Young Deaf Research Articles

Parental self-efficacy and early language development in deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

This study examined the relationship between parental self-efficacy in parents of young deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and children's spoken language skills. A retrospective within-subjects study design was used that included 24 mother-child dyads with DHH children. Parental self-efficacy was assessed using the Scale of Parental Involvement and Self-Efficacy-Revised. Children's language abilities were assessed using the Preschool Language Scale-5th edition. Our data revealed no significant associations between global measures of parental self-efficacy and children's auditory comprehension, expressive communication, and total language scores. However, positive correlations were found between child language skills and specific parents' beliefs about their ability to support their child's spoken language development, their ability to use strategies to help their child communicate, and their active involvement in intervention. Findings highlight the importance of examining discrete aspects of parental self-efficacy as it specifically relates to parents supporting their DHH child's spoken language development. Future directions and implications are provided.

Therapeutic impact of music in young deaf patients with aggressive behavior disorder

In France metropolitan, 5 182 000 people have hearing loss (8.7% of the population), of which 4.1% are under 20 years of age. In children, hearing impairment is sought in the presence of depression, hyperactivity, impulsivity, instability accompanied by intense anger, and aggressive behavior. So far, the impact of dance and music on deaf people has been little studied. In this context, we recently initiated a project in mediated therapeutic workshops; Devoted to hearing-impaired adolescents or young adults with behavioral problems. The main objective of this project is to foster the adaptability of these young people with severe behavior problems. Protocol: 4 volunteers with moderate to profound deafness were included in this prospective study (2 F and 2 M, aged 19.5 ± 5.0 years). These patients exhibited daily behavioral disorders with stereotypies and aggressiveness with moderate to severe intensity according to the Behavior Problems Inventory (BPI-01). These young people attended weekly sessions lasting more than 12 months at the Music / Percussion Workshop in the presence of an instructor and nurse therapist. Outcome and Discussion: No voluntary withdrawal of the project was recorded. A very strong behavioral improvement was noted in 3/4 of the cases and a slight improvement in 1/4 of the cases. This study has shown that hearing loss is compensated by various adaptive processes, in particular by multi sensorial interactivity (such as the interactivity between touch and vision) and through mirror neuronal system. Conclusion: This study showed hearing impaired people are sensitive and receptive to the sound world and to rhythmic movement. This finding has been put to the benefit of rehabilitation through Music and Dance Therapies which has improved the behavioral disorder and blossoming of the group rehabilitation through Music and Dance Therapies of young people suffering from medium to profound deafness with severe behavior problems.

Quality Standard for Rehabilitation of Young Deaf Children Receiving Cochlear Implants.

Background and objectives: More and more children with severe-to-profound hearing loss are receiving cochlear implants (CIs) at an early age to improve their hearing and listening abilities, speech recognition, speech intelligibility, and other aspects of spoken language development. Despite this, the rehabilitation outcomes can be very heterogeneous in this population, not only because of issues related to surgery and fitting or the specific characteristics of the child with his/her additional disabilities but also because of huge differences in the quality of the support and rehabilitation offered by the therapist and the family. These quality standards for the rehabilitation of young deaf children receiving CIs are developed within the European KA202 Erasmus+ project "VOICE"-vocational education and training for speech and language therapists and parents for the rehabilitation of children with CIs, Ref. No.: 2020-1-RO01-KA202-080059. Material and methods: To develop these quality standards, we used the input from the face-to-face interviews of 11 local rehabilitation experts in CIs from the four partner countries of the project and the outcomes of the bibliographic analysis of 848 publications retrieved from six databases: Pub Med, Psych Info, CINAHL, Scopus, Eric, and Cochrane. Based on all this information, we created a first set of 32 quality standards over four domains: general, fitting, rehabilitation, and for professionals. Further on, the Delphi method was used by 18 international rehabilitation experts to discuss and agree on these standards. Results: The results from the literature analysis and the interviews show us that more than 90% of the consulted international experts agreed on 29 quality standards. They focus on different aspects of rehabilitation: the multidisciplinary team, their expertise and knowledge, important rehabilitation topics to focus on, and programming issues related to rehabilitation. Conclusions: These quality standards aim to optimize the activity of speech rehabilitation specialists so that they reach the optimal level of expertise. Also presented is the necessary equipment for the IC team to carry out the rehabilitation sessions in good conditions. This set of quality standards can be useful to ensure the appropriate postoperative care of these children. As a result, the rehabilitation process will be more relaxed, and therapists will have the opportunity to focus more on the specific needs of each child, with the provision of quality services, which will result in better results. This theme is particularly complex and dependent on multifactorial aspects of medicine, education, speech therapy, social work, and psychology that are very intricate and interdependent.

How Well are Young Deaf Children in Early Intervention Doing on their Language Acquisition? An Assessment View

Little is known about the earliest language acquisition of deaf children who have a variety of different experiences. Cochlear implants tend to be implanted between six months to 12 months and often become active around 18 months. In addition, Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) tend to evaluate articulation rather than language acquisition. In terms of evaluating sign language, there are few normed assessments developed explicitly for this modality. Therefore, a joint research project was established with an early intervention program and Lamar University's Deaf Studies and Deaf Education department to evaluate the earliest language milestones acquired by deaf children between birth and five years of age. The project used language assessments developed for parents and teachers in both American Sign Language (ASL) and English, with norms derived from native users of each language. All languages reported as used by the family were assessed. Results found that most families selected spoken language and those results varied across participants. It was found that younger children using spoken language were more likely to demonstrate age-typical language acquisition when compared to older children. As more linguistic complexity developed, older children using spoken language tended to show delays. Future research suggests investigating bidirectional interactions between children, their families, and the broader systems with which the deaf child interacts. Doing so would create a further understanding of the child’s language acquisition and help families understand how to determine if their child’s language acquisition is progressing in a typical manner.

“Can a snowman have more than three snowballs?” Conducting Project Studies with Young Deaf Children

This study explored conducting project studies with young deaf children in two American Sign Language (ASL) and English bilingual schools for deaf children. Project studies involve teachers’ facilitation of exploration on a topic that interests young children. In projects, children learn by doing, starting with questions based on children’s curiosity about a topic and finding answers to the questions through investigation, field trips, and play. Children then represent their understanding and ideas about the topic in various ways. This study used ethnographic methods by observing specific strategies that teachers used to facilitate deaf children’s learning in multiple early childhood classrooms. The study also included focus group interviews to listen to the perspectives of families and teachers about using the project approach with young children in deaf education. The findings include descriptions of deaf children’s experience conducting projects that took place in both schools. It revealed the benefits of conducting project studies with young deaf children to enhance their learning experiences.

Voices of Young Deaf Adults: Supporting Adolescent Social Capital Development.

For most young people, social capital plays an important role in transitioning to postsecondary education and employment. For youth who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), social capital can mitigate negative effects of challenges they will likely encounter after high school. In phase 2 of a two-phase qualitative study in Australia, we investigated DHH young adults' perspectives on how DHH adolescents could best be supported to develop and use social capital to benefit their postschool transition. Nine university students whose primary communication mode was spoken language participated in semistructured interviews, discussing practical ways educators and families could assist DHH high school students. We close by recommending ways schools and families can facilitate social capital development of DHH adolescents in preparation for postsecondary education and employment. Importantly, this research gives voice to young DHH adults with the objective of improving DHH adolescents' outcomes.

YoungDeafDesign: Participatory design with young Deaf children

It is common in HCI research to involve children in the design of their own technology. However, no design methods exist to design with young Deaf children. To address this gap, I have created YoungDeafDesign, a design method for designing with young Deaf children. YoungDeafDesign was originally intended to be a design method for working with young Deaf children as equal design partners, according to Druin’s levels of involvement (Druin, 2002) . However, in YoungDeafDesign as it is presented here, the children’s involvement level falls between design partner and informant, as the communication gap between hearing designers and young Deaf children prevents the dialogue which is required for working with children as design partners. The YoungDeafDesign method addresses children’s youth, language level, individual Deafness and cultural Deafness, enabling adult, hearing designers to design technologies with and for this unique group of children.YoungDeafDesign will be described in this paper through the lens of patterns and themes which are common in designing with children (Korte, 2020) , and which were evaluated for applicability to designing with young Deaf children through a series of twenty-five design sessions conducted with young Deaf children (3–5 years), staff members from the children’s preschool programme in the role of sign language interpreter or support assistant; and at times, the children’s parents. This led to a synthesis of the relevant aspects of existing methods into a new design method for designing with young Deaf children.The existence of YoungDeafDesign will enable the creation of technologies to assist young Deaf children and their families in ways which address young Deaf children’s needs and abilities.

Behavioral Parent Training for Families With Young Deaf or Hard of Hearing Children Followed in Hearing Health Care.

It is well established that individuals with a communication disability, including being deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), experience inequities in health services and outcomes. These inequities extend to DHH children's access to psychosocial evidence-based interventions (EBIs). Behavioral parent training is an EBI that can be used to improve caregiver and child outcomes. Despite being supported by decades of effectiveness research, this EBI is rarely accessed by, or studied with, caregivers of DHH children. The purpose of this article is to describe a program of stakeholder-engaged research adapting and assessing behavioral parent training with caregivers of young DHH children followed in hearing health care, aimed at reducing inequities in access to this EBI. The first section briefly summarizes the literature on disruptive behavior problems in young children, with a focus on preschool-age DHH children. The evidence base for behavioral parent training is described. Next, the gaps in knowledge and practice regarding disruptive behaviors among DHH children are highlighted, and the potential integration of behavioral parent training into the standard of care for this population is proposed. Young DHH children who use hearing aids and/or cochlear implants experience disruptive behavior problems at rates at least as high as typically hearing children, but their access to EBIs is limited, and behavioral parent training programs tailored to this population have not been rigorously tested. Caregivers and hearing health care service providers affirm the potential benefits of behavioral parent training and were partners in adapting this EBI. This research highlights several principles and approaches essential for reducing inequities and improving the quality of life not only for DHH children and their families but also for individuals with communication disabilities more broadly: engagement of key stakeholders in research, collaboration across disciplines, and using implementation science methods and models to design for implementation, dissemination, and sustainment. Presentation Video: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21215900.

Challenging normalcy through stardom: childhood celebrity, disability, and Patty Duke’s Helen Keller

ABSTRACT What is it about girl stars, from Shirley Temple to Jodie Foster, that intensely and ambivalently capture the cultural imagination? I argue that child stars, often described as transitioning into adulthood too quickly or staying too long in childhood, challenge damaging social norms of bodily and behavioural development in ways that are sympathetic to disability experience. I use disability studies’ theory of ‘crip time’ and Kathryn Bond Stockton’s notion of the political potential of children ‘growing sideways’ alongside the case study of Patty Duke to demonstrate this productive subversiveness. Duke’s star persona, centred on her portrayal of the young deaf, blind, and uncommunicative Helen Keller in William Gibson’s Broadway play and Arthur Penn’s subsequent film, reveals the parallel developmental non-normativity of disability and child stardom.Through contradictory primary and paratextual evidence surrounding The Miracle Worker and Duke’s stardom, the application of crip time to notions of childhood celebrity, and a contextual understanding of public discourse surrounding childhood during the 1960s, I find that Duke and her characterisation of Keller embody a rejection of conventional understandings of ‘growing up’. Duke’s ambivalent childhood celebrity fractures the constructed ideal of normal development, revealing possibilities for valuable experience beyond the pressures of ableist notions of linear growth.

Chilean Spanish transcultural adaptation of CAP-II and SIR scales in an online format for parents of children with hearing aids or cochlear implants

Spoken language acquisition is challenging for very young deaf or hard-of-hearing children (DHH) who wear hearing aids or cochlear implants (CI). Timely decision-making for treatment is essential for these children and requires suitable assessments. Two such assessments are the Categories of Auditory Performance Index II (CAP-II) and the Speech Intelligibility Rating Scale (SIR). These have been shown to be helpful for the ongoing evaluation of developing speech perception and spoken language skills in various languages, but they are not available in Chilean Spanish. This study aimed to create a Chilean Spanish translation of the CAP-II and SIR appropriate for online self-administration by parents-caregivers in Chile to assist professionals in monitoring DHH children’s progress, considering the COVID-19 restrictions. The methods used in the process started with translating a self-report proposal from the original English versions of the CAP-II and SIR scales. Finally, the Chilean Spanish versions were tested in 107 Chilean parents-caregivers of DHH children with CIs. The results suggest these instruments are suitable for use in a Chilean context.

Academic American Sign Language in a Home of Two Deaf Parents and Their Young Deaf Children

Academic American Sign Language in a Home of Two Deaf Parents and Their Young Deaf Children

Examining interventions to improve young deaf people's mental health: a search for evidence

Background Young deaf and hard of hearing people have a higher prevalence of mental health problems than their hearing peers. Little is known about mental health interventions that promote positive mental health in this population group. Aim To evaluate evidence of mental health interventions with young deaf and hard of hearing people. Methods A literature review was performed over four databases: CINAHL, Medline, Web of Science and Proquest, for peer reviewed articles written in English that focused on interventions to improve young Deaf people's mental health. Results The search yielded 62 papers, with none eligible for inclusion. Information did not relate directly to mental health interventions that improve young deaf and hard of hearing people's mental health or that support social and emotional behavioural issues. Conclusions Practitioners and researchers need to work closely with deaf and hard of hearing communities and explore what improves young deaf and hard of hearing people's mental health.

Uso del condón en jóvenes sordos de la Ciudad de México: qué saben y cómo lo usan

Background: In studies carried out with young people without hearing impairment, the problem of considering the report of condom use as a preventive behavior is evidenced, since this by itself is not an indicator of its correct use. Objective: To evaluate the level of knowledge that deaf young people have about how to use a condom, the frequency with which they use it and the mistakes they make when using it, as well as exploring the relationship between these variables and the differences depending on the sex of the participants. Method: The Computerized Questionnaire on Sexual Health for Young Mexicans with Hearing Disabilities was used to evaluate, in a sample of 57 young Mexican deaf people (32 men and 25 women with an average age of 20.02 years), their sexual behavior, the level of knowledge on the correct use of condoms and the frequency of mistakes they make when using it during sex. Results: The main findings show that young people start their sexual life at an early age (17 years on average), have sex without using a condom, do not have adequate knowledge about how to use a condom, and those who reported using it made mistakes that were associated with breakage and slippage. Only in men was the level of knowledge negatively correlated with lifetime condom use (r=-.530, p=.002), and this, in turn, was positively correlated with frequency of failures (r=.466, p=.008). Conclusion: The study shows that young deaf people are unaware of how to use a condom and make mistakes when using it during sex, which places them in a vulnerable situation to STIs and unwanted pregnancies. The study provides evidence that highlights the need to direct efforts towards the design of training programs in the correct use of condoms for this population.

Postural improvement in young deaf and mute boy in post 2 weeks pineal gland tumour removal after 3 balance rehabilitation: A Case Study

Postural improvement in young deaf and mute boy in post 2 weeks pineal gland tumour removal after 3 balance rehabilitation: A Case Study

Chinese Pinyin: Overview, History and Use in Language Learning for Young Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in China.

The authors discuss Pinyin, a phonetic system based on the Latin alphabet, as an auxiliary pedagogical tool in literacy instruction in China. They provide a brief history of Pinyin and its educational purposes, then describe how it is used in its spoken/auditory, written, and signed forms by teachers with students who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH). Classroom transcripts demonstrate how Pinyin is taught via visual and tactile/kinesthetic tools such as pictures, sign language, and the Chinese Manual Alphabet for purposes of making the phonological information visible to DHH learners. The authors further discuss the different functions of Pinyin for students who are hearing versus students who are DHH and present new insights that may lead to future empirical studies on Pinyin use in early literacy interventions.

Theory-of-Mind Development in Young Deaf Children With Early Hearing Provisions

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children born to hearing parents have profound theory-of-mind (ToM) delays, yet little is known about how providing hearing assistance early in life, through cochlear implants and hearing aids, influences their ToM development. We thus addressed (a) whether young DHH children with early hearing provision developed ToM differently than older children did in previous research and (b) what ToM understandings characterize this understudied population. Findings from 84 three- to six-year-old DHH children primarily acquiring spoken language demonstrated that accumulated hearing experience influenced their ToM, as measured by a five-step ToM scale. Moreover, language abilities mediated this developmental relationship: Children with more advanced language abilities, because of more time using cochlear implants and hearing aids, had better ToM growth. These findings demonstrate the crucial relationships among hearing, language, and ToM for DHH children acquiring spoken language, thereby addressing theoretical and practical questions about ToM development.

Developmental outcomes of young deaf children and the self-perceived parental role of their hearing mothers

BackgroundThere is little research into the relationship between a deaf child's developmental outcomes and their mother's self-perceived parental role. The aim of this study was to find out whether the different levels of global psychomotor development in young deaf children who had a cochlear implant (CI), or were candidates for a CI, were related to particular family factors: the self-perceived parental role and the family quality of life (FQoL) as gauged by their hearing mothers, as well as the child's sociodemographic and deafness-related factors and the sociodemographic characteristics of the mothers. MethodsThe study was conducted on a group of 64 children with bilateral severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) who were CI users (36 children) or qualified for cochlear implantation (28 children) and their hearing mothers. The age of the children ranged from 6.5 to 47 months (M = 23.6; SD = 10.1), among whom 55% were girls (n = 35). The mothers of the children were aged 24–48 years (M = 32.7; SD = 5.3). Information was collected via the Children Development Scale (CDS), the Self-Perception of Parental Role (S-PPR), the Family Quality of Life Survey (FQOLS-2006), and an additional information questionnaire which included questions about sociodemographic variables of the child and the mother, as well as questions related to deafness, the CI, and the child's rehabilitation. ResultsBased on results of the CDS, the deaf children were divided into two groups: those who had a low level of global psychomotor development (Low global psychomotor development subgroup – LGPD) and others with medium or high scores (Medium/high global psychomotor development subgroup – MHGPD). The mothers of deaf children in the LGPD group assessed their investment in motherhood lower than did mothers from the MHGPD group. The mothers of the LGPD group rated their satisfaction with the child's rehabilitation lower than did mothers from the MHGPD group. The two subgroups did not differ in FQOLS-2006 domains except for community interactions, which were significantly higher in the MHGPD families. ConclusionsAmong the determinants of the global psychomotor development of a young deaf child, the most important ones relate to the use of a CI, but maternal investment in parenting is also important. Community interactions of the family with a deaf child are also crucial, as they create a framework for social network and support for the deaf child's optimal development. Any psychological diagnosis should include, apart from psychomotor development of the deaf child, an assessment of how the mother is coping with their parenting. Mothers of deaf children, especially those with LPGD, need additional support in parenting.

The Assessment of Pragmatic Skills in Young Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children.

The development of pragmatic skills does not often receive attention by professionals who are recommending or undertaking assessment of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children, yet social communication is vital for linguistic, social, emotional, and academic development. We acknowledge the challenges that DHH children have with pragmatic skills, advocate for monitoring of pragmatic development for all DHH children by medical professionals, and provide direction for assessment of pragmatic skills in young DHH children, particularly for clinicians and teachers who are tasked with that work. Pragmatic assessment is challenging because it must involve observations of the child in interaction with a communication partner, either directly during a specific interaction or through the reflections of a familiar adult. In this article, we recommend two complementary assessment procedures for young DHH children who use spoken language. Assessment 1 recommends that a parent or caregiver completes The Pragmatic Checklist to provide a picture of the child's functional communication. In assessment 2, the information gained through the checklist is complemented by using direct observations of a child in interaction with an adult or a peer. The Pragmatic Protocol uses a video-recorded conversation sample between the child and familiar person that is analyzed by a DHH professional for 30 different pragmatic behaviors. We conclude this article with a recommendation for pediatricians and health care professionals to monitor pragmatic developmental milestones in DHH children, to refer them for pragmatic assessments, and to collaborate with researchers to develop valid, reliable tools that adequately capture the pragmatic skill strengths and needs of DHH children.

“It seemed like if you chose sign language you were going to be punished”: A narrative case study of participant experiences with supporting a deaf child in Ontario early childhood education and care

ABSTRACT In Ontario, Canada, the movement toward inclusive education has led to a resource consultant model in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The purpose of this narrative case study was to analyze participant experiences involving a daycare setting previously attended by a young deaf child who benefits from American Sign Language (ASL). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a community ASL instructor who was hired to provide services in a daycare, a parent of a young deaf child who attended this setting, and a child care resource consultant who worked with all participants. These interviews were used to construct a retrospective narrative of participant experiences in an Ontario ECEC setting. As study findings reveal, the current design of publicly funded early intervention sign language service to deaf children may sometimes be at odds with the ethos of an inclusive ECEC system.

Reading Fluency in Young Elementary School Age Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children.

The Center on Literacy and Deafness examined the language and reading progress of 336 young deaf and hard-of-hearing children in kindergarten, first and second grades on a series of tests of language, reading, and spoken and fingerspelled phonological awareness in the fall and spring of the school year. Children were divided into groups based on their auditory access and classroom communication: a spoken-only group (n = 101), a sign-only group (n = 131), and a bimodal group (n = 104). Previous work reports the overall data (Antia, S., Lederberg, A., Schick, B., Branum-Martin, L., Connor, C. M., & Webb, M. (2020a). Language and reading progress of young DHH children. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, (3), 25; Lederberg, A. R., Branum-Martin, L., Webb, M. L., Schick, B., Antia, S., Easterbrooks, S. R., & Connor, C. M. (2019). Modality and interrelations among language, reading, spoken phonological awareness, and fingerspelling. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 24(4), 408-423). This report presents an in-depth look at the reading fluency of the participants measured along multiple dimensions. In general, 43% of the participants were unable to read fluently and an additional 23% were unable to read fluently at grade level. Rate and accuracy, rate of growth, miscue analysis, and self-corrections differed by communication modality. Most notably, children demonstrated limited strategies for self-correction during reading fluency tasks.