Language deprivation in deaf and hard of hearing children

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Language deprivation in deaf and hard of hearing children occurs when children do not receive accessible language exposure during the critical period of language development. Language development may be severely delayed from the lack of language exposure during this period. This was observed in well-known clinical case studies such as Genie, [1] Kaspar Hauser, Anna, [2] and Isabelle, [3] as well as cases analyzing feral children such as Victor. All of these children had typical hearing, yet did not develop language typically due to language deprivation. Similarly, language deprivation in deaf and hard of hearing children often occurs when sufficient language exposure is not provided in the first few years of life. However, deaf and hard of hearing children who are exposed to sufficient language as children are able to develop typical language. Language can be provided in a variety of ways and helps children learn about and understand the world around them. Early intervention, parental involvement, and legislation work to prevent language deprivation. Deaf children who experience limited access to language—spoken or signed—may not develop the necessary skills to successfully assimilate into the academic learning milieu. [4] There are varied educational approaches for teaching deaf and hard of hearing individuals.

Contents

Access to language

Typical language development for deaf and hard of hearing children:

Although language deprivation is likely to when hearing loss restricts access to spoken language, deaf and hard of hearing children are capable of acquiring typical language! This is because language deprivation is caused by restricted language access, not by deafness itself. For deaf and hard of hearing children with no vision impairments, visual language is fully accessible to them and can protect them from experiencing language deprivation. An example of this is when Deaf parents have a deaf baby. A 2017 study worked to identify the role of language deprivation versus deafness itself with regards to child behavior. When comparing two groups, the researchers found that the group who had been exposed to language from birth did not display the behavioral issues that characterized the language deprivation group. Since the children in both groups were deaf, the researchers concluded that it was not deafness, but language exposure that protected the native signers from developing the behavioral issues characteristic of the group who had experienced language deprivation. [5] Studies such as this reveal that the timing and quality of language exposure are more important than hearing status for developing age-appropriate skills. Technology such as cochlear implants, hearing aids, and BAHAs can help provide access to spoken language. This access can vary greatly from person to person due to factors such as cause of deafness, age hearing technology is introduced, and time of language exposure. Speech therapy, audiology, and other services can help maximize the access provided through hearing technology. Even for children using hearing technology, the age they were exposed to language (whether visual or spoken) will have a role in how much they can benefit from the technology. Language exposure from birth builds and strengthens brain tissue that can be used in a variety of language contexts in the future, such as when the child is old enough to get a cochlear implant. [6] Timing and quality of language exposure, not language used or how many languages used, are the factors that matter most when determining language and literacy outcomes. [7] [8] [9] When deaf and hard of hearing children are fully exposed to natural language along a timeline equivalent to their hearing peers, they will acquire language along equivalent milestones. This timeline includes babbling around 10 months and first sign around one year. [10] [11] Gallaudet University Press published a timeline (here) parents of deaf children can use to track their child's language development. This resource is unique because it is normed for deaf and hard of hearing children, and can be used to establish parent expectations for their child's language progress. [12]

Critical period

The first five years of a child's life is a critical time for cognitive development and the establishment of their native language. [13] This critical period deems the first few years of life as the period during which the brain is most primed for language development. The critical period is also referred to as the sensitive period for language development, or the language acquisition window. After this critical period of language acquisition, it remains exceedingly laborious and strenuous to master a native language. [14] Studies on infancy stroke and typical language development unveiled a critical period for language acquisition. [15] Likewise, renowned researchers Elissa Newport and Rachel Mayberry support the existence of this critical stage in language development. Elissa Newport and Rachel Mayberry’s work revealed that deaf individuals who lack exposure to sign language at a young age fail to achieve full language proficiency as they develop. [16] Additionally, deaf individuals who acquired sign language after five years of age were not nearly as proficient as deaf individuals who were exposed to sign language from birth. Language deprivation influenced altered neural activation patterns in deaf individuals later exposed to sign language as compared to deaf individuals who received typical language development. [17] After this critical period of language acquisition, it remains exceedingly laborious and strenuous to master a native language. [14] Language development is not impossible after the five year mark, but will likely bear the cognitive and linguistic characteristics of language deprivation. Inconsistencies in exposure to a natural language during this critical period of language acquisition could result in persistent symptoms, known as language deprivation syndrome. [18] Symptoms of language deprivation syndrome include language dysfluency (e.g., lack of fluency in native language), knowledge gaps about the world around them, abnormal thinking, mood and/or behavior disorders, academic, and literacy delays. [19] Other studies address the neurological differences between individuals who have experienced language deprivation and those who did not. The first five years of life are foundational for many skills as the brain develops the neural connections and processes that will be built upon for years to come. Without full access and exposure to natural language during the critical period, the brain does not have the tools it needs to build the typical framework for processing and producing language. [20] [21] [22] [23] In turn, language deprivation can cause abnormalities in other areas of cognitive functioning, particularly the establishment of concepts, processing things in a set order, and executive function. [24]

