Modality of language shapes working memory: evidence from digit span and spatial span in ASL signers

Deaf children who are native users of American Sign Language (ASL) and hearing children who are native English speakers performed three working memory tasks. Results indicate that language modality shapes the architecture of working memory. Digit span with forward and backward report, performed by each group in their native language, suggests that the language rehearsal mechanisms for spoken language and for sign language differ in their processing constraints. Unlike hearing children, deaf children who are native signers of ASL were as good at backward recall of digits as at forward recall, suggesting that serial order information for ASL is stored in a form that does not have a preferred directionality. Data from a group of deaf children who were not native signers of ASL rule out explanations in terms of a floor effect or a nonlinguistic visual strategy. Further, deaf children who were native signers outperformed hearing children on a nonlinguistic spatial memory task, suggesting that language expertise in a particular modality exerts an influence on nonlinguistic working memory within that modality. Thus, language modality has consequences for the structure of working memory, both within and outside the linguistic domain.     

Providing accessible services to minority ethnic deaf people: insights from a study in Alberta,Canada

Evidence suggests that minority ethnic people in general and minority ethnic deaf people (MEDP) in particular face numerous formidable obstacles in their attempts to gain access to services in the community. Deaf people from minority ethnic groups who have no English and/or American Sign Language (ASL) skills have particular difficulty gaining access to services. The study therefore was concerned with identifying some of the special needs and difficulties of MEDP who are trying to gain access to services in multiethnic communities. Qualitative approaches were used in data gathering and analysis. The results indicated six areas of difficulty for MEDP in gaining access to services: (a) communication barriers, (b) a lack of recognition of the needs of MEDP, (c) inappropriate service delivery and a lack of information on available services, (d) insufficient cultural sensitivity on the part of service providers, (e) issues of user involvement, and (f) a lack of specific programs for MEDP.     

Mental health problems of deaf Dutch children as indicated by parents' responses to the child behavior checklist

Emotional/behavioral problems of 238 deaf Dutch children ages 4-18 years were studied. Parental reports indicated that 41% had emotional/behavioral problems, a rate nearly 2.6 times higher than the 16% reported by parents of a Dutch normative sample. Mental health problems seemed most prevalent in families with poor parent-child communication. Deaf children ages 12-18 showed more problems with anxiety and depression and more social problems than those ages 4-11. Deaf children with relatively low intelligence showed more social problems, thought problems, and attention problems than those with relatively high intelligence. The authors stress the need to get information on deaf children's mental health functioning not just from parents but from other informants such as teachers and the children themselves. An expansion assessment of deaf children, and of special services and treatments for deaf children and adolescents with emotional/behavioral problems, is recommended.     

Culture or Disability? Examining Deaf Characters in Children’s Book Illustrations

Picture books can influence how children perceive those from backgrounds and cultures different from their own. Studies have been conducted examining how the text of children’s literature portrays multicultural characters or characters with disabilities. However, few have looked specifically at the portrayal of characters through illustrations, despite growing understanding of the importance that illustrations play in text comprehension. Fewer still have analyzed children’s literature for depictions of deaf characters and characteristics of Deaf culture. One recent study examined children’s picture books for portrayals of deaf individuals in the text; however, examining illustrations may provide additional information for both hearing and d/Deaf (For the purpose of this paper, capital “D” Deaf refers to people who are recognized part of the Deaf community; “d” deaf refers to the inability to hear or people unable to hear; d/D includes both populations.) readers about deafness and the Deaf population. In addition, while illustrations are important for all young readers, they may be particularly important for d/Deaf readers who are by nature visual learners. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a content analysis of illustrations in 20 picture books targeted to ages 4 to 8?years for messages linked to pathological and cultural models of deafness. In addition, results were compared to previous analyses of the text in the picture books. Results indicated that the illustrations do not represent deaf characters from a cultural perspective. Instead, similar to the text, illustrations present deaf characters more frequently as having a pathological condition or disability, that should be fixed through medical interventions in order to fit into a hearing world.     

A study of the relationship between American sign language and English literacy

This article presents the findings of a study of the relationship between American Sign Language (ASL) skills and English literacy among 160 deaf children. Using a specially designed test of ASL to determine three levels of ASL ability, we found that deaf children who attained the higher two levels significantly outperformed children in the lowest ASL ability level in English literacy, regardless of age and IQ. Furthermore, although deaf children with deaf mothers outperformed deaf children of hearing mothers in both ASL and English literacy, when ASL level was held constant, there was no difference between these two groups, except in the lowest level of ASL ability. The implication of this research is straightforward and powerful: Deaf children's learning of English appears to benefit from the acquisition of even a moderate fluency in ASL.     

Language codes and sense-making among deaf schoolchildren

There are at least two languages (American Sign Language [ASL], English) and three modalities (sign, speech, print) in most deaf individuals' lives. Mixing of ASL and English in utterances of deaf adults has been described in various ways (pidgins, diglossia, language contact, bilingualism), but children's mixing usually is treated as the 'fault' of poor input language. Alternatively, how might language mixing serve their communication goals? This article describes code variations and adaptations to particular situations. Deaf children were seen to exhibit a wide variety of linguistic structures mixing ASL, English, Spanish, signing, and speaking. Formal lessons supported a recoding of English print as sign and speech, but the children who communicated English speech were the two who could hear speech. The children who communicated ASL were those who had deaf parents communicating ASL or who identified with deaf houseparents communicating ASL. Most language produced by the teacher and children in this study was mixed in code and mode. While some mixing was related to acquisition and proficiency, mixing, a strategy of many deaf individuals, uniquely adapts linguistic resources to communication needs. Investigating deaf children's language by comparing it to standard English or ASL overlooks the rich strategies of mixing that are central to their communication experience.     

Some ethical dimensions of cochlear implantation for deaf children and their families

A major source of controversy between Deaf people and those who support a "social/cultural" view of Deafness as "a life to be lived" and those who see deafness within a "medical model" as a "condition to be cured" has been over the cochlear implantation of young deaf children. Recent research has shown that there are noticeable inequities in access to such procedures in western countries; inequities that give rise to the need for informed public policy discussions. It has also found that parents of newly diagnosed deaf children are not provided with access to all the possibilities for their children-including that of a "Deaf life." How this information can be provided to parents and the public via widespread discussions in the media and elsewhere and involving Deaf people in the implantation counseling process is an issue that needs to be addressed by those responsible for implantation programs.     

Promoting vocabulary learning in young children who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing: translating research into practice

Vocabulary knowledge is strongly associated with reading achievement and becomes increasingly predictive of overall reading proficiency as children progress through the elementary grades. Children who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing often begin schooling with small meaning vocabularies, a disadvantage that puts them at risk of struggling to learn to read. Recent research on vocabulary intervention with young children who have typical hearing demonstrates the effectiveness of targeted, contextualized instruction on children's word learning and provides insights for early childhood educators of young d/Deaf and hard of hearing children. In the present essay, which is grounded in the qualitative similarity hypothesis (Paul, 2010, in press; Paul & Lee, 2010) and sociocultural theories of learning, the author argues for evidence-based vocabulary interventions for young d/Deaf and hard of hearing children that are rooted in the contemporary research literature.     

Hard-of-Hearing Adolescents and Identity Construction: Influences of School Experiences, Peers, and Teachers

This qualitative study explored the identity construction of seven adolescents who attended special classes for hard-of-hearing (HH) students for part or all of their elementary school years. Results of open-ended group interviews and written questionnaires indicated that the students strongly identified as HH people. School experiences and interactions with teachers and HH peers appeared to be major influences on this choice. The findings support the position that a HH identity may exist separate from the culturally Deaf identity. The findings also suggest that HH students need to connect with other HH individuals whether or not they assimilate into the hearing world or decide to participate in both the hearing and Deaf worlds.     

