Deaf Children Research Articles

Crip Linguistics Goes to School

Teachers of the deaf, signed language interpreters, and associated staff (e.g., secretaries and sanitation workers) are a salient part of a deaf child’s community often because hearing parents and other family members of deaf children do not become proficient signers leading many deaf children and adults to feel alienated in the home environment (e.g., dinner table syndrome). Because the school environment provides another way for deaf children to acquire language, professional signed language fluency is critical. Yet, in other second language acquisition contexts, fluency is not necessary for effective teaching and often highly racialized. If perceived fluency is often dependent on proximity to whiteness, and language fluency is not necessary for effective teaching, then why is it necessary to require professionals to be fluent in signed languages before teaching and working with deaf children?

Building good knowledge or blaming bad parents? Examining the construction of parents and parenting in a corpus of parent focussed cochlear implant research articles

AbstractParents of deaf children with a cochlear implant (CI) report feeling pressure to adhere to a very prescribed conceptualisation of ‘good parenting’, and in some cases report feeling judged or blamed, for example, if the child's progress post‐CI is slower than expected. Previous investigations of the discourses of parenting science suggest that, while parent blame is rarely expressed explicitly, that normative, moral assumptions about how ‘good parents of a disabled child’ should feel, think and act are embedded within prevalent concepts and terminology. A disproportionate focus on evaluating individual parents' personal characteristics at the expense of more external, socially located issues has also been noted. Existing critiques, together with the author's lived experience provide the impetus for this study; in which corpus linguistics methods have been used to document the types of parents and parenting attributes constructed in a 420,982 corpus of research articles. The results indicate the prevalence of many highly evaluative parenting noun‐collocates within the field; successful adaptation, a positive appraisal of the situation, realistic expectations, rational decisions, high involvement and full‐time use of the CI are conflated with good parenting, whilst parents who present in alternate ways are construed as problematic. Implications for future research are discussed.

Early grammar-building in French-speaking deaf children with cochlear implants: A follow-up corpus study.

One of the most consistent findings reported in the paediatric cochlear implant (CI) literature is the heterogeneity of language performance observed more in grammatical morphology than in lexicon or pragmatics. As most of the corpus studies addressing these issues have been conducted in English, it is unclear whether their results can be generalized to other languages. In particular, little is known about languages known for their grammatical complexity, such as French. The aim of this corpus study was to compare the productive use of function words (FWs) and some agreement features (AGRs) in children with CIs and children with typical development (TD) matched for mean length of utterance in words (MLUwords ), a general index of grammatical complexity, and auditory experience, as measured by hearing age (HA) and chronological age (CA), respectively. Natural speech samples from 116 monolingual French-speaking children, including 40 children with CIs followed longitudinally and 76 TD children, were collected. FWs and AGRs were analysed using a Part of Speech Tagger (POS-T) from the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES). The two groups differed by 3 years for HA and CA. No effect of family socio-economic status (SES) was found in the CI group. Stepwise regression analyses showed that the two groups did not share the same predictors of MLUwords : plurals and determiners predicted MLUwords in children with CIs, at 2 and 3 years of HA, whereas feminine markers and subject-pronouns were found to best predict MLUwords in TD children at 2 and 3 years of CA. Structural equation models (SEMs), a combination of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and path analysis, yielded a different hierarchical structure of grammatical relations (GRs). Selective difficulties affecting verbal clitics and other pronominal forms were found specifically in the CI group (object-pronouns, reflexive, relative and past participles). Dependency grammar analysis confirmed these contrasting developmental profiles in multiword utterances, such as preposition/nouns, subject/verbs, and verb/determiner/nouns. Atypical grammatical patterns in children with CIs reflect a specific architecture of syntactic dependencies of FWs underpinning morphological complexity and syntactic connectivity. Clinical implications are discussed for assessment and intervention planning. What is already known on this subject The productive use of FWs has been identified as a particular area of weakness in children with CIs compared with TD children. In addition, heterogenous grammatical performance has often been found after 1-3 years of CI use, regardless of demographic factors such as age at implantation, duration of deafness or SES. What this paper adds to existing knowledge Assessing the early building of FWs and AGRs in children with CIs helps to understand the syntactic complexity and hierarchical structure of their language. Since most corpus studies on grammatical morphology have been conducted in English, it is not clear whether their difficulties can be generalized to other languages. The French language has a system of FWs and inflections that determine the morphophonological properties of nominal and verbal forms. Early grammar learning in children with CIs born with profound deafness were compared with the two groups of TD children matched both for duration of auditory experience (i.e., HA of CI children, CA of TD children) and for MLUwords . We found a similar profile between groups at 2 years but not at 3 years for HA and CA. The two groups do not share the same predictors of MLUwords : namely, plurals and determiners for CI children versus feminine markers and subject pronouns for TD children. They show a different syntactic organization of GRs. Children with CIs struggle with selective difficulties affecting verbal clitics and pronominal forms (object-pronouns, reflexive, relative and past participles). Consistent with theories of morphophonological richness and syntactic connectivity, our results support the distributional learning hypothesis of language acquisition that infants and toddlers are sensitive to FWs and AGRs at an early age. Specific components of syntactic organization are disrupted in children with CIs. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? This work has potential clinical implications because it unravels the limitations of morphophonological processing in children with CIs. Its results highlight a specific difficulty in learning FWs and AGRs in a verbal inflectional morphology context.

