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Childhood hearing loss presents challenges to language development, especially spoken language. In this article, we review existing literature on deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children's patterns and trajectories of language as well as development of theory of mind and literacy. Individual trajectories vary significantly, reflecting access to early identification/intervention, advanced technologies (e.g., cochlear implants), and perceptually accessible language models. DHH children develop sign language in a similar manner as hearing children develop spoken language, provided they are in a language-rich environment. This occurs naturally for DHH children of deaf parents, who constitute 5% of the deaf population. For DHH children of hearing parents, sign language development depends on the age that they are exposed to a perceptually accessible 1st language as well as the richness of input. Most DHH children are born to hearing families who have spoken language as a goal, and such development is now feasible for many children. Some DHH children develop spoken language in bilingual (sign-spoken language) contexts. For the majority of DHH children, spoken language development occurs in either auditory-only contexts or with sign supports. Although developmental trajectories of DHH children with hearing parents have improved with early identification and appropriate interventions, the majority of children are still delayed compared with hearing children. These DHH children show particular weaknesses in the development of grammar. Language deficits and differences have cascading effects in language-related areas of development, such as theory of mind and literacy development.

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Deaf and hard‐of‐hearing (DHH) children typically lag behind hearing age‐mates in academic achievement. This paper describes recent findings indicating language and cognitive differences between DHH and hearing students that appear to explain some of their classroom challenges. There is currently only limited evidence with regard to the effectiveness of particular interventions, and thus relatively few are offered here. However, recognition of the language and cognitive differences both between DHH and hearing students and within a population of DHH students suggests opportunities for modification of instructional materials and methods in ways to accommodate DHH students' needs and build on their strengths.

This paper examines research findings concerning the loci of the pervasive academic underachievement among deaf and hard‐of‐hearing (DHH) children and issues associated with interventions and instructional methods that could help to reduce or eliminate it. Investigators have hypothesised that at least 50% of the variability in DHH students' achievement may be because of instructional factors, and several studies have indicated that when taught by experienced teachers of the deaf in mixed classrooms, DHH students may gain just as much as their hearing peers. Only recently, however, have findings begun to emerge concerning related language and cognitive differences between DHH and hearing students as well as instructional differences between teachers with and without experience in teaching DHH students. Building on convergent evidence from such studies offers the prospect of a significant improvement in academic outcomes for those children in the future.

Word-learning skills of 19 deaf/hard-of-hearing preschoolers were assessed by observing their ability to learn new words in two contexts. The first context required the use of a novel mapping strategy (i.e., making the inference that a novel word refers to a novel object) to learn the new words. The second context assessed the ability to learn new words after minimal exposure when reference was explicitly established. The children displayed three levels of word-learning skills. Eleven children learned words in both contexts. Five were able to learn new words rapidly only when reference was explicitly established. Two children did not learn new words rapidly in either context. The latter seven children were followed longitudinally. All children eventually acquired the ability to learn new words in both contexts. The deaf children's word-learning abilities were related to the size of their vocabularies. The present study suggests that word-learning strategies are acquired even when children are severely delayed in their language development and they learn language in an atypical environment.

Potential effects of auditory and other communicative experience on development of visual attention were investigated for four groups of infants at 9, 12, and 18 months of age. Participants included 20 deaf infants with deaf mothers, 19 deaf infants with hearing mothers, 21 hearing infants with hearing mothers, and 20 hearing infants with deaf mothers. Infants' hearing status alone did not associate with patterns of visual attention. Deaf infants with deaf mothers showed significantly longer times in the most advanced attention state (coordinated joint) than did deaf infants with hearing mothers. However, other aspects of experience were associated with group differences. Both deaf and hearing children with deaf mothers who signed spent more time onlooking (or watching) their mothers than did children (deaf or hearing) with hearing mothers. Hearing children with hearing mothers spent more time looking at objects than did children with deaf mothers. Despite these differences in time in various attention states, the general trajectory of development of each of the attention states was similar across groups. Results indicate that early visual attention is associated with and potentially influenced by a complex interaction of maturation, communicative experiences, and other developing skills.