Providing online course opportunities for learners who are deaf, hard of hearing, or hearing

For more than 20 years, two courses, History, Education, and Guidance of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Introduction to Instructional Methods for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing, have been taught at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania using a traditional lecture format. A state grant provided funding to explore the use of technology to teach online courses to college-age learners who are deaf, hard of hearing, or hearing. Saba Centra software was used as the online tool for the synchronous presentation of course content, which included PowerPoint lecture material, text chat opportunities, sign language-interpreted video, and other forms of class participation (e.g., signaling for questions raised, responding in a "yes/no" format). The present article covers recent successes and challenges in offering online courses in a "virtual classroom" format to deaf and hard of hearing learners, as well as hearing learners, from a qualitative research perspective.     

Survey reveals slow strides in promoting adolescent reproductive health in Vietnam

This article presents the findings of a survey evaluating the adolescent reproductive health program by the Vietnamese Government. Conducted by the Population Research Consultants, survey findings revealed several setbacks of the adolescent reproductive health program; these included the following: 1) adolescents favor radio, television and newspapers as sources of reproductive health (RH) information; 2) adolescents have no knowledge of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS prevention; 3) the demand for RH information varies according to the sociodemographic characteristics of respondents; 4) while the majority of adolescents do not favor premarital sex and premarital pregnancy, their choice is to keep and deliver the baby in case of a premarital pregnancy; 5) adolescents give a poor rating to the quality of RH/family planning services at the centers; 6) adolescents need to further understand RH but not knowing its meaning, they cannot tell what type of information they require; 6) adolescents have poor knowledge of adolescent reproductive health; 7) friendship and love are often discussed among adolescents, but sexuality rarely is; and 8) adolescents have poor knowledge of RH and poor interest in RH/family planning service facilities.     

Enhanced facial discrimination: effects of experience with American sign language

On-line comprehension of American Sign Language (ASL) requires rapid discrimination of linguistic facial expressions. We hypothesized that ASL signers' experience discriminating linguistic facial expressions might lead to enhanced performance for discriminating among different faces. Five experiments are reported that investigate signers' and non-signers' ability to discriminate human faces photographed under different conditions of orientation and lighting (the Benton Test of Facial Recognition). The results showed that deaf signers performed significantly better than hearing non-signers. Hearing native signers (born to deaf parents) also performed better than hearing nonsigners, suggesting that the enhanced performance of deaf signers is linked to experience with ASL rather than to auditory deprivation. Deaf signers who acquired ASL in early adulthood did not differ from native signers, which suggests that there is no 'critical period' during which signers must be exposed to ASL in order to exhibit enhanced face discrimination abilities. When the faces were inverted, signing and nonsigning groups did not differ in performance. This pattern of results suggests that experience with sign language affects mechanisms specific to face processing and does not produce a general enhancement of visual discrimination. Finally, a similar pattern of results was found with signing and nonsigning children, 6-9 years old. Overall, the results suggest that the brain mechanisms responsible for face processing are somewhat plastic and can be affected by experience. We discuss implications of these results for the relation between language and cognition.     

A conceptual framework for understanding information seeking in open-ended information systems

Technologies such as the Internet and World Wide Web are changing our conceptions of information systems, from who uses them and how they are used, to how the systems are created and who is doing the creating. Everyday users are afforded the same information retrieval opportunities as information scientists or librarians by using emerging information systems such as the Web. Yet, defining best practices for assisting users in finding the information they seek remains an unrealized goal. Discovering how users engage in information retrieval and strategy building while searching for information in open-ended systems such as the Web is an area in need of exploration if these systems are to fulfill their potential as tools for information seeking and learning. This paper describes a theoretically and empirically based framework for how users formulate and employ information-seeking strategies in open-ended information systems (OEISs). Background information and challenges related to OEISs are provided. OEIS theoretical and user perspectives are described. An example based on a recent research study is provided to illustrate use of the OEIS information-seeking framework. Implications for practice and research are offered.     