Incidental learning and access to knowledge

The importance of early accessible communication with family and peers can be seen in the ‘dinner table syndrome' [25] —the experience of observing spoken conversations between other family members and not understanding these conversations. As statistics show, 90-95% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, thus, they may often experience this phenomena if their family does not use sign language. [26] [27] These parents may be unfamiliar with Deaf culture. Most importantly, these parents are often unaware of the best communication methods to assist their children with developing into contributing members of society. [28] [29] A famous Deaf artist, Susan Dupor, painted an art piece called "Family Dog” to represent this experience. Her artwork candidly represents the feeling of isolation being deaf in an all hearing family. This painting was designed to emphasize deaf family members’ perspectives with the blurred faces of the family metaphorically representing the difficulties of lip reading. In these situations, deaf children are unable to participate in the conversations without using a commonly accessible language. [30] Similarly, these experiences occur during social engagements where deaf individuals cannot communicate with other individuals through a spoken language.

When hearing individuals share information with each other in a way that is not accessible to deaf individuals, the deaf individuals are not privy to incidental learning experiences. Incidental learning refers to any unprompted, unplanned, or unintended learning. [31] Hearing children typically learn incidentally when they overhear conversations between other family members in the home. This type of learning occurs in everyday communication including emotional expression, navigating arguments, and managing triggers. Language deprivation syndrome coupled with the lack of these every day incidental learning experiences may impact mental health, physical health, and academic advancements. [32] [33] A lack of incidental learning can also limit an individual's general wealth of knowledge and comprehension skills used to learn about and understand the world around them. [34] Without the wealth of knowledge and language skills hearing children typically demonstrate, deaf and hard of hearing children can arrive at school already behind their peers. This trend can continue as they spend school years working to learn the things their hearing peers picked up effortlessly in the home before starting school. Incidental learning is possible for deaf and hard of hearing children when the family uses language that is fully accessible to ALL family members and includes the child with atypical hearing in family communications directly and indirectly.

Language modality

When it comes to language deprivation prevention, modality (spoken or signed language) does not matter to the brain as long as it is fully accessible. Studies from Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto reveal that brain tissue used for language accepts both auditory and visual input to develop language pathways. This is because the brain focuses on patterns in language, whether it is a pattern of sounds or a pattern of hand movements. Access to the full range of patterns embedded in a language is key for developing strong language pathways in the brain. The brain connections developed in response to linguistic input can then be utilized if/when the child is exposed to a second language. CITE. Even in cases where the brain receives absolutely no auditory input, the brain is still able to develop typical language skills when exposed to high-quality visual language. Hearing technologies can also be used to grant spoken language access, though the quality of this access varies from person to person.

Historically, there has been much conflict and controversy regarding language modality for deaf and hard of hearing children. This is due in part to the identification system. When it is discovered that a child is deaf or hard of hearing, this assessment is usually made via a "failed" hearing test in a medical setting. The first people the parents interact with after their child's hearing status is identified can be very influential. It is important that these professionals provide parents with unbiased, well-rounded information to help guide decisions they will need to make. In the past, many children have suffered due to pressure their parents experienced to choose one language modality for them as soon as possible. Furthermore, systemic bias towards deafness (called Audism) and business motivation commonly impacted what information and guidance parents received. By the time parents realized the communication modality they chose wasn't successful for their child, their child was already behind in language development.

Language "options" include spoken language, signed language, and communication systems such as cued speech, SSE, SEE, and total communication. Children whose parents selected the spoken language route would use hearing technology to receive spoken language input and would be encouraged to go to speech therapy to work on expressive language skills. They would speak and listen to language. Medical professionals would perform cochlear implant surgery if elected, or audiologists could test residual hearing and order hearing aids. This method is often a good fit for families who utilize spoken language at home and cannot or will not learn sign language. However, modern research reveals the wide range of results this method produces, and explores the background factors that impact the success of this method such as family socioeconomic status, location, parental employment, quality of the language model at home, and the child's residual hearing. Children whose parents selected the signed language route would benefit from signed language models, such as a Deaf mentor. The family would take signing classes and ideally engage in Deaf community events. Everyone, including the child, would learn to sign together and use their skills to communicate with one another. This method would ensure the child has full language access, but poses challenges to the family as they work to learn a new language. Quality of linguistic input may suffer, although the quantity of accessible language is far more than other methods provide. Communication systems such as cued speech, SSE, SEE, and total communication also historically have been presented as options to parents. These systems are closely linked to English and therefore usually easier for acquisition by people whose native language is English. However, these methods are not defined by the same language characteristics that all language systems include such as morphology, phonology, syntax, and semantics.

