Classification by the States of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students: It's Not How Much You Hear, But Where You Live

The terminology currently used by the U.S. Department of Education and by the 50 states in gathering data on deaf and hard-of-hearing children and in determining eligibility for services varies widely. That variability results in meaningless, often erroneous and inconsistent statistics, which can lead to invalid research, wasted money, and poor program planning. The problem is documented and recommendations are made for achieving uniformity in defining and applying the terms deaf and hard of hearing.