Ninety percent of deaf infants are born to hearing parents, and socio-emotional development is compromised in a substantial subset of these children. While deafness itself does not cause socio-emotional and behavioural dysfunction, its influence on socio-emotional development is profuse and complex. It was proposed that early problems in mother-child joint attention would explain some of the socio-emotional development that lags chronological development in deaf children with hearing mothers. Fifty six 18-to 36-month old children and their mothers were recruited to the study; n = 29 hearing mother-hearing child dyads; n =27 hearing mother-deaf child dyads. A re-conceptualized model of joint attention guided this research and joint attention was restated as a functional construct. Four questions were asked and seven hypotheses were derived from these questions. Results supported six of the seven hypotheses tested. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental relations between joint attention and early socio-emotional development in hearing and deaf children. More specifically, the findings support a developmental psychopathology perspective of development that broadens the "language" argument for problems in deaf children's social development. Overall, a deliberate, rather than intuitive, model of mothering is suggested to be important in the accommodation of hearing mother-deaf child joint attention important for early socio-emotional development. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The SRA-10 is a tactile instrument which provides hearing impaired subjects with acoustic transforms that can be easily discriminated on the skin. Whether or not the SRA-10 is an effective means of training speech-language skills in profoundly hearing impaired subjects was the focus of this investigation. Two profoundly hearing impaired subjects were trained on phonetic reception/production tasks and on discrimination of multisyllabic words. Each subject served as his own control, wearing the SRA-10 for 14, 30 minute sessions, and a Bioacoustics 70-B auditory training unit for the same period of time. Results indicated a greater correct performance gain function with the SRA-10 than with the 70-B, suggesting that speech perception/production training using the SRA-10 or similar device would be superior to training using acoustic amplification.

by Lau Chiu Kay. / Bibliography: leaves 84-92 / Thesis (M.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983

This study, which utilized a mixed methods approach, is the first research study in Ukraine which explored the experiences of parents raising deaf or hard of hearing children. The outcome of the study includes a documented analysis and synthesis of the perceptions held by Ukrainian-hearing parents raising young deaf or hard of hearing children regarding the emotional and communicational impact of the diagnosis on their family functioning, their perceptions of existing services and/or programs, and their perceptions of the relationships with professionals. Three hundred and twenty-five families whose young children were enrolled in grade 0/1 in 48 residential schools for children with hearing loss across the country were sampled in a survey of the study and 17 families from among this number volunteered for follow-up interviews. The emotional impact of the diagnosis on the parents and other family members as well as such factors as communication mode, availability and accessibility of professional services, access to information on deafness, and educational choices were explored along with demographic and other characteristics. Parental thoughts and views in this study were consistent with international perspectives of parents that are documented in the literature: the need for informational support, guidelines and communication options for families were seen to be key factors. The responses of the participants of this study confirmed that greater access to educational options, support for overcoming stress and improving emotional well-being, as well as support for families in establishing healthy family interactions and empowering parents were among their most important requirements. Additionally, the findings of this study, stress the importance of focusing on family resources and family appraisal as key factors in the hearing family adaptation process to having children who are deaf or hard of hearing. / Special Education

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

No description available.

The author argues that religion has provided the deaf community with a powerful language to convey their authority in struggles to preserve sign language. Employing religious rhetoric, the American deaf community historically overcame the oppression of a dominant hearing community that suppressed the use of sign language. Grounding his arguments for educating deaf Americans in his Protestant theology, the Reverend Thomas Gallaudet garnered support for the school by appealing to the Christian convictions of the citizens of Hartford - intertwining Protestantism with the emerging American deaf community. By exploring the school, sanctuary, and social activism of the American deaf community, the author provides evidence of deaf community rhetoric that includes religious themes and biblical references. For example, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, arguments for methods of how to teach deaf students divided on ideological grounds. Manualists who supported the use of sign language often grounded their arguments in Protestant theology, while oralists who were influenced by Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species grounded arguments in evolutionary thinking. The influence of biblical teachings was evident in the schools for the deaf. The chapel services perpetuated the use of sign language even in times when sign language was under attack. From these chapel services came a social purpose for the church sanctuary in the lives of deaf Americans in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America. The sanctuary also provided the deaf community with a political platform advocating sign language use. The social activism of the deaf community has taken on many forms. In the early twentieth century, the National Association of the Deaf president, George Veditz, used film to capture his fiery Preservation of the Sign Language, which is filled with religious rhetoric advocating the deaf community’s use of sign language. More recently, Deaf West Theatre’ production of Big River is an example of how artful expression is used to support the values of the deaf community. This dissertation concludes with the suggestion that technology has replaced many of the functions of religion in the lives of deaf Americans and the author encourages further research in specific areas.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2006. / Title from title screen (viewed 19 Dec. 2006). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Faculty of Health Sciences. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.