Modern research supports bilingual language development as ideal for deaf and hard of hearing children. By prioritizing the child's visual and auditory language equally from birth, children are given every opportunity and tool to develop language. As children grow and become adults, they may naturally prefer one modality over the other, but will have developed useful skills in both. Code switching (when an individual switches from using one language to another depending on who they are communicating with) allows bilingual individuals to experiences all the benefits of each language they know. Some research even shows how skills on one language can transfer and strengthen the other language. For deaf and hard of hearing children especially, a strong language foundation in a signed language paired with focus on a spoken language (or written) sets the stage for literacy later on.

Prevention

Early Intervention

Early intervention is one of the main methods of preventing language deprivation. A main focus of early intervention programs and services for deaf and hard of hearing children is language development. Early interventionists are able to work with the family during the early, critical years for language acquisition. Early intervention can take many forms and usually depends on where the family lives. In the United States, the School for the Deaf in the state the family lives in likely provides programs and resources. Other services can come from the state itself, national programs, and educational centers. These services may be paid for through state and federal funds. Independent organizations like the National Association of the Deaf and the American Society of Deaf Children in the United States and the National Deaf Children's Society in London can provide additional resources and support.

The importance of a cooperative team for the success of early intervention cannot be emphasized enough. Members of the early intervention team include education and medical professionals, therapists (speech, occupational, physical, psychological), specialists (vision, hearing/deafness, family dynamics, and kinesthetic), the audiologist, a social worker, the interventionist, and the family. [35] A Deaf mentor can also be included as a key member of the team. Deaf mentors provide a role model for the child that they may not see anywhere else, as well as providing a language model for the whole family. Deaf mentors are instrumental in helping parents understand what their deaf child is capable of and establishing high expectations for the child to fulfill their potential. Early interventionists can also work with the family in the home through game play, language and communication instruction and activities, providing strategies, helping establish routines and discipline methods, and more.

Home visits are one way early intervention can take place, but it is not limited to the home given the broad range of services provided. Geographic location of the family influences available services and resources due to distance, but virtual intervention measures have helped address this challenge. Early intervention has also helped prevent language deprivation in the United States through the newborn hearing screening. Before universal hearing screening was established in hospitals shortly after birth, many deaf children's hearing status was not identified until years after birth, when language milestones were not being met. At the time of identification the child was already behind. Newborn hearing screening supports early identification and allows professionals to help keep the child's language development on track.

Legislation

Another way language deprivation can be prevented is through legislation. One current example of legislation in the United States is LEAD-K, which stands for Language Equality & Acquisition for Deaf Kids. LEAD-K varies from state to state because each state is responsible for drafting its own version of the bill to present to the state government before it can be passed. The main focus of LEAD-K is full language development in English, ASL, or both, for school readiness and the prevention of language deprivation. [36] The model bill for LEAD-K calls for five actions:

1) Create a resource for informal parental use to chart their deaf or hard of hearing children’s language growth. This resource will be based on milestones for typical language and English literacy development.

2) Provide a similar resource for educators that, instead of being created through LEAD-K, is chosen from current methods.

3) Distribute the parent and educator resources to relevant individuals and organizations and equip these recipients for its use.

4) Hold IEP and IFSP teams accountable for the child's language development progress.

5) Establish an advisory committee. The model bill outlines the responsibilities of the committee as well as the requirements for its composition to ensure the creation of a balanced, knowledgable, and diverse team. [37]

LEAD-K has faced opposition by spoken language focused groups such as ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) and ACIA (American Cochlear Implant Alliance). Both groups released statements regarding their concerns about parental choice of modality for their child. [38] [39] It is unclear which version of LEAD-K these statements are in response to as LEAD-K has been adjusted since its first version in 2015 and varies between states. One notable revision came via a collaboration between LEAD-K and the A.G. Bell Foundation, a historically spoken language only group. These two traditionally opposed groups were able to reach an agreement by focusing on the shared desire to provide equal language acquisition opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing children as are received by their hearing peers and promote the spread of accurate and balanced information. [40]

LEAD-K is just one example among many of legislation in the United States concerning the language rights of deaf and hard of hearing children. Other related laws include national legislation such as the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. [41] Globally, there are countless laws and policies that also relate to the topic of language deprivation.

