Abstract

Assessing deaf adults’ cognitive ability and adaptive behaviour is complex due to confounding factors such
as language deprivation, the influence of deaf-cultural norms, and the need to adapt assessment measures,
impacting on their validity and reliability. This systematic literature review investigated the types of assessments
currently used for deaf people, their common adaptations, and the implications for clinical practice. There
appears to be little academic agreement on these issues, and an associated lack of methodological rigour in the
literature. The review highlighted a need to further develop valid, psychometrically sound assessment tools for
this population, and provides suggested best-practice guidelines for the assessment of this population.