Differences in self-advocacy among hard of hearing and typical hearing students.
Hard-of-hearing students speak up for themselves less and feel worse about themselves, but stronger language skills can close that gap.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Michael et al. (2018) compared hard-of-hearing students with typical-hearing classmates. They asked both groups to fill out surveys about self-esteem and self-advocacy. The team also tested language skills to see if talking and listening strength mattered.
What they found
Hard-of-hearing students scored lower on self-esteem. Their ability to speak up for themselves was tied to stronger grammar and social language skills. When language was weak, advocacy scores dropped.
How this fits with other research
The picture looks gloomy, but it matches earlier work. Cheng et al. (2016) already showed deaf or hard-of-hearing university students lag behind hearing peers on creative and organized thinking. Madhesh et al. (2025) found the same group feels lower quality of school life when anxiety or stigma creeps in.
Kushalnagar et al. (2017) flips the timeline: poor parent-child communication in deaf children predicts adult depression. Together these studies trace a line—early language gaps can echo as lower self-esteem, weaker advocacy, and later mood risk.
Blom et al. (2017) offers a bright spot. They saw no reading gap between hypertext and plain text for deaf students, showing smart materials can level the field. So the deficit is not fixed; the right supports change outcomes.
Why it matters
If you coach deaf or hard-of-hearing clients, weave language practice into self-advocacy goals. Strengthen grammar and social phrases first. Boosting those skills can lift both confidence and the willingness to ask for help. Also screen for anxiety—Madhesh et al. (2025) show even mild symptoms erode school life. Pair advocacy training with calming strategies for a fuller package.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add a quick language warm-up to each self-advocacy lesson—practice one useful sentence or question before role-play.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Self-advocacy is considered a protective factor of psychosocial and academic problems among students with special needs. AIMS: To asses self-advocacy among students with hearing loss and compare it to that of typical hearing students. METHODS AND PROCEDURE: The current study examined 27 hard of hearing (hh) students and 27 typical hearing students, all studying in mainstream classes. They completed the Hope Scale, a self-esteem scale, a self-efficacy scale, and a measure of self-advocacy statements. Data regarding the hh participants' spoken language abilities were collected through their itinerant teachers. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: HH students reported lower levels of self-esteem than the typical hearing students. Emotional self-efficacy was positively correlated with age among the hh students, and hope and effort were negatively correlated with age among typical hearing students. Some significant positive correlations emerged among the hh participants between their syntactic and pragmatic abilities and several self-advocacy indicators. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Interventions aimed at enhancing self-advocacy among hh students should focus on intensifying their self-esteem as well as their syntactic and pragmatic abilities.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2018 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2017.11.005