The following
Review Guidelines are intended to help service providers and individuals
involved in personnel preparation determine the congruence between
the beliefs, values, and practices of the individuals in your community
and current recommended practices in early childhood/special education.
The
Review Guidelines will first help you consider the overall
effectiveness of presentation of a material. Next, questions follow
which pertain specifically to the content area of
Deaf and Hard
of Hearing.
It is important to realize that no material is likely to match
the exact needs of individuals in your community. Therefore, in
many instances, you may wish to make some simple adaptations
to the materials before using them.
A separate set of Review Guidelines is available to help
select materials that have been translated from one language
to another. In addition, other suggestions for choosing materials
are available on the CLAS Web site (http://clas.illinois.edu).
It is our hope that you may use these Review Guidelines
to engage in meaningful dialogue with families and colleagues
in your community, as you decide which materials to use in your
early childhood setting.
Effectiveness
of Presentation
Please
respond to all that apply.
Clarity
- Is the purpose of the material clear?
- Is the presentation of the information easy to follow?
- If there are directions on how to use the material, are they
clearly stated?
- Does the material include an effective explanation of
technical terms or jargon?
- Does the language in the material acknowledge diversity (e.g.,
family structures, multi-generations, disabilities, gender,
ethnicity, socio-economic status, religion, etc.)?
- Is the format (e.g., print, audio, video, etc.) appropriate
for the intended users of this material?
- Are contact agencies or persons for accessing additional information
or support easily identifiable?
Comprehension Level
- Easy = mainly simple sentences
with minimal or no technical jargon;
- Average = a mix of simple and
complex sentences with some technical jargon (e.g., USA Today);
- Difficult = mainly complex sentences
with a lot of technical jargon or discipline-specific terms
(e.g., College-level text or New York Times).
- For printed materials, the reading level of the material is:
Easy | Average
| Difficult |
N/A
- For video and audio materials, the comprehension level of
the material is:
Easy | Average | Difficult | N/A
Graphics,
Illustrations and Photos
Do the graphics:
- Represent a non-stereotypical view of cultural (e.g., contemporary
dress) and linguistic groups?
- Represent a wide variety of groups (e.g., disabilities, gender,
race, generation)?
- Enhance the materials (e.g., photo prints and designs are
appropriate and of high quality)?
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Establishing a Healthy Relationship
Between Providers and Families
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To what extent does
- The material acknowledge unique circumstances of children
who are deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) (e.g., a deaf child who
may have multiple languages and cultures to master)?
- The material emphasize the importance of providers and families
establishing a comfortable relationship prior to identifying,
assessing, and addressing a child's developmental needs (e.g.,
understanding values and beliefs)?
- The material acknowledge that children who are D/HH may have
parents who are hearing or deaf?
- The material acknowledge the importance of employing service
providers who respect and are knowledgeable about the cultures
and spoken or signed languages of the families served?
- The material encourage providers to engage in self-reflection
regarding their role, assumptions, and beliefs and how they
may be perceived by the family (e.g., supportive, interfering,
guiding, intrusive)?
- The material encourage professionals to clarify their
role with families and to gather information regarding family
expectations?
- The material offer strategies to address conflict or misunderstanding
that may arise between suggested interventions and families'
preferences (e.g., speech-language therapy, cochlear implants,
sign language instruction, etc.)?
- The material acknowledge the importance of developing
a climate of mutual respect and trust by responding to family
concerns as they arise (e.g., answering questions, providing
resources, changing the intervention program)?
To what extent
- Does the material clearly state the communication method/orientation
(e.g., oral only or total communication) it adopts for
D/HH children?
- Is the material up-to-date in its handling or representation
of current trends, technologies, and methodologies with D/HH
children (e.g., cochlear implants, ASL/ESL schools)?
- Is the material appropriate for D/HH children in many placement
options (e.g., residential school, self-contained classroom,
inclusive classroom)?
- Does the material include terminology that would be considered
appropriate within a cultural framework of the deaf community
(e.g., "deaf/hard of hearing" vs. "hearing-impaired")?
- Does the material focus on both the spoken language development
of a D/HH child and the potential for sign language development?
- Does the material promote a positive image of the deaf child,
one with a natural potential for successful language and cognitive
development?
- Does the material promote the involvement of deaf professionals
and other members of the deaf community on assessment and intervention
teams when appropriate (e.g., service providers, interpreters,
cultural brokers)?
- Does the material include information acknowledging a variety
of caregiving practices and the impact they may have on the
child's development?
- Does the material suggest ways to obtain information and
build on the caregiver's belief about his or her own role in
supporting the child's development?
- Does the material acknowledge that family members may differ
in their availability or desire to participate in intervention
activities, which may increase or decrease over time?
- Does the material suggest intervention strategies and materials
that can be embedded within the family's routines and environments?
Does the material acknowledge the importance of using games,
fingerplays, or songs that are familiar to the family to teach
skills?
- Does the material encourage strategies that address multiple
domains of development as opposed to a singular focus during
intervention?
- Does the material encourage intervention strategies that
take into account the environment in which the family lives
(e.g., living space, safety considerations) and in which
the intervention will be delivered (e.g. home, school, community)?
Strategies should be environmentally sensitive and may vary
according to setting.
- Does the material emphasize that intervention services must
be consistent with what is required under IDEA?
To what extent does the material
- Identify potential short-term outcomes for both the caregiver
and/or the child?
- Identify potential long-term outcomes for both the caregiver
and/or the child?
- Specify the cultural and linguistic groups with whom the approach
has been used?
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Evaluating Impact and Appropriateness
of Intervention and Services
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To what extent
- Is there evidence that the developers of this material consulted
or collaborated with the deaf community in the development and
evaluation of the material?
- Does the material suggest ways of ensuring that outcomes are
important and meaningful to the families as well as the service
providers?
- Does the material encourage providers and families to systematically
evaluate the effectiveness of instructions based on the child's
responses and outcomes?
- Does the material encourage providers to systematically evaluate
the appropriateness of the interventions with families based
on their changing needs and preferences?
- Does the material include a variety of options for gathering
information from families (e.g., interviews, observations,
checklists, etc.) that respect families cultural and
linguistic background and considers families level of
acculturation?
The following two questions are intended
to deepen the analysis of the ways materials address issues
of diversity. In some cases, these issues may have been addressed
in the preceding questions. |
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Does
the material acknowledge and address complex and sometimes
subtle aspects of diversity as they relate to the
deaf and hard of hearing, such as:
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- Power (refers to the division of members of society
into levels with unequal access to resources, knowledge, and
authority)
- Racism (refers to systems advantage based on race)
- Prejudice (refers to an adverse judgment or opinion
based on preconceived beliefs and ideas about different groups)
- Socio-Economic Class (refers to the division of society
into levels with unequal wealth and prestige)
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Are
there any spoken or unspoken assumptions, values, or beliefs
in this material that could conflict with the delivery of
culturally and linguistically appropriate services (e.g.,
assuming all parents view themselves as advocates or equal
partners)?
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