Loss of support for deaf children

Report reveals shortage of teachers for deaf pupils due to funding cuts is harming children's education

Designing inclusion: a smart learning ecosystem for hearing parents of deaf children

Smart Learning Ecosystems are intelligent, purpose-oriented platforms supporting innovative learning. However, for these ecosystems to be true engines of innovation they should be fully accessible. This vision reflects the inclusion policies underpinning the SDGs of the Agenda 2030 that recommend the adoption of knowledge and technologies to drive a social change in the direction of inclusion and social sustainability. In this paper we present the case of a smart learning ecosystem that brings together hearing parents of deaf children and other stakeholders involved in the care and education of deaf children. After an intense user research based on digital ethnography, interviews, and a questionnaire, a prototype of a digital application supporting learning of the Italian Sign Language and communication among stakeholders was designed and tested. The prototype served the objective to raise awareness about current biases on deafness and the need to stimulate the creation of a culture of inclusion and peer-to-peer learning.

The impact of a Curriculum for Resilience Promotion in Deaf Children and Adolescents

Resilience is an interactive process involving internal skills that should be promoted, especially in the early stages of development. This study aims to adapt and implement two themes from the European Curriculum for Resilience Promotion – RESCUR, namely, ‘Developing Communication Skills’ and ‘Establishing and Maintaining Healthy Relationships’, for deaf and hard‐of‐hearing (DHH) students. The study included 37 children and adolescents from three Portuguese regions and its impact was evaluated through the perspectives of the students, their guardians and their teachers. Each 90‐minute session was implemented weekly. The sessions followed the RESCUR curriculum structure with necessary adaptations to the mindfulness activities, stories, role‐play and worksheets. The mean scores increased from pre‐ to post‐intervention assessment on all instruments, namely, KIDSCREEN‐10 (children/adolescents), KIDSCREEN‐10 (guardians) and CYRM‐28 (teachers). The implementation of adapted curricula promoting resilience seems to be beneficial to DHH children, allowing the development of specific resilience‐associated skills, and thus enhancing health, well‐being and quality of life.

