Intended for mental health professionals who evaluate hearing impaired children and adolescents, the paper discusses issues of general concern. Areas touched upon include psychological and sociological effects from the hearing impaired subculture, complicating medical and physical disorders, and modification of assessment devices to remove the effect of sensory deprivation. A section outlining specific issues touches upon the nature and etiology of hearing impairments, factors (such as age of onset and amount of speech and auditory training) affecting implications of hearing loss, specific difficulties with English, and the use of nonverbal tests of intelligence. (CL)