The Insufficiency of Norm-Referenced Writing Assessment for Identifying Writing Weaknesses in Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Brittany Grey, Marren C Brooks, Emily A Lund and 1 others
PMID 40712589WHAT IT FOUND
A widely used norm-referenced writing test scores most deaf and hard of hearing children as average, but a grade-level rubric rates over half as not proficient.
Do not rely on standard scores alone for eligibility; use criterion-referenced measures aligned with curriculum standards.
Key findings
01At least 90% of participants in each group (typical hearing, cochlear implant, and hearing aid) scored in the average or above-average range on the norm-referenced TEWL-3.
02When the same writing samples were scored with the criterion-referenced 6 + 1 Trait Rubric, less than half of the children with cochlear implants or hearing aids met the borderline or proficient threshold, compared to 68% of typical hearing peers.
03The norm-referenced test showed strong internal consistency and interrater reliability across all groups, but its standard scores did not align with grade-level expectations defined by the criterion-referenced rubric.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Fidelity of test administration was not monitored, although examiners were certified SLPs. The study focused on second-grade children who use spoken English, so results may not generalize to children who use sign language or other grades. The sample size for the hearing aid group was smaller (n=29) than the typical hearing group (n=50).
Declared interests
Funded by grants from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret an 'average' standard score on a norm-referenced writing test as evidence that a child who is deaf or hard of hearing has met grade-level writing expectations. The study shows that these tests compare children to a peer group that largely fails to meet curriculum standards, so an average score can still represent a significant writing deficit.
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 →