Deaf Children's Knowledge of Internal Human Anatomy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate deaf children's knowledge of internal human anatomy. A static group comparison design was used to gather data from 80 deaf children and 190 hearing children who attended either a local public school for the deaf and the blind, or the regular public schools. Children were assigned to three groups according to age: 5–7 years, 8–11 years, and 12–15 years. Differences in deaf and hearing children's scores on the Draw-A-Person Test of general abilities were not statistically significant. Children's knowledge of internal body parts was assessed using a projective drawing test. Results indicated that (a) deaf children in successively older age groups knew more internal body parts than the younger subjects, and (b) deaf children in all three age groups knew significantly less about internal body parts than subjects in their normally hearing cohort.