Group Of Deaf Children Research Articles

Language Use in Deaf Children With Early-Signing Versus Late-Signing Deaf Parents

Previous research has shown that spatial language is sensitive to the effects of delayed language exposure. Locative encodings of late-signing deaf adults varied from those of early-signing deaf adults in the preferred types of linguistic forms. In the current study, we investigated whether such differences would be found in spatial language use of deaf children with deaf parents who are either early or late signers of Turkish Sign Language (TİD). We analyzed locative encodings elicited from these two groups of deaf children for the use of different linguistic forms and the types of classifier handshapes. Our findings revealed differences between these two groups of deaf children in their preferred types of linguistic forms, which showed parallels to differences between late versus early deaf adult signers as reported by earlier studies. Deaf children in the current study, however, were similar to each other in the type of classifier handshapes that they used in their classifier constructions. Our findings have implications for expanding current knowledge on to what extent variation in language input (i.e., from early vs. late deaf signers) is reflected in children’s productions as well as the role of linguistic input on language development in general.

Development of adaptive human–computer interaction games to evaluate attention

AbstractIn this paper, several physical activity-based human–computer interaction (HCI) games which are developed and implemented for the improvement of attention, emotion, and sensory–motor coordination will be presented. The interface and the difficulty levels of these games are specially designed for the use of people with different age groups and disabilities. The games involve physical activities for the fulfillment of some basic HCI tasks which require hand and arm motion for control, such as fruit picking and air hockey, with adaptive difficulty levels based on varying parameters of the games and human performance. In the fruit picking game, several fruit images are moving from top to the bottom of the screen. Objective is to collect apples while avoiding the pears. The player’s hand will control the basket that collects the fruits. In the air hockey game, the player will try to score goals against computer-controlled opponent. The player’s hand will control the paddle to hit the puck to score or to defend his/her goal area. The player’s hand is recognized by Kinect RGB-D sensors in both games. Aim of the adaptive difficulty-based system is keeping the players engaged in the games. The games are tested with a group of deaf children (3.5–5 years) as a part of an ongoing project,1 to decrease the stress of the children and increase their positive emotions, attention, and sensory–motor coordination before the audiology tests. The game performances and the evaluation of the therapists show that the games have a positive impact on the children. The games are also tested with a group of adults as a control group, where a mobile EEG device is employed to detect the attention levels. For this purpose, the adults also attended a third game featuring a maze and controlled with Myo sensors.

The Development and Evaluation of a New ASL Text Comprehension Task

Work in literacy education over the past two decades has radically shifted the notion of literacy, broadening it to include the ability to engage with compositions in various media (e.g., not only traditional texts like books and articles but also vlogs, blogs, graphic novels etc.). The notion that literacy can apply to non-written compositions has led some to wonder about the development of “reading comprehension” of texts in languages like American Sign Language (ASL) that do not have a written form. However, there are no existing assessments of ASL text comprehension. In this paper, we introduce the ASL-CMP, a new assessment tool to measure American Sign Language (ASL) text comprehension ability in deaf children. We first administered the task to a group of deaf children with deaf parents (n = 105, ages 8-18 years) in order to evaluate the reliability and validity of the task, and to develop norms. We found that the ASL-CMP has acceptable levels of internal consistency, difficulty, and discriminability. Next, we administered the task to an additional group of deaf children with hearing parents (n = 198, ages 8-18 years), and found that the ASL-CMP is sensitive to expected patterns: older children have better ASL text comprehension skills, literal questions are generally easier to answer than inferential questions, and children with early exposure to ASL generally outperform those with delayed exposure. We conclude that the ASL-text comprehension task is reliable and valid and can be used to characterize comprehension skills in ASL in deaf children ages 8-12.

