Screening for psychological problems in deaf and hard of hearing students.
Nynke Dethmers, Harry Knoors, Constance Vissers and 2 others
PMID 40256894WHAT IT FOUND
Teachers identified significantly more psychological problems in deaf students than parents did.
Internalizing issues spiked in secondary students with negative life circumstances. Screening must use multi-informant assessments and explicitly ask about trauma to catch these risks.
Key findings
01Teachers reported significantly more psychological problems (16.1%) than parents (10.1%), indicating a strong context effect.
02Students with negative life circumstances showed higher prevalence of problems than those without, in both home and school settings.
03Secondary students had significantly more internalizing problems than externalizing ones, unlike primary students.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study only included students in special education, so results may not apply to deaf students in mainstream schools. Negative life circumstances were assessed descriptively without a standardized Adverse Childhood Experience questionnaire. A significant portion of students (28.7%) were not screened, potentially skewing prevalence data if those students had higher or lower risks. The study is observational and cannot determine causality between negative life circumstances and psychological problems.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that low parent-reported scores mean a student is psychologically healthy. Teachers identified significantly more problems, suggesting that school-based observations are critical for detecting issues that may not manifest at home.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →