TITLE:
The Beliefs and Attitudes about Deaf Education (BADE) Scale: A Tool for Assessing the Dispositions of Parents and Educators
AUTHORS:
M. Diane Clark, Sharon Baker, Song Hoa Choi, Thomas E. Allen
KEYWORDS:
Deaf; Educational Attitudes; American Sign Language; Educational Choice; Literacy
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.4 No.12,
December
27,
2013
ABSTRACT: This paper reports on the development of
the Beliefs and Attitudes about Deaf
Education (BADE) scale and presents psychometric information derived from
the administration of the scale to a national sample of parents, teachers, and
program administrators during Wave 1 data collection of the Early Educational
Longitudinal Study (EELS). Initially the scale had 47 items; however, 26 items
were eliminated during analysis because they were found to be either redundant
or not contributing to the most significant underlying latent attitudinal
factors. We examined the content of the items loading highly on the factors in
this final analysis to determine appropriate subscale labels for the factors.
These are as follows: 1) Literacy through Hearing Technologies and/or Visual
Support for Speech Comprehension; 2) Visual Language and Bilingualism; 3) Listening
and Spoken Language; and 4) Difficulties Associated with Hearing Parents
Learning ASL. The BADE scale will be helpful to families with deaf children and
the professionals working with them as they explore the different communication
options and their own personal beliefs and attitudes toward deaf education.