This report looks at parent-infant programming in schools for deaf children nationwide, comparing data from two surveys of these schools, one before and one after enactment of PL 99-457, one in 1982 and one in 1990. Surveys were returned by 107 schools in 1990 (60 residential and 47 day), 81 of which responded both in 1982 and 1990. Of the schools that responded to both surveys, parent-infant programming for children 0-4 years old and their families was reported by 89% in 1982 and 95% in 1990. Enrollment doubled during the period, from 1,602 students to 3,411. The major increases were in the number of students receiving part-time instruction (1/2 to 2 hours per week), which almost tripled, and the number receiving instruction primarily in the child's home. Data are presented on the extent of parent-infant programming and on student characteristics, program funding, and respondent concerns. Implications of these findings and the implementation of PL 99-457 are also discussed.

The efficacy of immediate tangible reinforcement in increasing appropriate visual attending for entire classes of deaf children was examined. The subjects were three classes (seven children each) in a residential school for the deaf. Boxes were installed on each child's desk, with lights that were flashed immediately contingent upon 10 sec of visual attending. Light flashes were backed up by M & M's, cereal bits, or tokens. In two of the classes, extinction sessions were also scheduled. For all classes, the reinforcement procedure increased visual attending by 50% or more, maintaining it at rates above 82%. Withdrawal of tangibles decreased attending back to baseline levels. The results support analysis of attending as operant behavior and demonstrate the applicability of reinforcement procedures in modifying these behaviors for young deaf children in a classroom setting.The operant characteristics of attending responses have been well established (Holland, 1957(Holland, , 1958Schroeder, 1967). As such, attending is subject to methods of behavioral modification that have proved successful for a wide range of response classes. Coupled with the recent success of behavioral modification programs in the classroom (Birnbrauer, Bijou, Wolf, and Kidder, 1965; Birnbrauer, Wolf, Kidder, and Tague, 1966;Hewett, 1967;Nolen, Kunzelmann, and Haring, 1967;O'Leary and Becker, 1967;and Valett, 1966), these experiments provide a basis for attempts to alter attending behavior in a classroom situation. In an unpublished paper, Brown (1967) reported a procedure that increased attending behavior with four deaf-retardates on an individual basis. Also, Lennan (1967) described a pilot project with a class of emotionally-disturbed deaf boys in the California School for the Deaf, Riverside, which involved a Hewett-type classroom procedure dealing

During the 1977–78 academic year, a study was conducted at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (WPSD) to evaluate, in a population of profoundly deaf students: 1) the incidence of middle ear (ME) effusion; 2) the correlation between high negative ME pressure (HNP) and ME effusion; and 3) the effect of HNP (> −100 mm H2O) on auditory acuity. All 446 students at WPSD were screened three times (fall, winter, and spring) by both otoscopy and tympanometry and were then classified as belonging to one of five categories according to the status of their ME. Otoscopic, tympanometric, and audiometric evaluations were conducted monthly for 41 study-group students with HNP and 41 controls with normal ears. Tabulations of the incidence of ME conditions over the year-long period showed that 8% of the students had effusion, 21% HNP, 1% inactive disease, 26% residual disease, and 44% normal ME. The majority of severe ME problems occurred in children between the ages of two and eight years. HNP proved insufficient to predict the occurrence of an effusion in children aged 6 to 21 years. However, only 21% of the ears in which HNP was identified returned to and remained normal for the entire year, as contrasted with the initially normal or “controls,” of which 77% remained normal. In this profoundly deaf population, the correlation between HNP and threshold shifts proved difficult to document. A small but significantly greater fluctuation in threshold during the period of a year was noted, however, when the students with HMP were compared with the controls.

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