New Tests for Identifying Hearing-Impaired Students with Visual Perceptual Deficits: Relationship Between Deficits and Ability to Comprehend Sign Language

This article describes two tests designed specifically for hearing-impaired students, the Test of Visual Perceptual Abilities and the Test of Spatial Perception in Sign Language. Both tests were used in a research project involving 682 hearing-impaired students. Resulting data separate students with strong visual perceptual abilities from those whose visual perceptual deficits interfere with their ability to comprehend sign language. The Test of Visual Perceptual Abilities differs from currently used tests of visual perception in that it contains dynamic stimuli, is administered to groups, and is appropriate for hearing-impaired students, ages 8 through 18 years.