American Deaf Educational Philosophy

General Education

One education option for students who are deaf or hard of hearing is general (or mainstream) education. This method integrates students requiring special education services into a general education classroom based on their skills. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates the specificities of this integration. IDEA protects students who are typically a part of the special education classroom by granting the right to access the same education setting as their peers. The student also has a right to the school-provided accommodations and services necessary for him or her to be able to participate in the general education classroom. The student's needs, services, and goals are detailed in his or her IEP (Individualized Education Plan). In terms of deaf students, deafness is considered a low-incidence disability. This translates to the possibility of one deaf child belonging to a classroom of all “hearing” children [42] and can result in unique barriers. For example, teachers and students within the general education setting may not know sign language, causing significant communication and cultural barriers to social interaction, friendship, and learning. Deaf students may overcome this challenge through accommodations such as a sign language interpreters, communication access real-time translation (CART), or a FM system. These accommodations work to increase access, but for students using sign language in general education settings, communication will be indirect since it is through the interpreter. Students who use hearing technology and spoken language can be supported by reducing classroom background noise, seating close to the instructor, and speakers who face the class while talking one at a time. [43] Learning can be difficult when these conditions are not provided. More tips for supporting deaf and hard of hearing students in a general education setting can be found here. All deaf and hard of students have a right to access general education instruction at their local school with their peers, but it depends on the individual if this option will be the best fit.

Bilingual-Bicultural

Deaf children without early access to signed language remain at risk for starting school unprepared for the rigors of academic learning. [44] One challenge for deaf children is not having the ability to use their natural language and be able to associate it with formal written language. [45] This is where an educational philosophy known as the Bilingual-bicultural (Bi-Bi) method can be beneficial for deaf students. The goal of this method is to provide deaf and hard of hearing students with instruction in both signed and written languages, and both Deaf and other cultural contexts. Bi-Bi emphasizes that deaf children learn visually and education should be provided through a visual language. Bi-Bi supporters' argue because of the variability in cochlear implant and hearing aid outcomes, sign language access is crucial for preventing deaf and hard-of-hearing children from experiencing inequalities in education. However, since it is a method with a bilingual focus, the written form of the majority spoken language is given equal value. Deaf and hard of hearing students have a right to the same academic content as their peers and to literacy.

This approach began to emerge in schools during the late 1980s in the United States, Denmark, and Sweden. [46] In the United States, the ASL/English Bi- Bi is designed to facilitate academic success and provide education to deaf students by teaching sign language as a first language, followed by a written or spoken language (such as English) as their second language. [47] [48] Furthermore, state schools specifically for the deaf offer exposure to Deaf culture—a unique facet not provided by general education. Through the Bi-Bi approach, deaf students may develop multiple cultural identities: one based on their hearing status and others based on that of their family or local majority culture.

See also

Related Research Articles

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The three models of deafness are rooted in either social or biological sciences. These are the cultural model, the social model, and themedicalmodel. The model through which the deaf person is viewed can impact how they are treated as well as their own self perception. In the cultural model, the Deaf belong to a culture in which they are neither infirm nor disabled, but rather have their own fully grammatical and natural language. In the medical model, deafness is viewed undesirable, and it is to the advantage of the individual as well as society as a whole to "cure" this condition. The social model seeks to explain difficulties experienced by deaf individuals that are due to their environment.

Lip reading, also known as lipreading or speechreading, is a technique of understanding speech by visually interpreting the movements of the lips, face and tongue when normal sound is not available. It relies also on information provided by the context, knowledge of the language, and any residual hearing. Although lip reading is used most extensively by deaf and hard-of-hearing people, most people with normal hearing process some speech information from sight of the moving mouth.

Signing Exact English is a system of manual communication that strives to be an exact representation of English vocabulary and grammar. It is one of a number of such systems in use in English-speaking countries. It is related to Seeing Essential English (SEE-I), a manual sign system created in 1945, based on the morphemes of English words. SEE-II models much of its sign vocabulary from American Sign Language (ASL), but modifies the handshapes used in ASL in order to use the handshape of the first letter of the corresponding English word. The four components of signs are handshape, orientation, location, and movement.

In cognitive psychology, fast mapping is the term used for the hypothesized mental process whereby a new concept is learned based only on minimal exposure to a given unit of information. Fast mapping is thought by some researchers to be particularly important during language acquisition in young children, and may serve to explain the prodigious rate at which children gain vocabulary. In order to successfully use the fast mapping process, a child must possess the ability to use "referent selection" and "referent retention" of a novel word. There is evidence that this can be done by children as young as two years old, even with the constraints of minimal time and several distractors. Previous research in fast mapping has also shown that children are able to retain a newly learned word for a substantial amount of time after they are subjected to the word for the first time. Further research by Markson and Bloom (1997), showed that children can remember a novel word a week after it was presented to them even with only one exposure to the novel word. While children have also displayed the ability to have equal recall for other types of information, such as novel facts, their ability to extend the information seems to be unique to novel words. This suggests that fast mapping is a specified mechanism for word learning. The process was first formally articulated and the term 'fast mapping' coined by Harvard researchers Susan Carey and Elsa Bartlett in 1978.