Overarticulator on Contoid [r] Indonesian Deaf Children

This research aims at describing overarticulator contoid [r] deaf children Indonesia. This research uses the qualitative descriptive method. Data researched is overartikulator contoid [r] deaf children. The source of data is the son of deaf SLB-B on kindergarten groups A deaf bit heavy. Data collection is done with the data source mimicked speech researcher and teacher or when pronouncing vocabulary list Containing contoid [r]. The collection of data using techniques of natural observation, observation, participation, of a scheduled Fishing fishing substitution, recording, record-keeping, and field. Data analysis using the method in accordance with the technique of determining element is broken. Based on data analysis, contoid [r] resulting in two groups of deaf children. The Union, contoid [r] generated anyway. [r], [«r«r], [arer], [rr], [l], [ll], [«l], [l«], and [et]. Second, contoid [r] produced change. In two of the group, contoid [r] created by [r], [ The results contain the differences distinguishing characteristic on the basis of the representation and the representation of contoid phonetic [r]. In the difference that happens overarticulator contoid [r] which does not occur on other contoids. From an overarticulator, it changes the sounds anaptiksis, reduplication, and contoid attenuation [r].

Vowel Production in Hearing Impaired Children: A Comparison Between Normal-hearing, Hearing-aided and Cochlear-implanted Children

Introduction and objectivesInadequate auditory feedback in prelingually deaf children alters the articulation of consonants and vowels.The purpose of this investigation was to compare vowel production in Spanish-speaking deaf children with cochlear implantation, and with hearing-aids with normal-hearing children by means of acoustic analysis of formant frequencies and vowel space. MethodsA total of 56 prelingually deaf children (25 with cochlear implants and 31 wearing hearing-aids) and 47 normal-hearing children participated. The first 2 formants (F1 and F2) of the five Spanish vowels were measured using Praat software. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc Scheffé test were applied to analyze the differences between the 3 groups. The surface area of the vowel space was also calculated. ResultsThe mean value of F1 in all vowels was not significantly different between the 3 groups. For vowels /i/, /o/ and /u/, the mean value of F2 was significantly different between the 2 groups of deaf children and their normal-hearing peers. ConclusionBoth prelingually hearing-impaired groups tended toward subtle deviations in the articulation of vowels that could be analyzed using an objective acoustic analysis program.

Comparación de la producción vocal en niños con hipoacusia prelocutiva con adaptación audioprotésica e implante coclear con normooyentes

Introduction and objectivesInadequate auditory feedback in prelingually deaf children alters the articulation of consonants and vowels.The purpose of this investigation was to compare vowel production in Spanish-speaking deaf children with cochlear implantation, and with hearing-aids with normal-hearing children by means of acoustic analysis of formant frequencies and vowel space. MethodsA total of 56 prelingually deaf children (25 with cochlear implants and 31 wearing hearing-aids) and 47 normal-hearing children participated. The first 2 formants (F1 and F2) of the five Spanish vowels were measured using Praat software. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc Scheffé test were applied to analyze the differences between the 3 groups. The surface area of the vowel space was also calculated. ResultsThe mean value of F1 in all vowels was not significantly different between the 3 groups. For vowels /i/, /o/ and /u/, the mean value of F2 was significantly different between the 2 groups of deaf children and their normal-hearing peers. ConclusionBoth prelingually hearing-impaired groups tended toward subtle deviations in the articulation of vowels that could be analyzed using an objective acoustic analysis programme.

Acquisition of Classifier Constructions in HKSL by Bimodal Bilingual Deaf Children of Hearing Parents.

