Abstract

As the number of Hispanic individuals in the United States increases, so does the number of Hispanic hearing impaired children. This trend gives cause for concern within current educational systems because research suggests that Hispanic hearing impaired students demonstrate a lower rate of scholastic success than hearing and deaf peers (Bennett, 1988). One step toward solving this problem is to reexamine educational and assessment techniques employed with this diverse population. A logical first stage would include construction of demographic "profiles" or descriptions of student populations. The present study provides such information and identifies the unique characteristics of Hispanic students at the Texas School for the Deaf. The author discusses trilingual (ASL/English/Spanish) situations and problems related to multilingual home and school environments. A model is proposed for language instruction and support services programs.

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