Accommodations Use Patterns in High School and Postsecondary Settings for Students Who Are d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Using data from the second National Longitudinal Transition Study (Newman et al., 2011), the authors investigated longitudinal patterns of educational accommodations use in secondary and, later, postsecondary settings by students who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing (SDHH). The study focused on language and communication (LC) accommodations used primarily by SDHH, plus non-LC accommodations typically used by a broad range of students. Both LC accommodations for standardized testing and instruction showed decreased use in postsecondary settings compared with high school. After student demographic characteristics were controlled for, no relationships were found between types of accommodations students used in high school and those they later used in postsecondary settings. Student accommodations use in postsecondary settings was not significantly predictive of retention or degree completion. However, several student- and parent-level demographic characteristics were predictive of accommodations use in postsecondary settings. Implications and future research directions are discussed.