Best Practices in Assessment of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students: The Impact of Training on School Psychologists' Cultural Competency and Perceived Self-Efficacy

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a brief training on the cultural competence and perceived self-efficacy of school psychologists without formal training in working with deaf and hard-of-hearing (d/Dhh) students. Participants were trained on Deaf culture and best practices in the assessment of d/Dhh individuals. In Phase one, 11 school psychologists with expertise in working with d/Dhh students completed a survey to gather information about indicators of practices inconsistent with best practices that they have encountered when reading reports written by general school psychologists assessing these students. In Phase two, the researcher gave a presentation to 31 general school psychologists from two different school districts in the Northeastern United States. The presentation was based on the characteristics of Deaf culture, as well as on information from the National Association of School Psychologists position paper related to best practices in serving d/Dhh students. Pre- and post-test results were examined. The results of the pre- and post-tests showed a significant increase in cultural competence among participants as measured by the increase in scores from pre-tests to post-tests and a significant increase in their willingness to make a referral to a qualified professional when asked to assess a d/Dhh student. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]