ABSTRACT

This chapter provides a discussion of historical informal attempts to analyze sign language used by deaf persons and why they have not always been effective. It discusses what information a quality communication assessment can provide and how it can assist in treatment and educational interventions. The chapter also discusses the communication skills assessment developed by the Alabama and South Carolina Departments of Mental Health. The tool was designed to improve the match between the communication skills required for successful employment in those settings and the abilities of the deaf worker. Hearing people, listening to other hearing individuals who share the same language speaking with significant dysfluency, would immediately perceive that something is wrong. N. Glickman reviewed all the deaf psychiatric and vocational rehabilitation literature available to date, finding reports of similar communication challenges in most, if not all, Deaf mental health programs.