Oralism is the education of deaf students through oral language by using lip reading, speech, and mimicking the mouth shapes and breathing patterns of speech. Oralism came into popular use in the United States around the late 1860s. In 1867, the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts was the first school to start teaching in this manner. Oralism and its contrast, manualism, manifest differently in deaf education and are a source of controversy for involved communities. Oralism should not be confused with Listening and Spoken Language, a technique for teaching deaf children that emphasizes the child's perception of auditory signals from hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Home sign is a gestural communication system, often invented spontaneously by a deaf child who lacks accessible linguistic input. Home sign systems often arise in families where a deaf child is raised by hearing parents and is isolated from the Deaf community. Because the deaf child does not receive signed or spoken language input, these children are referred to as linguistic isolates.

Simultaneous communication, SimCom, or sign supported speech (SSS) is a technique sometimes used by deaf, hard-of-hearing or hearing sign language users in which both a spoken language and a manual variant of that language are used simultaneously. While the idea of communicating using two modes of language seems ideal in a hearing/deaf setting, in practice the two languages are rarely relayed perfectly. Often the native language of the user is the language that is strongest, while the non-native language degrades in clarity. In an educational environment this is particularly difficult for deaf children as a majority of teachers who teach the deaf are hearing. Results from surveys taken indicate that communication for students is indeed signing, and that the signing leans more toward English rather than ASL.

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Bilingual–Bicultural or BiBi deaf education programs use sign language as the native, or first, language of Deaf children. In the United States, for example, BiBi proponents claim that American Sign Language (ASL) is the natural first language for deaf children, despite the majority of deaf and hard of hearing being born to hearing parents. In this same vein, the spoken or written language used by the majority of the population is viewed as a secondary language to be acquired either after or at the same time as the native language.

Deaf education Education of the hearing-impaired

Deaf education is the education of students with any degree of hearing loss or deafness which addresses their differences and individual needs. This process involves individually-planned, systematically-monitored teaching methods, adaptive materials, accessible settings, and other interventions designed to help students achieve a higher level of self-sufficiency and success in the school and community than they would achieve with a typical classroom education. A number of countries focus on training teachers to teach deaf students with a variety of approaches and have organizations to aid deaf students.

Laura-Ann Petitto American psychologist and neuroscientist (born c. 1954)

Laura-Ann Petitto is a cognitive neuroscientist and a developmental cognitive neuroscientist known for her research and scientific discoveries involving the language capacity of chimpanzees, the biological bases of language in humans, especially early language acquisition, early reading, and bilingualism, bilingual reading, and the bilingual brain. Significant scientific discoveries include the existence of linguistic babbling on the hands of deaf babies and the equivalent neural processing of signed and spoken languages in the human brain. She is recognized for her contributions to the creation of the new scientific discipline, called educational neuroscience. Petitto chaired a new undergraduate department at Dartmouth College, called "Educational Neuroscience and Human Development" (2002-2007), and was a Co-Principal Investigator in the National Science Foundation and Dartmouth's Science of Learning Center, called the "Center for Cognitive and Educational Neuroscience" (2004-2007). At Gallaudet University (2011–present), Petitto led a team in the creation of the first PhD in Educational Neuroscience program in the United States. Petitto is the Co-Principal Investigator as well as Science Director of the National Science Foundation and Gallaudet University’s Science of Learning Center, called the "Visual Language and Visual Learning Center (VL2)". Petitto is also founder and Scientific Director of the Brain and Language Laboratory for Neuroimaging (“BL2”) at Gallaudet University.

Prelingual deafness refers to deafness that occurs before learning speech or language. Speech and language typically begin to develop very early with infants saying their first words by age one. Therefore, prelingual deafness is considered to occur before the age of one, where a baby is either born deaf or loses hearing before the age of one. This hearing loss may occur for a variety of reasons and impacts cognitive, social, and language development.

The history of deaf education in the United States began in the early 1800s when the Cobbs School of Virginia, an oral school, was established by William Bolling and John Braidwood, and the Connecticut Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, a manual school, was established by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc. When the Cobbs School closed in 1816, the manual method, which used American Sign Language, became commonplace in deaf schools for most of the remainder of the century. In the late 1800s, schools began to use the oral method, which only allowed the use of speech, as opposed to the manual method previously in place. Students caught using sign language in oral programs were often punished. The oral method was used for many years until sign language instruction gradually began to come back into deaf education.