The current study focuses on the acquisition of classifier constructions in Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) by a group of Deaf children of hearing parents, aided or implanted. These children have been mainstreamed together since kindergarten; but their learning environment supports dual language input in Cantonese and HKSL on a daily basis. Classifier constructions were chosen because previous research suggested full mastery at a late age when compared with other verb types, due to their morphosyntactic complexity. Also, crosslinguistic comparison between HKSL and Cantonese reveals differences in verb morphology as well as word order of the structures under investigation. We predicted that verb root and word order were the two domains for crosslingusitic interaction to occur. At the general level, given the specific learning environment and dual input condition, we examined if these Deaf child learners could ultimately acquire classifier constructions. Fifteen Deaf children divided into four groups based on duration of exposure to HKSL participated in the study. Two Deaf children born to Deaf parents and three native HKSL signers served as controls. A picture description task was designed to elicit classifier constructions containing either a transitive, a locative existential or a motion directional predicate. The findings revealed Deaf children's gradual convergence on the adult grammar despite late exposure to HKSL. Evidence of crosslinguistic influence on word order came from the Deaf children's initial adoption of a Cantonese structure for locative existential and motion directional predicates. There was also a prolonged period of adherence to the SVO order across all grades. However, within this SVO structure, the verb revealed increasing morphological complexity as a function of longer duration of exposure. We interpreted the findings using Language Synthesis, arguing that it was the selection of morphosyntactic features in Numeration that triggered crosslinguistic interaction between Cantonese and HKSL with bimodal bilinguals.

A comunicação entre sujeitos surdos com diagnóstico precoce e com diagnóstico tardio e seus pares

O diagnóstico de surdez deve ocorrer nos primeiros seis meses de vida de uma criança. Quanto mais cedo é avaliada a audição, nos casos de algum grau de comprometimento auditivo, mais cedo poderão ser iniciadas as intervenções médicas e educacionais. O diagnóstico tardio pode acarretar em atraso no desenvolvimento da linguagem oral e, muitas vezes, falta de entendimento entre pais ouvintes e filho surdo. Os objetivos do presente estudo foram observar dois grupos de crianças e adolescentes surdos que iniciaram a reabilitação precocemente e tardiamente, no que diz respeito ao uso da linguagem oral e língua de sinais e verificar como vem ocorrendo a comunicação dos sujeitos com seus familiares. Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com as mães dos surdos e observações da interação das díades mãe ouvinte e criança ou adolescente surdo. Verificou-se que alguns fatores dificultaram o processo do diagnóstico de surdez e o início da reabilitação auditiva, tais como acesso rápido aos recursos adequados e postura profissional, pois os pais têm uma melhor assimilação do diagnóstico quando o profissional os acolhe e utiliza linguagem acessível. Observou-se também que as crianças que iniciaram a reabilitação precocemente demonstraram comunicação mais efetiva com suas mães, mas há dificuldade por parte das mães em adquirirem a LIBRAS, tendo em vista que o aprendizado de uma nova língua demanda tempo, prática e dedicação. Conclui-se sobre a importância em diagnosticar a perda auditiva precocemente, pois este diagnóstico norteará os processos de habilitação e reabilitação da criança surda.

Lower limb muscle activity during gait in individuals with hearing loss.

The objective of this study was to investigate the electrical activity of lower limb muscles during gait in an able-bodied control group and in deaf individuals. Thirty male children were equally divided into a control group and a group of deaf children. A portable EMG system was used to record the activity of the bilateral tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius medialis and vastus lateralis muscles during barefoot walking with and without dual task. For EMG analysis, the average root mean square (RMS) values of the five trials were calculated and then normalized based on the peak RMS obtained by the maximum isometric voluntary contraction. MANOVA test was used for between group comparisons. The significance level was set at p < 0.05 for all analyses. The findings indicated that gait speed in children with hearing loss was smaller than that in control group. Dual task resulted in a decreased walking speed of children with hearing loss. The activities of tibialis anterior muscle in terminal stance phase (p = 0.040), medial gastrocnemius muscle in loading response and initial swing phases (p < 0.05), and vastus lateralis muscle in the terminal stance and pre swing phases (p < 0.05) were greater in deaf group. In deaf children the gait speed was reduced and the muscle activity was increased with respect to those in control group. This altered gait speed and muscle activity is suggestive of a lower mechanical efficiency of gait in deaf children.

