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Volume
14 5, No. 1,
2000
wo boys who both had a profound bilateral hearing impairment met at a specialized
sign preschool. Their preconditions were quite different, since in one of them the
hearing impairment was detected in the maternity ward with the aid of otoacoustic
emissions, and habilitation had begun at age 4 months. The other boy's impairment
was not detected until age 2 years; habilitation was thus much delayed. Data were
collected on the two boys using interviews with parents and teachers, observation,
and video recording in the children's own environment at home and in the
specialized sign preschool. Characteristic differences between the boys are described
regarding their social and linguistic development relating to the time of detection of
the hearing impairment. This illustrates the importance of early detection and
habilitation so as to avoid separation of individuals into different groups with
differing social and academic prospects, depending on the lack of early linguistic
stimulation and consequent poor language acquisition. Giving children the
possibility of developing a language is the primary consideration.
Miriam Magnuson
Linguistic proficiency is a central requirement for human life: spoken language for
the hearing and sign language for the
Deaf. Infants have a communicative com-
the Department of
Education and
Magnuson is a
doctoral student in
Psychology,
Linkping University,
Linkping, Sweden.
1986). The newborn child is able to perceive verbal sound patterns, and language
development begins in early infancy
(Marcus, Vijayan, Bandi Rao, & Vishton,
1999). In deaf children, language develop-
were investigated in a thorough longitudinal study of children with profound hearing impairment (Levitt,
McGarr, & Geffner, 1987), it was found
(Hindley & Parkes, 1999) There is evidence that deaf children of deaf parents who use sign language in their
communication have significantly better linguistic, social, and academic
skills than their deaf peers with hearing parents. Deaf children of hearing
parents who have contacts with deaf
people and share the language seem
to have a similar advantage. Thus, the
detection and an early start to habilitation yield better opportunities for the
development of communication. The
earlier the hearing impairment is identified, the better is the development of
language skills. Results of previous
studies (Magnuson & Hergils, 1999, in
press) emphasize the importance of
early detection, in terms of both linguistic and social development. Parents clearly express that they want
early detection with the aid of neonatal hearing screening; they want early
knowledge of whether their child has
a hearing impairment in order to help
establish good communication within
the family (e.g., by hearing aid or sign
language), and because of concern
over the child's future development.
and both boys later got a younger sibling who was hearing. The socioeco-
Preschool
Examples of Questions
Measuring Instrument
The children were studied by means
of interviews with the two parent
when the two boys attended the preschool, there were 10 children with
different degrees of hearing impairment, and 8 hearing children. All personnel were fluent in sign language
and one of them was deaf.
Method
Subjects
the sign preschool. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee for
Research at the University Hospital.
Parent interview 2
Observation
at home
Synthesi
Comparison
Interviews with
audbbgfcal
pedagogsts
Figure 1
Observation
Analysis 2
<- - >
American Annals of the Deaf
at home
Interviews
Analysis
Video recording
analysis 1
Parent Interview 1
Video Recordings
The video recordings contained
samples from all the different situa-
own name.
Synthesis
videos.
ents said.
Synthesis
The three parts described above were
used to find interesting aspects that
characterized the communicative ac-
tive by guiding his parents, by pointing, pushing them, and pulling their
arms to make them understand what
he wanted. William was a determined
and ardent boy who made large gestures, repeating, and repeating once
Results
William did not get any ordinary linguistic stimulation. Because of the lack
of spoken or sign language, he developed a method of his own to make
to his age.
Background Information
tional sign language was totally unknown to him. He was at first insecure
To learn more, they took part in weekend training programs with their children. As a result of the early detection,
Rasmus's parents had a lead over their
son with respect to sign language,
which they regarded as very positive.
home. The teachers at the sign preschool evaluated his linguistic and social development as being below average for his age: "His sign language was
rather poor then, so it was difficult to
communicate with him in any way.
There has been a change, but there is
still quite a good deal lacking."
The Future
sign language, even though the parents may eventually opt for cochlear
implantation.
said.
Preschool
according to his or her own conditions. Thus, one important factor that
will influence development is the flexibility of the habilitation, and a program adapted to continuous individual
William can get the best possible education together with his hearing-impaired peers.
Leaving their present homes and
occupations to make a new start will
certainly be a big change, but both
needs. The overall pedagogical framework was equal for both hearing-impaired and hearing children in the integrated sign preschool. However, in
Sweden, sign language is regarded as
the primary language for the Deaf, and
this carried over into the pedagogical
practice (Lgr 80, 1983). Since the
velop the language. The teachers discussed and evaluated the needs of in-
as the prevailing view toward sign language in the country concerned (i.e.,
the status of the language) and the
access to specialized schools for the
ond language for children with congenital hearing impairments who are
candidates for cochlear implantation.
Conclusion
the child to gain confidence by knowing what is going on. The child learns
where to look for visual cues, which
makes communication meaningful
and enables the child to feel that he or
Kemp, D. T., & Ryan, S. (1993). The use of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in neona-
47-56.
Magnuson, M., & Hergils, L. (in press). Late diagnosis of congenital hearing impairment in
children: The parents' experiences and opinions. Patient Education and Counseling.
Marcus, G. F., Vijayan, S., Bandi Rao, S., &
Vishton, P. M. (1999). Rule learning by sevenmonth-old infants. Science, 283(1), 77-80.
unfamiliar language.
The specialized sign preschool,
with teachers skilled in sign language
and playmates who also used sign language in their interaction, was very
important for both children in gaining
social and linguistic skills. Obvious
sensus statement: Early identification of hearing impairment in infants and young children. Bethesda, MD: Author.
Preisler, G., & Ahlstrm, M. (1997). Sign language for hard of hearing children: A hindrance or a benefit for their development?
European Journal of Psychology of Education, 12(4), 465-477.
Reamy, C. E., & Brackett, D. (1999). Communication methodologies: Options for families.
Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America,
3X6), 1103-1116.
hearing impairment: Differences in the timing of communicative and linguistic development. British Journal of Audiology, 29, 315-
334.
Sacks, O. (1989). Seeing voices: A journey into
rennial.