Language deprivation is associated with the lack of linguistic stimuli that are necessary for the language acquisition processes in an individual. Research has shown that early exposure to a first language will predict future language outcomes. Experiments involving language deprivation are very scarce due to the ethical controversy associated with it. Roger Shattuck, an American writer, called language deprivation research "The Forbidden Experiment" because it required the deprivation of a normal human. Similarly, experiments were performed by depriving animals of social stimuli to examine psychosis. Although there has been no formal experimentation on this topic, there are several cases of language deprivation. The combined research on these cases has furthered the research in the critical period hypothesis and sensitive period in language acquisition.

Language acquisition is a natural process in which infants and children develop proficiency in the first language or languages that they are exposed to. The process of language acquisition is varied among deaf children. Deaf children born to deaf parents are typically exposed to a sign language at birth and their language acquisition following a typical developmental timeline. However, at least 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents who use a spoken language at home. Hearing loss prevents many deaf children from hearing spoken language to the degree necessary for language acquisition. For many deaf children, language acquisition is delayed until the time that they are exposed to a sign language or until they begin using amplification devices such as hearing aids or cochlear implants. Deaf children who experience delayed language acquisition, sometimes called language deprivation, are at risk for lower language and cognitive outcomes.

Language exposure is the act of making language readily available to children during the critical early years of language learning. The theory of the critical period for language exposure states that there is a certain window where children are able to and must learn a first language, or multiple languages. This exposure allows the brain to fully develop linguistic skills and leads to language fluency and comprehension later in life. Much of the research on language exposure, the critical period, and language acquisition are based on spoken languages and children who are hearing. In reality, these same ideas translate to deaf children as well. Language exposure is essential during the critical period for language acquisition for all children. Deaf children tend to face more hardships when it comes to ensuring that they will receive this input of language in formative years.

The Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids (LEAD-K) campaign is a grassroots organization. Its mission is to work towards kindergarten readiness for deaf and hard-of-hearing children by promoting access to both American Sign Language (ASL) and English. LEAD-K defines kindergarten readiness as perceptive and expressive proficiency in language by the age of five. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children are at high risk of being cut off from language, language deprivation, which can have far-reaching consequences in many areas of development. There are a variety of methods to expose Deaf and hard-of-hearing children to language, including hearing aids, cochlear implants, sign language, and speech and language interventions such as auditory/verbal therapy and Listening and Spoken Language therapy. The LEAD-K initiative was established in response to perceived high rates of delayed language acquisition or language deprivation displayed among that demographic, leading to low proficiency in English skills later in life, despite research showing that children who receive cochlear implants and appropriate therapy tend to learn language at the same level as their hearing peers. The general mission of the group is to promote the use of American Sign Language by Deaf and hard-of-hearing children as early as possible. It has been met with a wide variety of responses, including pushback from organizations and families that promote Listening and Spoken Language for deaf children.

Sanjay Gulati child psychiatrist

Sanjay Gulati is a child psychiatrist in Massachusetts whose research revolves around people who are deaf and hard of hearing and whose focus is on educating professionals working with deaf and hard of hearing populations about language deprivation syndrome. He is credited with coining the concept of language deprivation syndrome and studies the constellation of behaviors that result from lacking a foundational first language in deaf children.

