The assessment needs of families with children who are deaf and hard of hearing referred for an autism spectrum disorder evaluation

With the increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), clinicians and schools are receiving a larger number of assessment referrals for eligibility or diagnostic clarification of ASD in children who are deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH). Meeting this increasing demand is often difficult giv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology in the schools 2020-03, Vol.57 (3), p.475-484
Main Authors: Dale, Brittany A., Neild, Raschelle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American Sign Language
ASD
assessment
Autism
Autistic children
Child Language
Children
Clinical Diagnosis
D/HH
Deaf Interpreting
Deafness
Evaluation Methods
Families & family life
Family Needs
Hearing Impairments
Hearing loss
Interpreters
Language proficiency
Language Skills
Needs Assessment
Parents & parenting
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Psychologists
Referral
Referrals
School psychologists
Specialists
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Summary:With the increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), clinicians and schools are receiving a larger number of assessment referrals for eligibility or diagnostic clarification of ASD in children who are deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH). Meeting this increasing demand is often difficult given not all assessment professionals seek specialized ASD training and even fewer have experience working with D/HH children. Therefore, families are disadvantaged because of the lack of assessment professionals who specialize in both these areas. School psychologists without such experience are at‐risk for misinterpreting or missing key diagnostic information. This study explored the assessment experiences of four families of D/HH children who have ASD. Hearing parents’ and D/HH parents’ perspectives were gathered to explore the family needs. An open‐ended survey asked parents to recall the assessment techniques utilized during the process and relate how their child's language skills were accounted for by the clinician. Parent responses revealed interpreters were utilized for various reasons unique to each family. Families expressed difficulty finding ASD specialists who had experience working with D/HH children. This study highlights the importance of selecting a trained interpreter and emphasizes the need of more professionals who have experience assessing ASD in D/HH children.
ISSN:0033-3085
1520-6807
DOI:10.1002/pits.22328