Correlates of syntactic abilities in hearing-impaired students

Total scores on the recently developed Screening Test from the Test of Syntactic Abilities for 382 hearing-impaired subjects between eight and 19 years and in various educational programs were found to be significantly related to hearing threshold level, number of multiple handicaps, age, educational setting, method of communication, and hearing aid usage. Multivariate analysis of variance on the effect of age controlled for hearing loss showed no significant increase in scores after eleven years of age, thus lending support to the thesis that the capacity to acquire language may cease to function at about puberty. The results of stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that, when personal variables were first forced to enter the equation, degree of hearing loss, multiple handicaps, and age accounted for 14%, nine %, an four % of the explained variability, respectively. Over and above these contributions, two manipulable variables--educational setting (a surrogate for integration) and method of communication--added significantly a further 12% and three % to the explained variability in syntactic ability.