This project consists of the statistical and data management aspects of a Communicative Disorders Program contract. Tasks include design of data collection and monitoring procedures, and statistical analysis of study data. The study will examine factors that may be associated with development of reading and writing skills in the congenitally deaf. Study subjects will compromise three groups of deaf 16- to 17-year-olds, with 65 subjects in each group. Each group will include only subjects who received their preschool language training through one of three approaches: aural-oral, total communication, and American Sign Language. Data will be collected on the audiologic, familial, and educational background of the subjects, and on their present language skills. These data will be examined for their association with present reading and writing skills of the subjects. A pilot study has been completed and the main data collection phase is now in progress.