STRATEGI PEMBELAJARAN EKSPOSITORI UNTUK ANAK BERKEBUTUHAN KHUSUS JENIS TUNARUNGU PADA MATA PELAJARAN PENDIDIKAN AGAMA ISLAM

Religious Education in Islam Learning is essential in life, thus an educator must be able to explain and present content effectively. Choose tactics and procedures based on the qualities and requirements of pupils, particularly those with exceptional needs such as deafness. The Islamic Religious Education learning strategy for deaf children with special needs at SLB Tunas Bangsa Asembagus Situbondo employs an expository learning strategy, which involves the delivery of verbal material from a teacher to a group of students and mastery of the material through learning activities. Preparation, presentation (delivery) of content, correlation, conclusion, and application precede learning. The factors that aid in learning Islamic religious education are as follows: (1) internal factors consisting of students' interest in learning and motivation. (2) external factors, namely the establishment of a harmonious relationship between teachers and students as well as between teachers and guardians of students.

Improving Deaf Children's Writing Skills using Learning Card Series

A person who experiences hearing loss that hinders the process of language information through hearing, whether wearing a hearing aid or not wearing a hearing aid. Whereas someone who lacks hearing is someone who usually uses a hearing aid, the rest of their hearing is enough to allow for the success of the language process through hearing. Language development is a complex process and is something interesting to study. The same goes for the language development of deaf children. So with the problems that occur in deaf children that will also have an impact on how deaf children learn, there is a need for media that can improve the language skills of deaf children, especially in expressive writing ability, where this expressive writing ability is the highest ability in language acquisition (Tarigan: 1994) Skills raised on This research is how to make a whole sentence, practice in using a word that has a blow, get to know many new objects, and how to use time sentences and place description.

Preliminary investigation of the diagnosis and gene function of deep learning PTPN11 gene mutation syndrome deafness.

Syndromic deafness caused by PTPN11 gene mutation has gradually come into the public's view. In the past, many people did not understand its application mechanism and role and only focused on non-syndromic deafness, so the research on syndromic deafness is not in-depth and there is a large degree of lack of research in this area. In order to let the public know more about the diagnosis and gene function of deafness caused by PTPN11 gene mutation syndrome, this paper used deep learning technology to study the diagnosis and gene function of deafness caused by syndrome with the concept of intelligent medical treatment, and finally drew a feasible conclusion. This paper provided a theoretical and practical basis for the diagnosis of deafness caused by PTPN11 gene mutation syndrome and the study of gene function. This paper made a retrospective analysis of the clinical data of 85 deaf children who visited Hunan Children's Hospital,P.R. China from January 2020 to December 2021. The conclusion were as follows: Children aged 1-6years old had multiple syndrome deafness, while children under 1year old and children aged 6-12years old had relatively low probability of complex deafness; girls were not easy to have comprehensive deafness, but there was no specific basis to prove that the occurrence of comprehensive deafness was necessarily related to gender; the hearing loss of patients with Noonan Syndrome was mainly characterized by moderate and severe damage and abnormal inner ear and auditory nerve; most of the mutation genes in children were located in Exon1 and Exon3, with a total probability of 57.65%. In the course of the experiment, it was found that deep learning was effective in the diagnosis of deafness with PTPN11 gene mutation syndrome. This technology could be applied to medical diagnosis to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of more patients with deafness with syndrome. Intelligent medical treatment was also becoming a hot topic nowadays. By using this concept to analyze and study the pathological characteristics of deafness caused by PTPN11 gene mutation syndrome, it not only promoted patients to find diseases in time, but also helped doctors to diagnose and treat such diseases, which was of great significance to patients and doctors. The study of PTPN11 gene mutation syndrome deafness was also of great significance in genetics. The analysis of its genes not only enriched the gene pool, but also provided reference for future research.

Comparison of Diagnostic Profiles of Deaf and Hearing Children with a Diagnosis of Autism.