Auditory Deprivation Does Not Impair Executive Function, But Language Deprivation Might: Evidence From a Parent-Report Measure in Deaf Native Signing Children.

Deaf children are often described as having difficulty with executive function (EF), often manifesting in behavioral problems. Some researchers view these problems as a consequence of auditory deprivation; however, the behavioral problems observed in previous studies may not be due to deafness but to some other factor, such as lack of early language exposure. Here, we distinguish these accounts by using the BRIEF EF parent report questionnaire to test for behavioral problems in a group of Deaf children from Deaf families, who have a history of auditory but not language deprivation. For these children, the auditory deprivation hypothesis predicts behavioral impairments; the language deprivation hypothesis predicts no group differences in behavioral control. Results indicated that scores among the Deaf native signers (n = 42) were age-appropriate and similar to scores among the typically developing hearing sample (n = 45). These findings are most consistent with the language deprivation hypothesis, and provide a foundation for continued research on outcomes of children with early exposure to sign language.

Development of attention networks in deaf children: Support for the integrative hypothesis

Early auditory deprivation is known to affect visual attention, yet the early effects of auditory deprivation on visual attention cannot be described simply as deficiencies or enhancements, because selected aspects of visual attention could be modified in various ways along the developmental trajectory. However, few studies have explored the development of these various aspects of visual attention in deaf children. In this paper we study the developmental trajectory of three aspects of visual attention (alerting, orienting and executive control attention networks) in a group of deaf children between 6 and 12 years of age. We used the attention network test to explore the development of the three attention networks and a child-friendly version of the cost-benefit paradigm to characterize the development of the basic operations of orienting. Our results showed a pattern of specific but varied outcomes with respect to the effects of auditory deprivation on these attention networks. First, auditory deprivation can impair development of the alerting network. Second, auditory deprivation can enhance two elementary operations of orienting: moving and engaging. Third, the executive control network showed a developmental trajectory that was neither deficient nor enhanced, but rather similar to that observed with hearing children. Taken together, these results are consistent with the integrative hypothesis of the effects of auditory deprivation on visual attention.

Gender-based dimorphism of aerobic and anaerobic capacity and physical activity preferences in deaf children and adolescents

PurposeResearch on the hearing impaired has revealed that the rate of change of physical fitness characteristics between both genders may be different than that of the hearing. The aim of the study was to verify the gender-based differentiation of aerobic and anaerobic capacity in a group of deaf children and adolescents (aged 10-18 years) and to evaluate their physical activity preferences.MethodsA semi-longitudinal study was conducted, with data collected three times over a period of two years. Aerobic capacity was measured by the PWC&lt;sub&gt;170&lt;/sub&gt; cycle test, anaerobic capacity by the Wingate test. A questionnaire was used to evaluate the physical activity preferences and favored leisure activities of the participants.ResultsSignificant genderbased differences were found in the aerobic and anaerobic capacity of the deaf boys and girls. A moderate correlation was noted for leisure time preferences.ConclusionsDeaf children feature no gender-based differences among their physical activity preferences. Environment plays a major role in stimulating the behavior of deaf children and adolescents.

Changing Schools for the Deaf: Updating the Educational Setting for Our Deaf Children in the 21st Century, a Big Challenge

In the last two decades the population of deaf children has changed dramatically in these countries where universal hearing screening, early intervention, digital hearing aids, and cochlear implants are available. Most of these children can now acquire intelligible spoken language and they go to mainstream school in larger proportions. But mainstream placement does not eliminate the need for services, which will vary depending upon the child's age, school curriculum, language, and other child-specific factors. This paper reports on the content of all these changes and will also show you how one of the schools for the deaf in Belgium, called KIDS (Royal Institute for the deaf) has adapted his educational setting to their changing population of deaf children. The special school for the deaf became a service centre for the deaf. Within this service centre, which has to deal with the whole, very heterogeneous group of deaf children, there are several departments: early intervention, daycare centre, pre-, primary and vocational training school, mainstreamed support service, audiological centre, and residential department. All this is a big challenge for the management of the service centre, who must ensure that their staff have the skills to meet these challenges.

