FY 2008 Annual Report of Achievements - Gallaudet University

A-16
College of Professional Studies and Outreach
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Social Workers: Licensing and Employment Equity
Status: Ongoing Begin date: January 1, 2003 End date: No set date
Principal Investigator(s):
Mounty, Judith L. – College of Professional Studies and Outreach, Language Planning Institute
Mason, Teresa Crowe – Social Work
Description:
This project gathered information about deaf and hard of hearing social workers’
experiences with: preparation for practice in their chosen profession, licensure, licensing tests, and
professional employment. The project entailed the administration of a survey to a national sample of
deaf and hard of hearing individuals who had received academic preparation in the field of social
work. Anecdotal evidence had indicated that many deaf and hard of hearing social workers around
the country were locked into entry-level positions or were choosing jobs that did not require
licensing because they could not pass the requisite tests. The sample, collected via mailing lists, Web
postings, and snowball strategies included, but was not limited to, graduates of the Gallaudet University
Department of Social Work. During FY 2005, data analysis was completed on 34 respondents. No
further data was collected during 2007-2008. The investigators are exploring the possibility of
converting the survey to a Web-based, online format that would be administered and processed by
the Gallaudet University Department of Social Work.
Older Adopted Deaf Children
Status: Ongoing/Inactive Begin date: October 1, 2000 End date: August 31, 2007
Principal Investigator(s):
Mounty, Judith L. – College of Professional Studies and Outreach, Language Planning Institute
Hulsebosch, Patricia – Education
Description:
This study examines the effect of “late” adoption (defined in this study as adoption after the
third year) on deaf and hard of hearing children for whom natural acquisition of spoken language is
severely constrained. There are separate bodies of literature on the challenges associated with
adoption of older hearing children and studies on the effect of delayed language acquisition for deaf
children. However, there is a need for empirical studies of how the language barriers that deaf
children encounter interact with the psychosocial challenges encountered in the adoption of older
children. Most critical is the need to investigate whether the interventions used with later adopted hearing
individuals and their families are appropriate or optimal for deaf individuals and their families. The coinvestigators
have informally included preliminary findings in academic and professional settings where
the topic of development of older adopted deaf children has been relevant. Due to other commitments,
the co-investigators have not done any further data analyses or created any products using the
preliminary analyses. The project may be considered to be inactive at this time.
The investigators would like to keep the project inactive but not close it. The video data has
been disposed of. The transcripts are kept securely in an investigator’s office. A Gallaudet colleague
who teaches courses related to the study would like to be able to have access to the data at a later