Social Connectedness of Deaf Retirees

The intergenerational connectedness that has traditionally bound members of the Deaf community to each other is changing amidst the current technological and cultural landscape. This study explores perceptions of Deaf retirees concerning their usefulness to younger generations and their need to stay connected to each other despite increasing isolation due to implications of aging. Factors such as communication networks, transportation availability, proximity to families and friends, technology, and vital connections to the local residential school for children who are deaf are discussed as emergent themes from two focus groups conducted with 14 Deaf retirees. This exploratory study sought to discover how the dynamics between the generations have evolved and the positive and negative impact of such changes. The voices of the retirees in this study shed light on the complicating issues surrounding communication as a lifeline between generations of Deaf people who are native users of American Sign Language. Additionally, the traditions of social connectedness upheld by the Deaf community are similar to those of other collectivist cultures that also may experience shifting social networks within their own communities.     

The Use of Online Support Groups to Seek Information about Chronic Illness: Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management

The growing number of adults living with chronic illness, combined with the increased availability of illness-specific online support groups, is changing the way individuals seek information about their chronic illnesses. This study utilized elements of the theory of motivated information management (TMIM) to examine how individuals decide to seek information about their chronic illness from online support groups. Adults with chronic illness who had visited at least one online support group in the last six months completed an online survey. Structural equation model findings revealed that, although uncertainty discrepancy about a chronic illness did not predict negative emotional response, both target efficacy and communication efficacy were positively related to information-seeking. Findings aid in explaining specific processes individuals go through when deciding to visit online support groups to gather information about their chronic illnesse, but cannot conclusively support TMIM in this context.     

Terminology and methods in the education of the deaf. Questions for the experts.

As an outsider interested in the methodologies currently used to educate deaf children, I have many questions about the ambiguous terminology, continuing controversies, and lack of unbiased, scientific research. The questions concern issues such as the difference between Deaf and deaf, the feasibility of the ASL/ESL proposal, and the disappointing lack of definitive answers and unbiased evidence favoring any one particular method.     

Educational interpreting: understanding the rural experience

The present study examined the experiences, preparation, and perceptions of 63 educational interpreters employed in two rural states, using surveys and subsequent in-depth interviews with selected subjects. Only 10 of the 63 interpreters had completed interpreter preparation programs, with 5 of these having no course work related to education. None of the interpreters working in elementary or secondary schools held certification from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf or any other certifying body. Of the 63 interpreters, 43 were assessed using the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA), which uses a scale of 0-5. Test takers who score 3.5 or better are considered "coherent." The mean score on the EIPA for the 43 educational interpreters was 2.6. Respondents reported concerns about their limited understanding of American Sign Language (ASL), their ability to interpret from ASL to English, and their salaries, training, and professional status.     

Incidental word learning in a hearing child of deaf adults

It is unclear how children develop the ability to learn words incidentally (i.e., without direct instruction or numerous exposures). This investigation examined the early achievement of this skill by longitudinally tracking the expressive vocabulary and incidental word-learning capacities of a hearing child of Deaf adults who was natively learning American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken English. Despite receiving only 20% of language input in spoken English, the child's expressive vocabularies at 16 and 20 months of age, in each language, were similar to those of monolingual age-matched peers. At 16 months of age, the child showed signs of greater proficiency in the incidental learning of novel ASL signs than she did for spoken English words. At 20 months of age, the child was skilled at incidental word learning in both languages. These results support the methodology as it applies to examining theoretical models of incidental word learning. They also suggest that bilingual children can achieve typical vocabulary levels (even with minimal input in one of the languages) and that the development of incidental word learning follows a similar trajectory in ASL and spoken English.