This article presents a descriptive, longitudinal study of maternal use of communicative strategies to accommodate and direct infant visual attention. The two questions that guided our research were whether maternal use of particular attention-related strategies changed as the child developed from 9 to 18 months of age and whether the mother's ability to make appropriate modifications in strategy use was disrupted when she was using a new mode of communication. Four groups of mother-infant dyads were included: deaf mothers with deaf children (Dd), hearing mothers with deaf children (Hd), deaf mothers with hearing children (Dh), and hearing mothers with hearing children (Hh) (n = 77). When the infants were 9, 12, and 18 months old, they were videotaped while they engaged in free play with their mothers. Using a time-sampling technique, videotapes were coded to determine the frequency with which mothers used specific attention-related strategies. Our findings showed group differences in the attention-related strategies used by deaf and hearing mothers. These group differences were consistent with the hypothesis that while mothers appeared to be sensitive to and tried to accommodate their children's communication needs, the mothers may have been limited by their own communicative experiences. With regard to changes in mothers' use of attention-related strategies over time, our hypothesis of a developmental transition in the chosen strategies was only partially supported. Attention strategies related to language did evidence a pattern of developmental progression; however, maternal use of strategies that directed the children's visual focus to an object or a social partner did not show any such trend. Overall, the patterns indicated in the data from this study suggest that bidirectional influences were operating to some degree in each of the four groups. Among mothers whose hearing status differs from their children, the use of certain attention-related strategies might need to be taught, particularly the use of specific strategies that may scaffold deaf infants' developing abilities to alternate attention between objects and persons.

Language, maternal responsiveness, and developmental play levels were investigated in 43 middle-class dyads at 9, 12, and 18 months: hearing child/hearing mother (hH), deaf child/deaf mother (dD), deaf child/hearing mother (dH). Group dH provides information about play when language is delayed and maternal responsiveness decreased. Group dD provides information on developmental effects of diminished audition. There were no 9-month group play differences. At 12 months, hH infants displayed more representational play than infants in either deaf group (p < .001). At 18 months, hH and dD children displayed more preplanned play than dH children (p = .01). At 12 and 18 months, language was associated only marginally with play levels. Maternal responsiveness was significantly associated with 18-month-olds' preplanned play (p = .01).

Maternal sensitivity may be even more important for the development of deaf infants' social and cognitive competence than previous research has shown it to be for hearing children. We report ratings of mothers' sensitivity and infants' time in coordinated joint attention (CJA) during play interactions video-taped in a laboratory at 9,12 and 18 months. Participants include 80 dyads in four groups: two matched for hearing status (Deaf or Hearing mothers with deaf or hearing babies), two unmatched for hearing status (Deaf mothers/hearing babies and Hearing mothers/deaf babies). Mothers in matched dyads were rated more sensitive than mothers in unmatched dyads. Deaf infants with Deaf mothers showed more time in CJA compared to infants in unmatched dyads. However, significant correlations of sensitivity and attention were found only for the two unmatched hearing status groups at 18 months. These results are discussed in terms of dyadic hearing status differences, intuitive parenting and developmental stage. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Greenspan-Lieberman Observational System-Revised (GLOS-R; Greenspan & Lieberman, 1980) was used to describe characteristics of dyadic interactions between hearing mothers and hearing toddlers (HH), deaf mothers and deaf toddlers (DD), and hearing mothers and deaf toddlers (HD). Deaf mothers produced fewer interactive behaviors than hearing mothers, apparently in order to accommodate infants' visual attention needs. DD and HD children were more likely than hearing children to react in a manner initially indicated by GLOS-R coding to be anticontingent. Additional analysis indicated this was a misinterpretation for DD, for whom this reflected adaptive attentional patterns. This adaptive pattern did not account for anticontingency among HD children. Assessment instruments require some modifications and results must be interpreted with caution when applied to dyads of deaf mothers and children.

