere exposure to the curriculum is to determine if he has attended to the instruction and participated in the instructional activities. Co-enrollment programming holds promise for addressing the problems with access that D/HH students typically experience in other educational placements; therefore the researcher hypothesized that in this unique setting D/HH students would demonstrate levels of Academic Engagement equal to their hearing peers. The researcher further hypothesized that there would be a relationship between Academic Engagement and the classroom environment, and that this relationship would be similar for D/HH and hearing students. Using a correlational research design, these hypotheses were tested by conducting repeated observations with use of the Mainstream Version of the Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response (MS-CISSAR) for measuring Academic Engagement. Results indicated that D/HH students in a co-enrollment setting were as Academically Engaged as their hearing peers; however they were less engaged in active forms of Academic Engagement (i.e., Academic Responding) than their hearing peers. Associations were found between aspects of Classroom Ecology, such as the size of Instructional Grouping, and the degree of Academic Engagement for both D/HH and hearing students. The associations between Academic Engagement and Classroom Ecology were similar for D/HH and hearing students; however some differences were found as well. The implications of these results are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.

This study examined the effectiveness of function-based interventions applied within a school for the deaf. The participants were elementary-aged males diagnosed as deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) who exhibited chronic off-task behaviors throughout the school day. This study was conducted across two phases: (a) a descriptive functional behavior assessment (FBA) was conducted for each participant and (b) individualized function-based interventions were developed based on the results of the FBAs followed by the implementation of the interventions in each classroom using a single-subject, ABAB reversal design. The function-based interventions significantly improved each participant's on-task behavior in his classroom environment. Furthermore, social validity ratings by each teacher revealed that the interventions were effective, easy to implement, and appropriate for each participant. Implications for application of the procedures used in this study with the D/HH population, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

This study surveyed Teachers of the Deaf in New Zealand who worked with a year 4 or year 8 student in 2006. The aim was to establish which assessments these teachers used and the extent to which the assessments influenced the IEP process and the teacher’s daily practice. The question was raised as to which assessments might provide reliable valid data to track the development of deaf and hearing-impaired students in New Zealand. The key findings from the study included that Teachers of the Deaf use assessments commonly used in deaf education more often than classroom assessments, but do make significant use of running records as well. There were differences between the two Deaf Education Centres use of assessment, and also disparity in the ways teachers arrive at assessment decisions such as allocating a curriculum level to a learning area. There was variance between the assessments used by a Teacher of the Deaf working in a satellite classroom, and the assessments completed by itinerant Resource Teachers of the Deaf. There appeared to be deaf students on Resource Teacher of the Deaf caseloads who were not assessed in mathematics by either the class teacher or the Teacher of the Deaf and the level of support by Teachers of the Deaf in mathematics is low. From within the complex picture of the assessment landscape for deaf students there are a number of signposts for future direction suggested by this study. These are: the need for a national assessment policy for deaf students; the need for data to be gathered nationally about the achievement of deaf students; sustained professional development around Teacher of the Deaf, common classroom assessments and national assessment tools; a closer look at the marking guidelines for Formal Retells and the need for student self-assessment practices to be further encouraged.

Communication processes can be affected by stigma – a negative evaluation of an individual’s attributes that discredits or identifies the individual as not normal (Goffman, 1963). One such communicative process that is affected by stigma is disclosure. Disclosure is when individuals share personal information that reveals something not previously known (Charmaz, 1991). One such group of individuals who may be forced to choose between disclosing (to get accommodations or social support) and avoiding stigma (by not disclosing) is individuals with disabilities (Braithwaite, 1991; Charmaz, 1991). This study focuses on one particular population of individuals with disabilities – those with a hearing loss. Through the use of interactive interviewing and Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory, this study examines hard of hearing and deaf individuals’ perceptions of both the disclosure process and stigma. CPM examines how and why people conceal or reveal private information, such as hearing loss (Petronio, 1991, 2002). Using CPM, this study poses research questions surrounding how hard of hearing individuals disclose and manage turbulence surrounding their hearing loss. Further, participants’ perceptions and responses to stigma surrounding hearing loss are also examined. Based on the participants’ responses, managing the boundaries surrounding their hearing loss includes considerations of identity, the other person/people in the interaction, risks of not disclosing, timing, and how much to disclose. Further, participants viewed boundary turbulence as positive only when it was helpful; otherwise, they reported a feeling of a loss of control. In examining stigma and other consequences of disclosure, participants talked about being labeled, not being worth others’ time, and being seen as incapable. Finally, participants reported a wide variety of responses to stigma surrounding their hearing loss. In this study, I also discuss the implications of these findings, both theoretical and practical implications, and how they reflect the lives of the deaf and hard of hearing. Finally, I address the directions for future research on this topic as well as the limitations to this study.

