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Purpose: This mixed-methods study aimed to examine the conversation techniques used by parents of young children with hearing loss (HL) during dinnertime at home. Parents' usage rates of open- and closed-ended language elicitation, reformulation, imitation, directives, and explicit vocabulary instruction were examined in relation to children's receptive vocabulary and basic-concepts skills. Method: Twenty-minute dinnertime segments were extracted from naturalistic, daylong recordings of 37 preschoolers with HL who used listening and spoken language. The segments were hand-coded for parents' use of conversation techniques. Children's receptive vocabulary and basic concepts were assessed using standardized measures. Results: Parents' use of conversation techniques varied widely, with closed-ended elicitation and directives used most frequently during dinner. Explicit vocabulary instruction was correlated with general receptive vocabulary and basic-concepts skills. Thematic analysis of the conversations revealed common themes, including concrete topics and sibling speakers. In addition, parents who used many techniques often introduced abstract conversation topics; electronic media was present in all conversations with few techniques. Conclusions: Parents of preschoolers with HL may benefit from specific coaching to elicit language and introduce new vocabulary during home routines. These techniques may help develop their children's receptive language.

This article describes the preschool program at Missouri State University where deaf and hard of hearing children with all communication modalities and all styles of personal assistive listening devices are served. The job of the early intervention providers is to model for parents what high expectations look like and how to translate those expectations into family experiences. The job of the program is to immerse deaf and hard of hearing students in expectations that they will become independent and literate from the moment they enter their classroom. The students' environment is filled with language, while simultaneously involving them in emergent literacy activities. The development of language, literacy, social, academic, speech, and auditory skills is interfaced with the development of self-advocacy and independence. Age-appropriate curricula and reading materials with adaptions for preschool are used. To accommodate the unique needs of students who are deaf or hard of hearing, multiple instructional strategies and technologies are adapted to model mainstream curricula. Modeling high expectations for parents of preschool children and helping them translate those expectations into their family experiences is provided through weekly take home DVD reading kits. The primary purpose of the reading kits is to improve the families' sign language vocabulary. Measuring and monitoring the impact of establishing high expectations is conducted through various formal and informal assessments along with a follow-up study conducted with some of our preschool graduates upon their entering elementary school. The students demonstrated overall reading levels at or above their age levels. The program at Missouri State University for deaf and hard of hearing children embraces effective instructional strategies and multi-media technology to meet the individual needs of each child and to ensure age-appropriate academic development on par with that of their hearing peers.

The researchers investigated the effects of adult language input on the quantity of language, vocabulary development, and understanding of basic concepts of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children who used listening and spoken language. Using audio recording and Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) software, the study involved 30 preschool DHH children who used spoken language as their communication modality and 11 typically hearing same-age peers. The children's language and the language spoken to them during all waking hours over a 2-day period (16 hours per day) were recorded and analyzed quantitatively and were compared to the children's performance on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. The results highlight the relationship between the quantity of adult language and the language, vocabulary, and basic concept knowledge of DHH preschool children who use listening and spoken language.