The association between expressive language and symbolic play was investigated in 3 groups of 2-year-olds: deaf children with hearing parents (dH), deaf children with deaf parents (dD), and hearing children with hearing parents (hH). (Each group included 6 girls and 4 boys.) 3 language-level groups were defined. The highest group was well into the vocabulary “explosion” and frequently produced multiword/sign utterances; a middle group was beginning the period of vocabulary expansion and occasionally produced utterances of more than 1 word/sign; a third group produced single word/sign utterances only, and had a limited vocabulary. Hearing status was associated with duration of symbolic play (deaf > hearing). Higher language levels were associated with more canonically sequenced and preplanned play, even when language delays were due to exogenous factors.

Significant new findings about social, psychological, linguistic, and pragmatic aspects of deafness have in some cases confirmed long-held assumptions and beliefs about deaf and hard-of-hearing persons—their communities, languages, patterns of learning, and achievements. In other cases, research has failed to support preexisting beliefs, and many issues remain insufficiently investigated. Research is especially needed about the continued development of deaf children, adults, and their communities in the context of technological advances, increased appreciation for alternative approaches to communication and language development, and recognition of the impact of cognitive as well as social abilities on development of literacy and academic skills.

This Introduction presents a summary of the contents of this book, explaining the reasoning behind the order of analysis presented here. The work presented in this book, representing the cooperation of researchers and authors from so many different perspectives and specialties, will increase not only readers’s knowledge but also their appreciation of the excitement that characterizes research efforts in Deaf studies, education, and language.

Interactions were observed in a day care center serving deaf and hearing children. Observations focused on eight children (two deaf with deaf parents, two deaf with hearing parents, two hearing with deaf parents and two hearing with hearing parents) between 2 and 3 years of age. Center classes included deaf and hearing teachers and all children were encouraged to sign. Deaf and hearing children alike frequently interacted with other children and teachers whose hearing status differed from their own. However, each group showed a stronger tendency to initiate communication with same hearing status peers. Hearing children displayed the ability to modify their communications modes to match the hearing status of their intended communication partner. Language ability, not hearing status, was associated with the frequency of communication experienced by each child.

The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education, Volume 1, is here an updated edition. A range of international experts present a comprehensive overview of the field of deaf studies, language, and education. This area has grown dramatically over the past forty years. From work on the linguistics of sign language and parent-child interactions to analyses of school placement and the mapping of brain function in deaf individuals, research across a range of disciplines has greatly expanded not just our knowledge of deafness and the deaf, but also the very origins of language, social interaction, and thinking. Pairing practical information with detailed analyses of what works, why, and for whom—all while banishing the paternalism that once dogged the field—this first of two volumes features articles on topics including: language and language development, hearing and speech perception, education, literacy, cognition, and the complex cultural, social, and psychological issues associated with deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. The range of these topics shows the current state of research and identifies the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

This study documented communication behaviors of hearing mothers and infants with a hearing loss that had been identified before 9 months of age (Group HL). Their behaviors were compared with those of mothers and infants without hearing loss (Group H). Each group was composed of 18 dyads videotaped during mother-infant play with toys at 12- and 18-months. Group HL mothers produced more gestural and tactile communications (but similar numbers of vocal communications) compared to H mothers. In contrast with earlier reports, infants with and without hearing loss were similar in quantity of gestural and vocal expressive prelinguistic communication behaviors. Despite group similarities in quantity of prelinguistic communications, H infants as a group surpassed HL infants in expression of formal language by 18 months. There was considerable variation within each group in formal language expression, however, with performance of some HL infants matching that of H infants.

This project examined the effect of early cognitive, social, and communicative experiences on later social and language development in deaf infants with hearing mothers. Interactions between mothers and deaf infants were found to be positively influenced by social support provided to mothers in the early months of the infants' lives, mothers' visual and tactile responsiveness when their infants were 9 months of age, infants' ability to cope with interactive stress at 9 months of age, and fewer attempts by infants to engage with the social environment during the mastery motivation assessment at 9 months of age. Neither mother-infant affective matching nor maternal visual-tactile responsiveness correlated with the deaf infants' language level.

