Applicability of a Discrimination Assessment Procedure with Hearing Impaired/Mentally Handicapped Clients

Abstract

Six diagnostic tasks of two-choice discrimination skills were used to assess 32 hearing impaired/mentally handicapped clients residing in a state institution for the mentally handicapped. Two tasks measured sign discrimination skill, two measured visual discrimination, and two measured motor discrimination. The tasks were found to be hierarchically ordered in difficulty. Clients who passed the sign tasks passed all of the tasks, and clients who passed the visual tasks always passed the motor tasks. Assessment results were used to predict performance on two tasks that reduced the number of contrasting stimulus cues (color, size, shape, and pattern) of the objects to be discriminated and on a training task that resembled tasks used to teach receptive signs. Assessment results predicted performance on all tasks, suggesting that the discrimination assessment procedure may be useful in sign language programs for the hearing impaired/mentally handicapped.