VIDBE-Q 2025 Volume 70 Issue 2
ASD is one of the most commonly occurring comorbid disabilities, and
studies have shown that the incidence of ASD is more prevalent in students with
hearing loss and students with vision loss than their typically hearing or seeing
peers. Szymanski et al. (2012) found that an average of 1 in every 59 students with
hearing loss also had ASD. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
(2012), the ratio of students who had typical hearing with ASD alone that same
year was 1 in 68, though by 2018, this had increased to 1 in 59 (CDC, 2018). It can
be easily assumed that if the prevalence of ASD has increased for typically hearing
students, the prevalence has also increased for students with hearing loss.
However, no updated report for children with hearing loss and ASD has been
published, and the number of children with hearing loss and ASD may be
underestimated due to less valid and less reliable assessments for students with
hearing loss (Scott & Hansen, 2018). The co-occurrence of ASD and vision loss
and hearing loss is higher than the occurrence of ASD in children with typical
vision. (Kancherla et al. 2013).
This paper will primarily focus on students who have a hearing loss, vision
loss, and ASD, while including information and strategies that will prove useful in
the education of any student with a sensory loss. It will also articulate the deep
need for more research into the effectiveness of evidence-based practices for
teaching students with a hearing loss, vision loss, and additional disabilities.