Oxford Handbooks offer authoritative and up-to-date reviews of original research in a particular subject area. Specially commissioned chapters from leading figures in the discipline give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates, as well as a foundation for future research. Oxford Handbooks provide scholars and graduate students with compelling new perspectives upon a wide range of subjects in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The adage "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" is a powerful one for parents, teachers, and other professionals involved with or interested in deaf individuals or the Deaf community. Myths grown from ignorance have long dogged the field, and faulty assumptions and overgeneralizations have persisted despite contrary evidence. A study of the history of deaf education reveals patterns that have affected educational policy and legislation for deaf people around the world; these patterns are related to several themes critical to the chapters of this volume. One such theme is the importance of parental involvement in raising and educating deaf children. Another relates to how Deaf people have taken an increasingly greater role in influencing their own futures and places in society. In published histories, we see the longstanding conflicts through the centuries that pertain to sign language and spoken communication philosophies, as well as the contributions of the individuals who advocated alternative strategies for teaching deaf children. More recently, investigators have recognized the need for a diverse approach to language and language learning. Advances in technology, cognitive science, linguistics, and the social sciences have alternately led and followed changes in theory and practice, resulting in a changing landscape for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals and those connected to them. This second volume of the The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education picks up where that first landmark volume left off, describing those advances and offering readers the opportunity to understand the current status of research in the field while recognizing the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. In Volume 2, an international group of contributing experts provide state-of-the-art summaries intended for students, practitioners, and researchers. Not only does it describe where we are, it helps to chart courses for the future.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children's ability to rapidly learn novel words through direct reference and through novel mapping (i.e., inferring that a novel word refers to a novel object) was examined. Ninety-eight DHH children, ranging from 27 to 82 months old, drawn from 12 schools in five states participated. In two tasks that differed in how reference was established, word-learning abilities were measured by children's ability to learn novel words after only three exposures. Three levels of word-learning abilities were identified. Twelve children did not rapidly learn novel words. Thirty-six children learned novel words rapidly but only in the direct reference task. Forty-nine children learned novel words rapidly in both direct reference and novel mapping tasks. These levels of word-learning abilities were evident in children who were in oral-only and in signing environments, in children with cochlear implants, and in deaf children of deaf parents. Children's word-learning abilities were more strongly correlated to lexicon size than age, and this relation was similar for children in these different language-learning environments. Acquisition of these word-learning abilities seems based on linguistic mechanisms that are available to children in a wide range of linguistic environments. In addition, the word-learning tasks offer a promising dynamic assessment tool.

1. Spoken Language Development of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children: A Historical and Theoretical Perspective 2. Vocal Language Development in Deaf Infants: New Challenges 3. Development of Communicative Behaviour as a Precursor of Spoken Language in Hearing Infants, with Implications for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Infants 4. Audiological Advancement and the Acquisition of Spoken Language in Deaf Children 5. Relationships among Speech Perception and Language Measures in Hard-of-Hearing Children 6. The Oral Methods and Spoken Language Acquisition 7. Family-Centered Practice in Early Intervention for Oral Language Development: Philosophy, Methods and Results 8. Speech Production and Spoken Language Development of Children Using "Total Communication" 9. The Effect of Cued Speech on the Development of Spoken Language 10. A Computer-Animated Tutor for Language Learning: Research and Applications 11. Spoken Language in Children with Cochlear Implants 12. The Process and Early Outcomes of Cochlear Implantation by Three Years of Age 13. Early Identification, Communication Modality and the Development of Speech and Spoken Language Skills: Patterns and Considerations 14. Working Memory Capacity, Verbal Rehearsal Speed, and Scanning in Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants

Language skills were investigated in a multicultural sample of 13 prelingually deaf children (11 profoundly deaf from birth) who received cochlear implants between 14 and 38 months of age; average duration of implant use was 49 months. Individual postimplant language skills ranged from extremely delayed to age appropriate. On average, skills varied across domains: on vocabulary, several children functioned in the average range compared with hearing peers, but all were below that range on a test emphasizing syntax (CELF-P). Children with preimplant hearing experience had the highest scores on all language measures. Excluding these children, age of implantation (range 14 to 27 months) associated inversely and significantly with CELF-P scores, even when nonverbal IQ was controlled. Qualitative analyses indicated higher child language achievement associated with parents' reports of lengthy, in-depth processes to decide about cochlear implantation. Such reports may indicate high levels of ongoing parent involvement with child and programming.

