Examining the appropriateness of nonverbal measures of intelligence with deaf and hard-of-hearing children: a critical review of the literature

There are a variety of assessment instruments available today that are widely used to assess the intellectual abilities of children. Specific considerations should be made when using these instruments to assess the deaf and hard-of-hearing population. This critical review of the literature begins with a brief overview of the D-HH population, a general history of intellectual assessment, and assessment considerations that are specific to the D-HH population. Information obtained from available literature regarding the internal consistency of six assessment instruments is presented. The instruments reviewed include the UNIT, the Leiter-R, the WISC-IV, the SB5, the CTONI, and the CAS. The results indicated that all of the measures examined show sufficient reliability and validity when applied to the general population. However, Braden (2005) has suggested that a measurement instrument is appropriate for a particular group when similar reliability and validity values are found for that group as for the general population. Of the measures examined, CTONI reported internal consistency studies with a subgroup of D-HH children in the manual. Additional independent research on the internal consistency of the UNIT and the WISC-IV is available. The literature review suggests that there are several factors that can influence test results when working with the D-HH population that have not been examined through independent research to date. Areas of interest for future research are presented