Cochlear implant outcomes in children with motor developmental delay

Introduction Multiple handicapped children and children with syndromes and conditions resulting additional disabilities such as cerebral palsy, global developmental delay and autistic spectrum disorder, are now not routinely precluded from receiving a cochlear implant. The primary focus of this study was to determine the effect of cochlear implants on the speech perception and intelligibility of deaf children with and without motor development delay. Method In a cohort study, we compared cochlear implant outcomes in two groups of deaf children with or without motor developmental delay (MDD). Among 262 children with pre-lingual profound hearing loss, 28 (10%) had a motor delay based on Gross Motor Function Classification (GMFC). Children with severe motor delays (classification scale levels 4 and 5) and cognitive delays were excluded. All children completed the Categories of Auditory Perception Scales (CAP) and Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR) prior to surgery and 24 months after the device was activated. Result The mean age for the study population was 4.09 ± 1.86 years. In all 262 patients the mean CAP score after surgery (5.38 ± 0.043) had a marked difference in comparison with the mean score before surgery (0.482 ± 0.018) ( P = 0.001). The mean CAP score after surgery for MDD children was 5.03, and was 5.77 for normal motor development children (NMD). The mean SIR score after surgery for MDD children was 2.53, and was 2.66 for NMD children. The final results of CAP and SIR did not have significant difference between NMD children versus MDD children ( P > 0.05). Conclusion Regarding to the result, we concluded that children with hearing loss and concomitant MDD as an additional disabilities can benefit from cochlear implantation similar to those of NMD.

Predictors of reading development in deaf children: A 3-year longitudinal study

The development of reading ability in a group of deaf children was followed over a 3-year period. A total of 29 deaf children (7–8 years of age at the first assessment) participated in the study, and every 12 months they were given a battery of literacy, cognitive, and language tasks. Earlier vocabulary and speechreading skills predicted longitudinal growth in reading achievement. The relations between reading and the predictor variables showed developmental change. Earlier reading ability was related to later phonological awareness skills, suggesting that deaf children might develop their phonological awareness through reading. Deaf children who had the most age-appropriate reading skills tended to have less severe hearing losses and earlier diagnoses and also preferred to communicate through speech. The theoretical implications of the role for speechreading, vocabulary and phonological awareness in deaf children’s literacy are discussed.

Executive Functions and Theory-of-Mind Among Deaf Children: Different Routes to Understanding Other Minds?

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of executive functions (EF) in theory-of-mind (ToM) performance in deaf children and adolescents. Four groups of deaf children aged 7–16 years, with different language backgrounds at home and at school, that is, bilingually instructed native signers, oralist-instructed native signers, and two groups of bilingually instructed late signers from Sweden and Estonia, respectively, were given eight ToM and four EF measures. The bilingually instructed native signers performed at a significantly higher level on the ToM measures than the other groups of deaf children. On the EF measures, there were no significant differences found between any of the groups, with one exception—the Swedish bilingual late signers had a significantly shorter average reaction time on the go-no-go inhibition task than the oralist native signers and the Estonian bilingual late signers. However, the Swedish children's better EF performance was not mirrored in better performance on ToM tasks. Our results indicate that despite all deaf children's good general cognitive abilities, there were still differences in their performance on ToM tasks that need to be explained in other terms. Thus, whatever the cause of late signers' difficulties with ToM, poor EF-skills seem to be of minor importance.

