Deaf Parents’ Communication with Their Hearing Children (Everyday Problems)

Abstract

The article is a pedagogical and sociological study. The author’s intention was to show problems related to everyday language communication experienced by deaf parents bringing up one or more hearing children. During the research – in the field of qualitative research methodology – I conducted narrative interviews with members of five families with deaf parents. They do not always feel confident in contacts with their hearing children and sometimes need confirmation that sign language is a full-fledged means of communication in the family. Deaf parents are aware of the fact that the language education of a hearing child is burdened with difficulties regarding, among others, the choice of language in everyday communication. These parents are aware that if their children do not use sign language, their mutual contacts will be limited and they try to adapt messages to the child’s perceptive capabilities. On the one hand, they are conscious of the fact that for a child to develop verbal speech, they must speak, and on the other, the choice of sign language is natural.