Research Project: Validation of Evidence-based Assessment Strategies to Promote Achievement in Children WhoAre Deafblind

View Power Point Presentation by Harvey Mar detailing current status and project findings as of August, 2006

Background. Children who are deaf-blind are often labeled "difficult to test," implying that the fault lies with the children as opposed to the assessment instruments. Assessments developed for children without disabilities or for children with vision impairment, hearing impairment, or developmental disabilities may have some applicability for children who are deaf-blind, but they are unlikely to be completely appropriate without adaptations. Some assessments developed specifically for children who are deaf-blind are not supported by extensive reliability or validity studies. If we question the quality of the assessments conducted on children who are deaf-blind, then we must also question the quality of the educational decisions and the instructional programs that are based upon those assessment efforts. This five-year project was funded to address the problems related to assessment of 2-8 year old children who are deaf-blind.

Goals. The goals of the project are to:

• " identify instruments used to assess children ages 2-8 who are deaf-blind and the purposes for which they are used; "
• conduct validation studies on instruments that are used to generate instructional goals and to monitor student progress; "
• replicate the validation studies in multiple sites; "
• produce final products that summarize the descriptive and outcome data generated by these studies, translating the data into recommendations for the use of specific assessment instruments for children demonstrating specific characteristics.

The assessment instruments to be validated will be ones that address communication/social development and cognitive development. Project results are expected to promote high-quality assessment of children who are deaf blind, which will generate appropriate educational goals related to communication, social, and cognitive development.

Current status. Surveys about assessment practices for parents and professionals were developed and distributed across the country over the summer with the help of many state deaf-blind projects. The data will be analyzed in the fall, and decisions will be made regarding which assessment instruments will be validated in the remaining years of the project.

Project co-investigators:
Oregon Health and Science University (Dr. Charity Rowland, Philip Schweigert)

University of Texas at Dallas (Dr. Robert Stillman)

California State University-Northridge (Dr. Deborah Chen)

St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital/Columbia University (Dr. Harvey Mar)

National Family Association for Deaf-Blind

Research Project: Functional Inventory: Project to Identify Criterion-Related Validity and Interrater Reliability Hearing

Background. Deafblindness is a multifaceted disability that impacts an individual in compound and complex ways. Children who are deafblind require instruction in the use of residual hearing and vision and appropriate access to the environments in which they live and learn. The development of goals and objectives for educational intervention should be based on the needs of each individual child as revealed through appropriate assessment. Information about a child’s access to the environment is an important part of the assessment process (Olson, Miles, & Riggio, 1999).

Purpose. The Functional Hearing Inventory (FHI) was developed to obtain information about how deafblind children use residual hearing within their natural environments. It was designed to be both diagnostic and prescriptive by providing a process to record a child’s present level of functional hearing as well as a way to focus intervention strategies. The information obtained from the inventory can be used to plan educational programs that optimize the use of hearing to develop language and communication skills, document a child’s progress in the development and use of residual hearing, and guide environmental adaptations. Access to the environment is crucial for the development of communication and language. The information gleaned from the FHI can be used to help parents and educators manipulate environmental background noise levels in the classroom or at home, maximize students’ use of residual hearing, and provide a better listening environment for learning.

Goal. The goal of this five-year project is to establish the validity and reliability of the FHI as a tool to provide accurate information about the use of hearing by students with deafblindness. Approximately 180 students will be assessed, rigorous field testing of the FHI Instruction Manual will be conducted to assure clarity of its instructions and procedures, and a training CD-ROM will be developed. Training activities on the use of the FHI will be held and the completed FHI materials will be disseminated.

Current Status. Members of observational teams from the three participating universities have been trained, and interrater reliability has been established among team members. Approval from the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects at all three universities was obtained. So far, the FHI has been administered to students in six states. Additional students are being recruited.

Project co-investigators:

Roseanna Davidson, Ed.D, Texas Tech University

Pamela Broadston, Ed.D, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

B. J. LeJeune, M.Ed., Mississippi State University-RRTC

Research Project: Promoting Communication Outcomes through Adapted Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching for Children Who Are Deaf-Blind

History. Communication is a primary concern for children who are deaf-blind. A number of different intervention approaches have been tried in recent years, in an effort to address communication difficulties between children with deaf-blindness and their communication partners. However, a substantial need exists for research demonstrating which strategies work best. One of the greatest needs is for research-based approaches for children whose communication abilities are at a prelinguistic level (before the development of language). At present, the most well-researched strategy for promoting prelinguistic communication is Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching (PMT). This strategy focuses on increasing a child’s rate and variety of prelinguistic communication, including conventional gestures and vocalizations. In the PMT model, children are taught to communicate within motivating, naturalistic routines, and their primary communication partners are taught to respond to their communicative attempts in appropriate ways. Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching has proven effective for increasing prelinguistic communication skills and has been associated with improved language outcomes for children who have significantly delayed language associated with cognitive disabilities. This set of teaching strategies has not, however, been implemented with children who are deaf-blind.

Purpose. The purpose of this current research project is to study the effects of adapted PMT strategies with 12 students in the northeast Kansas area. The intervention will also be replicated in Wichita and Indiana. Researchers from the University of Kansas and Indiana State University have developed an assessment protocol to measure the communicative behaviors of young children who are participants in the study using Dimensions of Communication (Mar & Sall, 1999) as a framework. The assessment framework consists of (1) family interviews; (2) videotaped observations of the child during unstructured activities, structured instructional activities, and meal time (at least one of these activities needs to be with peers); (3) vision, hearing, and cognitive records; (4) 10 structured assessment activities designed to provide children opportunities to request and to comment; and (5) the Promoting Communication Outcomes (PCO) Environmental Checklist, a tool developed by the project investigators for this study. This assessment protocol will be used to measure communication development during baseline and pre- and post-intervention phases.

Current Status. Over 12 participants between the ages of three and seven years are participating in the study. Currently, baseline data are being collected on children from the greater Kansas City area, Topeka, and Lawrence. A coding manual of intentional communicative behaviors is being developed. Coding of the videotapes will be conducted within the next two months. The results of the assessments and data coding will determine participant eligibility. At the end of the six-month baseline period, assessment data will be collected to determine any communication development. If the participants continue to qualify, they will be divided into groups of three. Each group will participate in structured intervention activities one hour per day, four days a week. Additional participants will be identified from Wichita and from Indianapolis and Evansville, Indiana, during the third year of the project.

Project co-investigators:

.Nancy Brady, Ph.D., Susan Bashinski, Ph.D., and Joan Houghton, Ed.D., Life Span Institute of the University of Kansas

Karen Goehl, M.S., The Blumberg Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Special Education, Indiana State University

Read: Adapted Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching for Children Who Are Deaf-Blind from Deaf-Blind Perspectives, vol. 14, #, October 2006.