Mentalizing skills of non-native, early signers: A longitudinal perspective

Using a longitudinal design, the mentalizing skills of a group of deaf children were tested with a wide array of theory of mind tasks over a period of three years. A selection of results from the first two years of testing is reported here. The children were non-native signers, but had been offered a good regime for the development of sign language as soon as their deafness was discovered. A comparison group of hearing children matched for mental age and sex also took part. There was a wide variation in performance between children in the deaf group, both across different tasks and over time, while the hearing group performed more or less at ceiling on all of the tasks included already at the first data collection time, and showed very little variation in performance across tasks. Also, the deaf children, as well as the hearing children, performed 100% correct on a test of non-mental representation, i.e., the false-photo task (Zaitchik, 1990). The present results speak in favour of the crucial importance of early communication using a common language for the typical developmental trajectory of mentalizing skills.

Phonological Awareness in Deaf Children Who Use Cochlear Implants

A short-term longitudinal study was conducted to investigate possible benefits of cochlear implant (CI) use on the development of phonological awareness in deaf children. Nineteen CI users were tested on 2 occasions. Two groups of deaf children using hearing aids were tested once: 11 profoundly deaf and 10 severely deaf children. A battery of tests was designed to investigate syllable, rhyme, and phoneme awareness. Syllable awareness in the CI users was equivalent to that of the severely deaf group, and rhyme and phoneme awareness was similar to that of the profoundly deaf children using hearing aids. CI use affords some benefit to the development of phonological awareness. The results from this study indicate that this enhancement is first observable at the syllable level.

Visual attention in deaf and hearing infants: the role of auditory cues

Successful communication with profoundly deaf children is heavily dependent on visual attention. Previous research has shown that mothers of deaf children--notably those who are deaf themselves--use a variety of strategies to gain their children's attention. This study compares patterns of visual attention in deaf and hearing children to determine how they are affected by the absence of auditory cues, especially when looking to the mother's face. The visual attention of 18-month-old infants to their mothers was examined in two groups of deaf children (6 with deaf mothers and 6 with hearing mothers) and two of hearing children (6 with deaf mothers and 8 with hearing mothers). Dyads were observed in free play and 10 minutes of videorecorded interaction was analysed. All looks to the mother were classified as Spontaneous, Responsive (Child turns in response to something done by mother) or Elicited (Mother actively seeks to gain child's attention by, e.g., tapping or waving). The kind of event that attracted the child's attention in Responsive and Elicited episodes was also determined (e.g., object movement, speech, physical contact), as was the focus of the child's attention (e.g., mother's face, mother's body). Responsive looks to the mother were the most frequent for all groups but on only about 25% of occasions were they directed to her face. Elicited and spontaneous looks occurred less often but were frequently directed to the mother's face. Spontaneous looking occurred in all groups but elicited looking very seldom occurred in Hearing-Hearing dyads. Overall, there were fewer looks to the mother in the two groups where mother and child had congruent hearing status, although the proportion of the looks to the mother's face was similar. Both spontaneous and elicited looks are likely to involve attention to the mother's face. However, while active elicitation of attention is an important part of successful communication with young deaf children, this does not appear necessary for typically developing hearing children who turn to look at their mother's face on hearing her voice. The implications of these findings for differences in the dynamics of communication with young deaf and hearing children are discussed.

Bayesian Modeling of Joint Regressions for the Mean and Covariance Matrix

AbstractAn important problem in agronomy is the study of longitudinal data on the growth curve of the weight of cattle through time, possibly taking into account the effect of other explanatory variables such as treatments and time. In this paper, a Bayesian approach for analysing longitudinal data is proposed. It takes into account regression structures on the mean and the variance‐covariance matrix of normal observations. The approach is based on the modeling strategy suggested by Pourahmadi (1999, Biometrika 86, 667–690). After revising this methodology, we present the Bayesian approach used to fit the models, based on a generalization of the Metropolis‐Hastings algorithm of Cepeda and Gamerman (2000, Brazilian Journal of Probability and Statistics, 14, 207–221). The approach is used to the study of growth and development of a group of deaf children. The paper is concluded with a few proposed extensions. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, Weinheim)