Preliminary development of the deaf childhood experiences scale.

This article focuses on the development and validation of the Deaf Childhood Experiences Scale (DCES), a tool designed to quantify unique childhood experiences of deaf individuals to better understand their education, health, and quality of life outcomes. Using a mixed-methods approach, the DCES was created from qualitative interviews with deaf community members and refined through quantitative analysis, resulting in two main constructs: Language and Access, and Belonging. The DCES showed a weak but significant correlation with traditional Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) measures, suggesting that deaf-specific experiences differ from general ACEs but may still impact trauma and development. The scale aims to provide empirical data to inform clinical, educational, and policy efforts, with future plans for further validation, American Sign Language translation, and expanded versions for parents and teachers.