There is limited research comparing the presentation of autism in deaf and hearing children and young people. These comparisons are important to facilitate accurate diagnosis, as rates of misdiagnosis and delay in diagnosis amongst deaf children and young people are high. The aim of this study was to compare diagnostic assessment profiles of a UK cohort of autistic deaf and hearing children and young people. The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised-Deaf adaptation was completed with the parents of 106 children and young people (deaf children = 65; hearing children = 41). The majority of items explored showed no significant differences between deaf and hearing children and young people. Differences were found in peer relationships, where autistic deaf participants were less likely to respond to the approaches of other children or play imaginatively with peers. These findings need to be taken into consideration by clinicians in the assessment process.

Writing Development and Translanguaging in Signing Bilingual Deaf Children of Deaf Parents

Translanguaging allows for a holistic lens on the natural language practices of multilinguals and the strategies they use to communicate and to make meaning, such as writing. Multilinguals have a single, integrated linguistic repertoire and reasoning in which all languages are naturally activated in the brain throughout the writing process. Some deaf children are raised in environments where signed language is first acquired and then used to support the development of a written language. The current literature on translanguaging is scant in capturing signing bilingual deaf writers’ translanguaging practices. This study took a closer look at the written texts produced by three deaf siblings within an American Sign Language/English bilingual deaf family across the course of their childhood between three and ten years old. Their applications of linguistic features in writing over time were qualitatively identified, described, and analyzed. This study’s findings provided rich descriptions and examples of the ways signing bilingual deaf children leverage their whole linguistic repertoire to express ideas in print. Because translanguaging practices were modeled at home and school during natural interactions and direct instruction, these siblings’ language and writing skills continued to flourish over time.

An Agent-Based Simulation Model of Epidemic Spread in a Residential School for Children with Disabilities

People with disabilities, especially those living in institutions, are at higher risk during pandemics, while schools also play important roles in disease spread. Yet, less attention is paid to the intersection of risk factors at residential schools for children with disabilities. Better understanding of spatial and behavioral factors that contribute to epidemics in such schools is needed for effective public health plans and responses, especially for pandemics where vaccines may be initially unavailable. An agent-based model of a school for deaf children was developed from Norwegian archival sources and 1918 influenza pandemic data to test impacts of non-pharmaceutical interventions. Results show differences in the timing and pattern of spread based on whether the first case is a student or staff member, while epidemics are smaller with more student bedrooms or a hospital ward. Implications for COVID-19 and future pandemics, including the need to combine different infection control measures, are discussed.

Resisting Ableism in School-Based Speech-Language Therapy: An Invitation to Change.

Resisting Ableism in School-Based Speech-Language Therapy: An Invitation to Change.

Universal Constraints on Linguistic Event Categories: A Cross-Cultural Study of Child Homesign

Languages carve up conceptual space in varying ways—for example, English uses the verb cut both for cutting with a knife and for cutting with scissors, but other languages use distinct verbs for these events. We asked whether, despite this variability, there are universal constraints on how languages categorize events involving tools (e.g., knife-cutting). We analyzed descriptions of tool events from two groups: (a) 43 hearing adult speakers of English, Spanish, and Chinese and (b) 10 deaf child homesigners ages 3 to 11 (each of whom has created a gestural language without input from a conventional language model) in five different countries (Guatemala, Nicaragua, United States, Taiwan, Turkey). We found alignment across these two groups—events that elicited tool-prominent language among the spoken-language users also elicited tool-prominent language among the homesigners. These results suggest ways of conceptualizing tool events that are so prominent as to constitute a universal constraint on how events are categorized in language.