References

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  2. ↑ "Extreme Social Isolation of a Child". American Journal of Sociology. 45 (4): 554–565. January 1940. doi:10.1086/218374. ISSN   0002-9602.
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  4. ↑ Marschark, Marc; Wauters, Loes (2008-07-10), "Language Comprehension and Learning by Deaf Students", Deaf Cognition, Oxford University Press, pp. 309–350, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368673.003.0012, ISBN   978-0-19-536867-3
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  7. ↑ Petitto, Laura-Ann (December 2009). "New Discoveries From the Bilingual Brain and Mind Across the Life Span: Implications for Education". Mind, Brain, and Education. 3 (4): 185–197. doi:10.1111/j.1751-228X.2009.01069.x. PMC   3338206 . PMID   22545067.
  8. ↑ Kovelman, Ioulia; Baker, Stephanie A.; Petitto, Laura-Ann (July 2008). "Age of first bilingual language exposure as a new window into bilingual reading development*". Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 11 (2): 203–223. doi:10.1017/S1366728908003386. ISSN   1469-1841. PMC   2759761 . PMID   19823598.
  9. ↑ Genesee, Fred (2009). [file:///Users/grace.barrett/Downloads/CPAMythsaboutEarlyBilingualism.pdf "Early childhood bilingualism: Perils and possibilities"] Check |url= value (help)(PDF). Journal of Applied Research on Learning. 2.
  10. ↑ Chen Pichler, Deborah (2012). Language acquisition. DeGruyter. pp. 647–686.
  11. ↑ “Setting Language in Motion: Family Supports and Early Intervention for Babies Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.” Boston Children's Hospital, Gallaudet University, Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, 2015. https://www.gallaudet.edu/clerc-center-sites/Documents/Clerc%20Microsite/Assets/Module4-CommunicationLanguageMilestones.pdf
  12. ↑ Simms, Laurene; Baker, Sharon; Clark, M. Diane (2013). "The Standardized Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist for Signing Children". Sign Language Studies. 14 (1): 101–124. doi:10.1353/sls.2013.0029. ISSN   1533-6263.
  13. ↑ Skotara, Nils; Salden, Uta; Kügow, Monique; Hänel-Faulhaber, Barbara; Röder, Brigitte (December 2012). "The influence of language deprivation in early childhood on L2 processing: An ERP comparison of deaf native signers and deaf signers with a delayed language acquisition". BMC Neuroscience. 13 (1): 44. doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-13-44 . ISSN   1471-2202. PMID   22554360.
  14. 1 2 Siegler, Robert S. (2006). How children develop, exploring child develop student media tool kit + Scientific American ... [Place of publication not identified]: Worth Pub. ISBN   0-7167-6113-0. OCLC   946919425.
  15. ↑ Tikofsky, Ronald S. (November 1968). "Eric H. Lenneberg, Biological foundations of language. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1967". Behavioral Science. 13 (6): 493–495. doi:10.1002/bs.3830130610. ISSN   0005-7940.
  16. ↑ Newport, Elissa L. (January 1990). "Maturational Constraints on Language Learning". Cognitive Science. 14 (1): 11–28. doi:10.1207/s15516709cog1401_2.
  17. ↑ Mayberry, Rachel I.; Chen, Jen-Kai; Witcher, Pamela; Klein, Denise (October 2011). "Age of acquisition effects on the functional organization of language in the adult brain". Brain and Language. 119 (1): 16–29. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2011.05.007. PMID   21705060.
  18. ↑ Hall, Wyatte C.; Levin, Leonard L.; Anderson, Melissa L. (2017-02-16). "Language deprivation syndrome: a possible neurodevelopmental disorder with sociocultural origins". Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 52 (6): 761–776. doi:10.1007/s00127-017-1351-7. ISSN   0933-7954. PMC   5469702 . PMID   28204923.
  19. ↑ Gulati, Sanjay (2018-09-03). "Language Deprivation Syndrome". Language Deprivation and Deaf Mental Health (1 ed.). Routledge. pp. 24–53. doi:10.4324/9781315166728-2. ISBN   978-1-315-16672-8.
  20. ↑ Cheng, Qi; Roth, Austin; Halgren, Eric; Mayberry, Rachel I. (2019-09-19). "Effects of Early Language Deprivation on Brain Connectivity: Language Pathways in Deaf Native and Late First-Language Learners of American Sign Language". Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 13: 320. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2019.00320. ISSN   1662-5161. PMC   6761297 . PMID   31607879.
  21. ↑ Leybaert, Jacqueline; D'hondt, Murielle (2003). "Neurolinguistic development in deaf children: the effect of early language experience". International Journal of Audiology. 42 (sup1): 34–40. doi:10.3109/14992020309074622. ISSN   1499-2027.
  22. ↑ Mayberry, Rachel I.; Chen, Jen-Kai; Witcher, Pamela; Klein, Denise (2011-10-01). "Age of acquisition effects on the functional organization of language in the adult brain". Brain and Language. 119 (1): 16–29. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2011.05.007. ISSN   0093-934X.
  23. ↑ Skotara, Nils; Salden, Uta; Kügow, Monique; Hänel-Faulhaber, Barbara; Röder, Brigitte (2012). "The influence of language deprivation in early childhood on L2 processing: An ERP comparison of deaf native signers and deaf signers with a delayed language acquisition". BMC Neuroscience. 13 (1): 44. doi:10.1186/1471-2202-13-44. ISSN   1471-2202. PMC   3404011 . PMID   22554360.
  24. ↑ Kral, Andrej; Kronenberger, William G; Pisoni, David B; O'Donoghue, Gerard M (2016). "Neurocognitive factors in sensory restoration of early deafness: a connectome model". The Lancet Neurology. 15 (6): 610–621. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(16)00034-X. PMC   6260790 . PMID   26976647.