Contemporary scholars have been studying audiovisual translation for the past twenty years. However, health communication has never yet been included as a part of the audiovisual material under discussion. The goal of this thesis is to create Russian subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing from the original English version of The Three Amigos, a series of PSAs (Public service announcements) regarding the prevention of HIV/AIDS, and to analyse and discuss the theoretical and practical aspects of this work. After analysing the current situation on HIV/AIDS in Russia and Belarus, I use this series entitled The Three Amigos as an example of health communication that works, and therefore, should be accessible to more viewers. The thesis is organised into three chapters. Following a general introduction, Chapter 1 discusses health communication, presents statistics on HIV/AIDS in Russia and Belarus, and provides an example of health communication that fulfills its functions – public service announcements on HIV/AIDS prevention in the form of The Three Amigos. Chapter 2 discusses the necessity of subtitling for the target audience, and emphasises the fact that people with hearing impairment need special subtitles that differ from the ones that are suitable for viewers without hearing impairment. Chapter 3 contains the analysis of the subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing that I created for this project. Finally, the conclusion summarises the findings of this research, and addresses possible directions for future projects on this topic.

Data from a growing number of research studies indicate that children with hearing loss are delayed in Theory of Mind (ToM) development when compared to their typically developing, hearing peers. While other researchers have studied the developmental trajectories of ToM in school-age students who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH), a limited number have addressed the need for interventions for this population. The present study extends the current research on ToM interventions to the PreKindergarten and Kindergarten levels. This study used a single-case multiple-baseline multiple-probe across skills design with replications across classrooms to examine the effects of a ToM intervention on participants’ false belief understanding as well as outcomes on a near generalization measure (i.e., Sally-Anne Task, Baron-Cohen, Firth, Leslie, 1985) and a far generalization measure (i.e., five-task ToM developmental scale, Wellman & Liu, 2004). A thought bubble intervention (i.e., a visual representation of what people are thinking) developed by Wellman and Peterson (2013) was modified in key areas: (a) participants were substantially younger than the population in the original study and thus required a pre-teaching phase addressing vocabulary and materials, (b) manipulable materials were created from the description provided in the Wellman and Peterson (2013) study along with parallel materials used in assessment probes, (c) a certified teacher of DHH children provided direct instruction to participants in a small group setting, (d) study length was increased to 25 weeks, and (e) methodological design change (i.e., group design to single-case design). These modifications addressed the need for evidence-based ToM interventions that are both proactive and easily implemented by teachers in a classroom setting. Results from the single-case design portion of the study indicate a functional relation between the thought bubble intervention and the participants’ acquisition of the targeted skills in each stage, although progress was not uniform. Results from the pre-post assessments indicate that the children did make progress up the scale, however, children who used spoken language tended to proceed faster through the stages than those who used sign language. These results inform the field in regard to the efficacy and feasibility of a ToM intervention for young DHH children.

abstract: Children with hearing impairment are at risk for poor attainment in reading decoding and reading comprehension, which suggests they may have difficulty with early literacy skills prior to learning to read. The first purpose of this study was to determine if young children with hearing impairment differ from their peers with normal hearing on early literacy skills and also on three known predictors of early literacy skills – non-verbal cognition, executive functioning, and home literacy environment. A second purpose was to determine if strengths and weaknesses in early literacy skills of individual children with hearing impairment are associated with degree of hearing loss, non-verbal cognitive ability, or executive functioning. I assessed seven children with normal hearing and 10 children with hearing impairment on assessments of expressive vocabulary, expressive morphosyntax, listening comprehension, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, non-verbal cognition, and executive functioning. Two children had unilateral hearing loss, two had mild hearing loss and used hearing aids, two had moderate hearing loss and used hearing aids, one child had mild hearing loss and did not use hearing aids, and three children used bilateral cochlear implants. Parents completed a questionnaire about their home literacy environment. Findings showed large between-group effect sizes for phonological awareness, morphosyntax, and executive functioning, and medium between-group effect sizes for expressive vocabulary, listening comprehension, and non-verbal cognition. Visual analyses provided no clear pattern to suggest that non-verbal cognition or degree of hearing loss were associated with individual patterns of performance for children with hearing impairment; however, three children who seemed at risk for reading difficulties had executive functioning scores that were at the floor. Most prekindergarten and kindergarten children with hearing impairment in this study appeared to be at risk for future reading decoding and reading comprehension difficulties. Further, based on individual patterns of performance, risk was not restricted to one type of early literacy skill and a strength in one skill did not necessarily indicate a child would have strengths in all early literacy skills. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate all early literacy skills to pinpoint skill deficits and to prioritize intervention goals. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Speech and Hearing Science 2017