An investigation of parents' attitudes and the communication skills of their deaf children

The reciprocity and consequences of parent-child interactions are an important subject of inquiry in child development literature. The majority of studies on deaf children with hearing parents focus on differences in parent-child interactions, which emanate from a number of factors including parental attitudes toward deafness and acceptance of alternative modes of communication. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between parental attitudes toward deafness and the communication skills of their hearing-impaired children. Whereas the majority of researchers in interactional studies have focused on mothers, both parents were included in this investigation. Significant correlations were found between fathers' scores on the Attitude to Deafness Scale and the language comprehension scores of their deaf children. No significant differences in attitudes were found between mothers and fathers. Similarly, no significant differences were found between the parents of boys and the parents of girls.     

Using video resumes to teach deaf college students job search skills and improve their communication.

For several years the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at the Rochester Institute of Technology has offered a course that focuses on preparing video resumes. Professionals from the Instructional Television Department and the National Center of Employment for the Deaf have collaborated with communication instructors to develop this option for NTID students. This paper describes the instruction and evaluation process from the perspective of NTID instructors, students, and other technical professionals. Employers who have hired NTID students and those who have no familiarity with deaf employees also participated in the evaluation. Their comments give valuable insights into the often different perspectives of deafness between those who have worked with deaf employees and those who lack such experience. Video resumes were found to be a viable tool in the job search, and the process of preparing the video was found to be a stimulating and rewarding experience for the participating students.     

Reading comprehension of deaf adolescent residential school students and its relationship to hearing mothers' communication strategies and skills

A nationwide study was conducted to examine the relationship between prelingually deaf adolescents' reading comprehension scores and their hearing mothers' communication strategies and skills. Subjects included 201 students from six randomly selected residential schools for the deaf. Correlation coefficients, stepwise multiple regression analyses and analysis of covariance showed that for this group of subjects, method of communication used by mothers had no significant relationship with their deaf children's reading comprehension scores. No significant relationship was found between reading comprehension of the children of mothers who used manual communication and the age of the child when the mother began to sign. A potential relationship was found, however, between reading comprehension scores and signing skill levels of mothers who used manual communication.     

Factors contributing to parents' selection of a communication mode to use with their deaf children

This study examines factors contributing to parents' selection of a communication mode to use with their children with hearing loss. More than 90% of children with prelingual hearing loss have normally hearing parents. Communication difficulties are among the obstacles facing these parents in connection with these children's development. Controversy over manual and aural/oral methods of communication creates further complications. Case studies of two families with deaf children were conducted to identify factors that could influence parents' selection of a communication method. Semistructured questionnaires and unstructured interviews were used in data collection. A qualitative approach was used in data analysis. Based on the results, the factors influencing parental choice were grouped under four themes: (a) the influence of information provided to parents, (b) parents' perceptions of assistive technology, (c) attitudes of service professionals and educational authorities, and (d) quality and availability of support services. Implications of these themes for service provision are discussed.     

Examination of the relationship between false-belief understanding and referential communication skills

The present study is an attempt to examine the relation between false-belief understanding and referential communication skills. The ability of 76 children aged 5 years to attribute false beliefs to themselves and others was examined with three false-belief tasks. The referential communication skills of the same children were assessed with two tests: (a) the Listening Skills Test (Lloyd et al. 2001) and (b) the Test of Referential Communication (Lloyd et al. 1995), which were adjusted to Greek reality for this purpose. The results showed that there is a link between false-belief understanding and components of referential communication, namely, ability to identify a pictorial referent based on oral messages, ability to comprehend directions on a map, and ability to detect and resolve ambiguity in oral messages. They also revealed that comprehension of directions and ability to detect ambiguity in messages as listener may be good predictors of false-belief competence. The present findings support and expand previous evidence attesting to a link between false-belief understanding and other aspects of language such as syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.     

The relationship between the reading and signing skills of deaf children in bilingual education programs

This paper reports on one experiment in which we investigated the relationship between reading and signing skills. We administered a vocabulary task and a story comprehension task in Sign Language of the Netherlands and in written Dutch to a group of 87 deaf children from bilingual education programs. We found a strong and positive correlation between the scores obtained in the sign vocabulary task and the reading vocabulary task when age, short-term memory scores, and nonverbal intelligence scores were controlled for. In addition, a correlation was observed between the scores in the story comprehension tasks in Sign Language of the Netherlands and written Dutch but only when vocabulary scores for words and signs were not taken into account. The results are briefly discussed with reference to a model we recently proposed to describe lexical development for deaf children in bilingual education programs (Hermans, D., Knoors, H., Ormel, E., & Verhoeven, L., 2008). In addition, the implications of the results of the present study for previous studies on the relationship between reading and signing skills are discussed.     

The development of analogical reasoning in deaf children and their parents' communication mode

The purpose of this article is to analyze the results of a study of the development of analogical reasoning in deaf children coming from two different linguistic environments (deaf children of deaf parents--sign language, deaf children of hearing parents--spoken language) and in hearing children, as well as to compare two groups of deaf children to a group of hearing children. In order to estimate the development of children's analogical reasoning, especially the development of their understanding of different logical relations, two age groups were singled out in each population of children: younger (9- and 10-year-olds) and older (12- and 13-year-olds). In this way it is possible to assess the influence of early and consistent sign-language communication on the development of the conceptual system in deaf children and to establish whether early and consistent sign-language communication with deaf children affects their mental development to the same extent as early and consistent spoken-language communication with hearing children. The children were given three series of analogy tasks based on different logical relations: (a) a series of verbal analogy tasks (the relations of opposite, part-whole, and causality); (b) a series of numerical analogy tasks (the relations of class membership, opposite, and part-whole); and (c) a series of figural-geometric analogy tasks (the relations of opposite and part-whole). It was found that early and consistent sign-language communication with deaf children plays an almost equivalent role in the development of verbal, numerical, and spatial reasoning by analogy as early and consistent spoken-language communication with hearing children.     

The pragmatic skills of profoundly deaf children

This study investigated the ability of normally hearing students and two groups of profoundly deaf students, one using oral and one using signed communication, to employ a series of pragmatic skills required for effective face-to-face interaction. Specifically considered were the ability of listeners to request clarification, the ability of speakers to respond to requests, and the strategies speakers use at times of communication breakdown. Differences were found between the two groups suggesting that the profoundly deaf students had difficulty consistently using appropriate, productive pragmatic behaviors in their face-to-face dyadic interactions.     

Memory skills of deaf learners: implications and applications

The author reviews research on working memory and short-term memory abilities of deaf individuals, delineating strengths and weaknesses. Among the areas of weakness that are reviewed are sequential recall, processing speed, attention, and memory load. Areas of strengths include free recall, visuospatial recall, imagery, and dual encoding. Phonological encoding and rehearsal appear to be strengths when these strategies are employed. The implications of the strengths and weaknesses for language learning and educational achievement are discussed. Research questions are posed, and remedial and compensatory classroom applications are suggested.