Contents: Dedication. D.F. Moores, Foreword. Introduction to the Book. Part I: The Deaf Child in the Family. M.A. Sheridan, Images of Self and Others: Stories From the Children. M.V. Swisher, Learning to Converse: How Deaf Mothers Support the Development of Attention and Conversational Skills in Their Young Deaf Children. C.J. Erting, C. Thumann-Prezioso, B.S. Benedict, Bilingualism in a Deaf Family: Fingerspelling in Early Childhood. L.S. Koester, H. Papousek, S. Smith-Gray, Intuitive Parenting, Communication, and Interaction With Deaf Infants. A.R. Lederberg, A.K. Prezbindowski, Impact of Child Deafness on Mother-Toddler Interaction: Strengths and Weaknesses. A. Steinberg, Autobiographical Narrative on Growing up Deaf. Part II: The Deaf Child and Family in Transition. P.E. Spencer, Every Opportunity: A Case Study of Hearing Parents and Their Deaf Child. D.M. Mertens, M. Sass-Lehrer, K. Scott-Olson, Sensitivity in the Family-Professional Relationship: Parental Experiences in Families With Young Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children. H. Mohay, Language in Sight: Mothers' Strategies for Making Language Visually Accessible to Deaf Children. R. Calderon, M.T. Greenberg, Challenges to Parents and Professionals in Promoting Socioemotional Development in Deaf Children. Part III: The Deaf Child at School. M.S. Stinson, S. Foster, Socialization of Deaf Children and Youths in School. J.E. Nash, Shifting Stigma From Body to Self: Paradoxical Consequences of Mainstreaming. R. Stone, A Bold Step: Changing the Curriculum for Culturally Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. B. Dyssegaard, Emerging Educational Programs for Deaf Students in Mongolia and Nepal: A Special Report. C.T. Akamatsu, C. Musselman, With A. Zwiebel, Nature Versus Nurture in the Development of Cognition in Deaf People. M. Marschark, Education and Development of Deaf Children--or Is It Development and Education? K.P. Meadow-Orlans, Afterword: Deafness and Social Change: Ruminations of a Retiring Researcher.

Every birth is a miracle. Except for the excitement that typically accompanies such a miracle, Maggie’s birth was uneventful. After several days, she and her mother left the hospital to join her father and sister Sam (Samantha) in their colorful Victorian home in the older part of a midsized midwestern town of about 200,000 people in the United States. Maggie’s extended family of aunts, uncles, and grandparents visited and admired this new addition to the family. Her parents, falling in love with Maggie almost immediately, adjusted for a second time to the demanding schedule of caring for a newborn. Sam, now 2 years old, became at the same time Maggie’s protector and her competitor for the family’s attention.

This paper describes the expressive communication and language of seven hearing mothers and their deaf infants. Severe-profound or profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss was identified in the infants by 7 months of age; intervention programs emphasizing use of signing systems plus speech were started before 9 months of age. Communication behaviors during free play were observed when the infants were 12 and 18 months old. The frequency of the mothers' signing at 12 and 18 months was significantly correlated: mothers' patterns of frequent or infrequent signing were evident within several months of their infants' entry into programming. Mothers who signed most frequently reported that other adults (father and other relatives, friends) were also learning and using signs. Frequency of sign production by the infants at 18 months correlated significantly with frequency of sign production by the mothers when the infants were 12 and 18 months. The mothers' reports of their typical frequency of signing and of the sign lexicon size of their infants failed to correlate significantly with observed performance.