18th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 3-5, 2019 • Chicago, IL
Norm-Referenced Language Measures Don't Always Detect Language Weaknesses in Children with Hearing Loss: What Should We Do?
Children with hearing loss who use listening and spoken language are increasingly able to perform within the average range on norm-referenced language assessments by the time they reach kindergarten. This “normal” performance often precludes children for qualifying from language services; however, standardized language sample assessment reveals continued language weaknesses for this population. In this presentation, we propose three lines of evidence that should discourage speech-language pathologists and early interventionists from relying on norm-referenced language performance to make service provision and service delivery decisions for children with hearing loss. First, we offer evidence from a comparison of a group of preschool children with hearing loss who scored within the average range on a norm-referenced omnibus language assessment to age-matched peers with normal hearing. The children with hearing loss performed above 80% accuracy in spoken language samples on only 4 of 14 Brown’s grammatical morphemes, whereas children with normal hearing performed above 80% accuracy on all of Brown’s grammatical morphemes. Second, we present evidence that the order of accuracy of Brown’s grammatical morpheme production of children with hearing loss differs from their age-matched peers with normal hearing. Children with hearing loss had particularly low accuracy on high-frequency, bound morphemes. Third, we present evidence that above-average nonverbal intelligence masks language weaknesses in children with hearing loss on norm-referenced measures but not standard measures derived from language samples. We conclude by recommending that professionals responsible for early language assessment for children with hearing loss focus their efforts on deriving standardized measures from language sample analysis rather than norm-referenced measures. We additionally provide suggestions for how to put this recommendation into practice.
- Learners will describe weaknesses of norm-referenced language assessments.
- Learners will describe language weaknesses of children with hearing loss who develop spoken language.
- Learners will describe benefits of using language sample analysis with children with hearing loss.
Poster:
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Presenter: Krystal Werfel
Krystal L. Werfel, PhD, CCC-SLP, is an assistant professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders and director of the Written Language Lab at the University of South Carolina. Her research addresses early language and literacy acquisition in children with hearing loss who use amplification and develop spoken language. Dr. Werfel's research is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Grants for Other activities from NIH.
• Receives Salary for Employment from University of South Carolina.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Emily Lund, PhD, CCC-SLP is an Assistant Professor at Texas Christian University. Her research focuses on assessment and intervention related to spoken and written word learning in children with hearing loss.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Grants for Other activities from NIH/NIDCD.
Nonfinancial -
• Has a Professional (On Hands and Voices F3L Scientific Advisory Board)
relationship for Volunteer membership on advisory committee or review panels.