Defense Date

7-14-2025

Graduation Date

Summer 8-7-2026

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

School Psychology

School

School of Education

Committee Chair

Ara J. Schmitt

Committee Member

Elizabeth McCallum

Committee Member

Laura M. Crothers

Keywords

hearing loss, listening and spoken language, assistive hearing technology, students with hearing disabilities, deaf education, math fact fluency, math intervention, Taped Problems Intervention, single subject design

Abstract

Children with hearing loss are at an increased risk of experiencing setbacks in various areas of life, including academic performance and employment opportunities. Academically, they are likely to experience poor academic achievement in reading, as well as in mathematics (ASHA, 2013). In comparison to gifted hearing students and average-ability hearing students, students with hearing loss are at a higher risk of low mathematics performance (Hassan & Mohammed, 2019). Despite these known challenges and risk factors, limited research has been conducted to identify effective intervention strategies for improving mathematical outcomes among this population. As such, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted version of the Taped Problems Intervention (TPI) and to determine the modality that is most effective in improving the multiplication fluency of students with hearing loss. Taped Problems Intervention is an evidence-based intervention that has been shown to improve math fluency for students, including those with intellectual disabilities (Aspiranti et al., 2019; McCallum & Schmitt, 2011). For this study, TPI was adapted to incorporate three modalities: audio-only (TP-Audio), visual-only (TP-Visual), and audio-visual (TP-Combined).

An adapted alternative treatment design was employed to compare the effectiveness of each intervention modality in enhancing the multiplication fact fluency of four students with hearing loss who utilize assistive hearing technology devices. The intervention conditions were counterbalanced. Results revealed that the effectiveness of the intervention varied among students and across the different outcome measures. However, TP-Audio appeared to be the most effective modality for three out of four students on the dependent variable metric of digits correct per two minutes (DC/2M) and for two out of four students on the dependent variable metric of problems correct per two minutes (PC/2M). Discussion based on these findings highlighted the value of conducting brief experimental analyses to identify the most effective and suitable interventions for students with disabilities, rather than concluding based solely on their disability category. Students with disabilities may have insight into their condition and may compensate for this loss by devoting more attention and effort to succeed, potentially resulting in unexpected strengths in their area of deficit.

Language

English

Download

Share

COinS