De nombreuses études longitudinales ont montré un lien causal entre habiletés phonologiques précoces et plus tard le développement de la lecture et de l’écriture chez l’enfant entendant (Bryant, MacLean, Bradley & Crossland, 1990). Pour apporter une contribution aux connaissances concernant ce lien chez les enfants sourds, nous avons réalisé une étude longitudinale qui s’échelonne de la troisième maternelle à la seconde primaire. Les performances d’enfants sourds sévères et profonds prélinguaux exposés (précocement vs tardivement) ou non au Langage Parlé Complété (« LPC », code manuel destiné à lever l’ambiguïté de la lecture labiale seule) sont comparées à celles d’enfants entendants de même âge chronologique. Diverses épreuves phonologiques, de lecture et d’écriture ont été proposées. Les résultats ont montré que les habiletés phonologiques précoces prédisaient le niveau de reconnaissance de mots écrits en première primaire chez les enfants sourds comme chez les enfants entendants. Cependant, un effet plus important de l’apprentissage de la lecture est observé sur le niveau d’habiletés phonologiques, de lecture et d’écriture lors des deux premières primaires chez les enfants sourds. De plus, les performances des enfants sourds exposés précocement au LPC ne diffèrent pas de celles des enfants entendants et sont plus élevées que celles des autres enfants sourds, en particulier en première et seconde primaire. L’exposition précoce au LPC permettrait donc le développement de représentations phonologiques précises et par conséquent l’utilisation d’un décodage phonologique efficace en lecture et en écriture au début de l’apprentissage de la lecture. / Longitudinal studies have shown a causal connection between early phonological skills and later literacy development in hearing children (Bryant, MacLean, Bradley & Crossland, 1990). The aim of our study is to investigate whether early phonological skills predict later literacy performance in deaf children either exposed (early versus late) or not exposed to Cued Speech (“CS”, a manual system delivering phonetically augmented speechreading through the visual modality). Different phonological and literacy tasks were administered from kindergarten to seconde grade. The results show that the early phonological skills in kindergarten predict written word recognition in first grade in the deaf as well as in the hearing groups. However, an effect of learning to read seems to be more important on the level of phonological and literacy skills during the first and seconde grade in deaf children. In addition, the performances of early CS users do not differ from those of hearing children and are higher than those of the other deaf children, especially in first and second grade. Early exposure to Cued Speech may permit the development of accurate phonological representations and, consequently, the use of accurate phonological decoding to recognize written words and to spell at an early stage in learning to read.

<p>The goal of this study was to elucidate whether articulations of visual-speech are processed phonologically, and in the same manner as auditory-speech. Phonological processing, measured through the amplitude of the Phonological Mapping Negativity (PMN), was compared across three conditions using the electroencephalogram (EEG). Planned polynomial contrasts compared conditions of related and unrelated linguistic stimuli versus a non-linguistic control stimulus. A significant Site x Condition polynomial trend at posterior sites (Pz and Oz) during the N400 tine window revealed that the unrelated condition was most negative in amplitude, an N400-like deflection in the control condition reached similar negative amplitude, while the related condition was the most positive. A significant quadratic trend of PMN amplitude differentiated between the linguistic conditions and the non-linguistic control at site Fz, but did not differentiate the related and unrelated linguistic conditions from each other. These results support a conclusion that non-lexical speech-like and gurning motions of the lips are treated differently than articulations of a meaningful nature. Moreover, the PMN response patterned similarly in the linguistic conditions, compared to the non-linguistic control, indicating phonological processing. The prediction that PMN amplitude will distinguish visual-speech events congruent or incongruent to a phonologically constrained context was not supported.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

De nombreuses études longitudinales ont montré un lien causal entre habiletés phonologiques précoces et plus tard le développement de la lecture et de l’écriture chez l’enfant entendant (Bryant, MacLean, Bradley & Crossland, 1990). Pour apporter une contribution aux connaissances concernant ce lien chez les enfants sourds, nous avons réalisé une étude longitudinale qui s’échelonne de la troisième maternelle à la seconde primaire. Les performances d’enfants sourds sévères et profonds prélinguaux exposés (précocement vs tardivement) ou non au Langage Parlé Complété (« LPC », code manuel destiné à lever l’ambiguïté de la lecture labiale seule) sont comparées à celles d’enfants entendants de même âge chronologique. Diverses épreuves phonologiques, de lecture et d’écriture ont été proposées. Les résultats ont montré que les habiletés phonologiques précoces prédisaient le niveau de reconnaissance de mots écrits en première primaire chez les enfants sourds comme chez les enfants entendants. Cependant, un effet plus important de l’apprentissage de la lecture est observé sur le niveau d’habiletés phonologiques, de lecture et d’écriture lors des deux premières primaires chez les enfants sourds. De plus, les performances des enfants sourds exposés précocement au LPC ne diffèrent pas de celles des enfants entendants et sont plus élevées que celles des autres enfants sourds, en particulier en première et seconde primaire. L’exposition précoce au LPC permettrait donc le développement de représentations phonologiques précises et par conséquent l’utilisation d’un décodage phonologique efficace en lecture et en écriture au début de l’apprentissage de la lecture. / Longitudinal studies have shown a causal connection between early phonological skills and later literacy development in hearing children (Bryant, MacLean, Bradley & Crossland, 1990). The aim of our study is to investigate whether early phonological skills predict later literacy performance in deaf children either exposed (early versus late) or not exposed to Cued Speech (“CS”, a manual system delivering phonetically augmented speechreading through the visual modality). Different phonological and literacy tasks were administered from kindergarten to seconde grade. The results show that the early phonological skills in kindergarten predict written word recognition in first grade in the deaf as well as in the hearing groups. However, an effect of learning to read seems to be more important on the level of phonological and literacy skills during the first and seconde grade in deaf children. In addition, the performances of early CS users do not differ from those of hearing children and are higher than those of the other deaf children, especially in first and second grade. Early exposure to Cued Speech may permit the development of accurate phonological representations and, consequently, the use of accurate phonological decoding to recognize written words and to spell at an early stage in learning to read. / Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

South Africa has a dearth of deaf appropriate assistive resources – giving rise to deaf adolescents leaving school early and poor adult outcomes. These factors are negatively influenced by the interaction of other elements such as the inadequate cultural and social nurturing and lack of support. Approached from a bio-ecological model, to pro-actively address the support needed by deaf and hard-of-hearing persons to empower them to develop the capacity to withstand the challenges they have to endure, to stand up to and resist the negative ideas about what they are capable of. In this study, major risk factors were identified as communication deprivation and unpreparedness of parents to raise a deaf child appropriately where mediating factors were identified as social-emotional competence and deaf teaching assistants at South African Schools for the Deaf. The main findings of this study were that the need for early training of parents, access to Sign Language, deaf role models and social-emotional training in SA schools for the Deaf are proposed pathways to well-being. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)