  25. ↑ Fellinger, Johannes; Holzinger, Daniel; Pollard, Robert (2012). "Mental health of deaf people". The Lancet. 379 (9820): 1037–1044. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61143-4. PMID   22423884.
  26. ↑ Mitchell, Ross E; Karchmer, Michael A (2004). "Chasing the Mythical Ten Percent: Parental Hearing Status of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in the United States". Sign Language Studies. 4 (2): 138–163. doi:10.1353/sls.2004.0005. ISSN   1533-6263.
  27. ↑ Mitchell, Ross E; Karchmer, Michael A (2005). "Parental Hearing Status and Signing among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students". Sign Language Studies. 5 (2): 231–244. doi:10.1353/sls.2005.0004. ISSN   1533-6263.
  28. ↑ Moores, D. (2001). Educating the Deaf: Psychology, Principles, and Practices (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
  29. ↑ Stacey, Lim (2017-01-13). "Children with hearing loss: developing listening and talking, birth to six, 3rd edition". International Journal of Audiology. 56 (5): 358–359. doi:10.1080/14992027.2016.1270470. ISSN   1499-2027.
  30. ↑ Peter C. Hauser; Amanda O’Hearn; Michael McKee; Anne Steider; Denise Thew (2010). "Deaf Epistemology: Deafhood and Deafness". American Annals of the Deaf. 154 (5): 486–492. doi:10.1353/aad.0.0120. ISSN   1543-0375. PMID   20415284.
  31. ↑ Kelly, Steve W. (2012), "Incidental Learning", Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, Springer US, pp. 1517–1518, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_366, ISBN   978-1-4419-1427-9
  32. ↑ Hall, Wyatte C.; Levin, Leonard L.; Anderson, Melissa L. (2017-02-16). "Language deprivation syndrome: a possible neurodevelopmental disorder with sociocultural origins". Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 52 (6): 761–776. doi:10.1007/s00127-017-1351-7. ISSN   0933-7954. PMC   5469702 . PMID   28204923.
  33. ↑ Traxler, C. B. (2000-09-01). "The Stanford Achievement Test, 9th Edition: National Norming and Performance Standards for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students". Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. 5 (4): 337–348. doi: 10.1093/deafed/5.4.337 . ISSN   1465-7325. PMID   15454499.
  34. ↑ Cheng Q, Roth A, Halgren E and Mayberry RI (2019) Effects of Early Language Deprivation on Brain Connectivity: Language Pathways in Deaf Native and Late First-Language Learners of American Sign Language. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 13:320. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00320 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00320/full
  35. ↑ "National Association of the Deaf - NAD". www.nad.org. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  36. ↑ "LEAD-K". Deaf Focus. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  37. ↑ "MODEL LEGISLATION FOR STATES". Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids. 2018-11-23. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  38. ↑ "Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids (LEAD-K)". American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  39. ↑ ACIA (2018). "Position Paper: Supporting Parent Choice for Children Who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing". ACIA.
  40. ↑ Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (2018). "AG Bell and LEAD-K Reach Historic Agreement". Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  41. ↑ "National Association of the Deaf - NAD". www.nad.org. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  42. ↑ Stinson, M., & Antia, S. (1999). "Considerations in Educating Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Inclusive Settings". Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. 4 (3): 163–174. doi:10.1093/deafed/4.3.163. PMID 15579885
  43. ↑ "Tips for Working with Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing". diversity.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  44. ↑ Jones, David (2006). "The young deaf or hard of hearing child: a family-centered approach to early education. Edited by Barbara Bodner-Johnson and Marilyn Sass-Lehrer, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Baltimore, 2003, 502pp, ISBN 1 55766 579 6". Deafness & Education International. 8 (3): 170–171. doi:10.1002/dei.186. ISSN   1464-3154.
  45. ↑ Padden, Carol; Ramsey, Claire (August 1998). "Reading Ability in Signing Deaf Children". Topics in Language Disorders. 18 (4): 30–46. doi:10.1097/00011363-199808000-00005. ISSN   0271-8294.
  46. ↑ Davies, Shawn Neal (1991). "The Transition toward Bilingual Education of Deaf Children in Sweden & Denmark: Perspectives on Language". Sign Language Studies. 1071 (1): 169–195. doi:10.1353/sls.1991.0023. ISSN   1533-6263.
  47. ↑ Hoffmeister, Robert J.; Caldwell-Harris, Catherine L. (August 2014). "Acquiring English as a second language via print: The task for deaf children". Cognition. 132 (2): 229–242. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2014.03.014. PMID   24813574.
  48. ↑ Powers, Stephen (October 2002). "Educating deaf students: from research to practice. Marc Marschark, Harry G Lang and John A Albertini. Oxford University Press, New York, 2002. 277pp, ISBN 0 19 512139 2". Deafness & Education International. 4 (3): 167–168. doi:10.1002/dei.131. ISSN   1464-3154.
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