Genetic mapping and pedigree analysis of non-syndromic congenital deafness in Surabaya, Indonesia

Background: Genetic mutations cause 50-75% of congenital deafness. Congenital deafness is a disease divided into syndromic and non-syndromic types. Type B special schools facilitate children with deafness in Surabaya. This study aimed to identify a mutation gene that causes non-syndromic hearing impairment in school students. Methods: This research was an analytic observational study using a cross-sectional method applying simple random sampling of non-syndromic deaf children. The applied tests were pure tone audiometry, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and hybridization tests. Subjects were evaluated on the pedigree route and then analyzed. Results: A total of 138 participants with non-syndromic hearing loss were enrolled in this study and 49 patients met the inclusion criteria. The subject’s average age was 16.16 years, with more male subjects than female. The hybridization results obtained six genetic mutations, one subject with mtDNA 1555, one subject with GJB2-299, two subjects with SLC26A4-IVS(7)2, and 3 subjects with unknown mutations. In pedigree analysis, the same genetic mutation was found in two generations of subjects with mtDNA 1555 and GJB2-299 mutations, and mutations of more than one genetic type were found in two generations of subjects with the SLC26A4-IVS(7)2 mutation. Conclusions: This study obtained six genetic mutations in non-syndromic congenital deaf children. Non-syndromic congenital deafness in Indonesia was found to have genetic mutations as a health risk. The risk was heredity with diverse inheritance patterns.

Sign Language and Multimodality as Indicators of Health for Deaf Newborns and Young Children: Guidance for Families and Medical Professionals

Sign languages are complex and intact human languages essential to the development and health of deaf children and adults. Yet, still, many families and medical professionals think the optimal option for deaf children is to be raised with spoken language, usually including a cochlear implant. Cochlear implants, however, have variable outcomes with language acquisition. Medical professionals, especially pediatricians, need to update their knowledge and understanding of best practices to ensure they more appropriately support families to protect the overall health of their deaf child. The child who does not have a firm first language foundation is at risk of poor (neuro-) cognitive, psycho-social, and socio-emotional development. Developmental delays and life-long, irreparable damages can and should be prevented. Ultimately, securing a firm first language foundation is a matter of health. It is essential to back away from the concept of one-choice-fits-all and, instead, begin with exposing the deaf child to a visually accessible sign language in a multimodal and multilingual environment as soon as it is known that the child is deaf. With a sign language as the linguistic foundation, other practices automatically make more sense –including hearing aids and/or cochlear implants – and those other practices have a greater chance of success, even the development of spoken language(s) (including speech) and written language(s), which has been shown to be supported by the presence of visually accessible sign language(s) in the child’s environment.

Developing and validating a parenting program based on the lived experiences of mothers with hearing impaired children

Aim: The purpose of the research was to develop and validate a parenting program based on the lived experiences of mothers with hearing impaired children. Method: The research was conducted in a qualitative-quantitative way. The research community consisted of mothers with hearing impaired children in Sari and Miandorud cities. In the qualitative part, the purposeful sampling method was used until saturation. Sampling method was available in quantitative section and 16 mothers were selected. The interview tool was unstructured. In order to ensure validity and reliability, the recorded interviews along with the content obtained from them were provided to the interviewees and the method of reliability of extracted data according to the conducted interviews was used. Transferability method was used to provide validity. The total efficiency of two encoders is equal to 0.90. SPSS 26 and Amos software were used to determine the validity and suitability of program components. Results: Based on the interviews and the background of the research, the mentioned parenting program was compiled in 10 sessions, which consists of: accepting the child's deaf problem, using the experiences of mothers with deaf children, familiarizing mothers with how to care for a deaf child, Acquaintance with methods of emotion control, familiarization with ways to relieve the feeling of helplessness, familiarization with ways to communicate with a deaf child, interaction with the child, familiarization with ways to relieve the feeling of fatigue, relief from the feeling of hopelessness, relief from the child's feeling of loneliness. Conclusion: The research results showed the validity and appropriateness of the compiled components of the parenting program based on the lived experiences of mothers.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders Comorbid with Deafness in Children: A Review

Neurodevelopmental Disorders Comorbid with Deafness in Children: A Review

Spoken Language Bilingualism in the Education of Deaf Learners.

