Psychological assessment procedures for assessing deaf or hard-of-hearing children

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of deaf or hard-of-hearing development, with particular relevance to emerging cognitive skills. A contextual approach is adopted, emphasising linguistic, cultural and ‘non-verbal’ factors. Some generic assessment considerations are provided for the optimal, evidence-based assessment of deaf or hard-of-hearing children. Thereafter, a number of potentially useful psychometric tools are described. The limitation of adopting a purely standardised approach to assessment with this population is discussed. Finally, a coherent model of assessment pertinent to this population is depicted, that is, a ‘situated cognition’ model emphasising fluidity and the importance of the wider context when evaluating performances with this group of children, but suitably adapted to take account of within-child factors.