For much of the history of deaf education, spoken language bilingualism was not considered a viable goal. It was believed that given the challenges of meaningful auditory access, age-appropriate development in even one language would be daunting. However, implementation of universal newborn hearing screening during the early 2000s, along with early fitting of hearing technologies, including cochlear implants, has afforded significantly improved access to spoken language during the critical early years of language acquisition for most deaf children. In this context, it is timely to reconsider the possibilities of spoken language bilingualism in the education of deaf students. The present article therefore focuses on examining the available literature with a view to summarizing current understandings and reflecting on how these understandings can inform future research and practice and the multiple ways in which bilingualism can be operationalized in the education of deaf students.

Conclusion: Bilingualism in the Education of Deaf Learners.

Conclusion: Bilingualism in the Education of Deaf Learners Connie Mayer (bio) and Beverly J. Trezek (bio) The authors of the four articles included in this Annals special section—Kuntze, Paul and Yan, Simpson and Mayer, and Tang et al.—have addressed a range of topics related to bilingualism in the education of deaf students. Despite the diversity in topics, a common thread in the conclusions of all four articles is the call for further research, albeit with variations in focus. Investigations with respect to the potential for spoken language bilingualism are limited, and as Simpson and Mayer contend, there is clearly a need to pay more research attention to this population of learners, from reporting demographics and language and literacy outcomes to identifying efficacious interventions and educational supports. Still in its early days, this research is critically needed at a time when more deaf children are acquiring two spoken languages— simultaneously or sequentially—in the home as L1 or in school as L2, and perhaps developing literacy skills in both languages as well. While relatively more research has been carried out in the context of signed/spoken bilingualism, discussions have focused on what needs to be addressed in future studies in order to present a more fulsome and robust case in support of this approach. In line with previous investigations, Kuntze found a positive correlation between American Sign Language (ASL) and reading comprehension. However, because reading achievement data were not reported in a manner that allowed a specific level of skill attainment to be determined (e.g., standard or grade equivalent scores), it is not possible to gauge the extent to which this cohort is achieving at age-appropriate levels—a concern raised by Mayer and Trezek (2020, 2021) and echoed by Paul and Yan. Tang et al. investigated achievement in a sign bilingual coenrollment approach, broadening the scope of the research to a different context and allowing for a consideration of the relative roles played by Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) and spoken Cantonese in developing literacy. The results of this study revealed that the d/Deaf and hard of hearing participants showed evidence of delayed acquisition of grammatical structures when compared to their hearing peers at the end of primary grade 1. However, a qualitative error analysis found that the trajectory of development and type of constructions attained beyond primary 2 was fairly similar across the two groups. A noteworthy finding was that knowledge of oral Cantonese initially influenced participants’ development of written Chinese to some degree; however, the impact of HKSL was less apparent. [End Page 761] Findings of both the Kuntze and Tang et al. studies highlight the importance of including empirical evidence to strengthen the case being made for the efficacy of sign bilingual education across a range of contexts, and with an eye to the relative contributions of both languages to the development of literacy. In their concluding remarks, Paul and Yan reiterate this point and underscore the need to use and/or develop relevant, appropriate standardized measures of both English (i.e., language and literacy) and ASL to provide this empirical data. In addition, they call for more intervention and longitudinal studies to examine the merits of constructs such as fingerspelling and aspects of ASL such as visual phonology, ASL syntax, and the use of analogies in ASL. They also emphasize the need to ensure that future research accounts for program quality indicators and sociodemographics of the participants, and to the extent possible, that the sample be representative. These suggestions would serve the field well in establishing a more robust evidence base in support of bilingual education for deaf students—whether that is in a signed and spoken language, two spoken languages, or even multiple languages. As researchers, we have an obligation to learn from the past and move forward in conducting investigations that provide the empirical evidence necessary to support the promise of our theoretical claims, and perhaps more importantly, to inform practice so that bilingualism becomes possible for more deaf students—a goal we all share. Connie Mayer Mayer is a professor in the Faculty of Education and the academic coordinator of the Teacher Preparation Program in the Education of...