The purpose of this study was to examine the processes and patterns of communicative
interaction which preschool and elementary school-aged deaf and hearing siblings utilized to
initiate, maintain and terminate dialogs during play. Specifically, the focus was to determine if the
processes and patterns of communication differed when a deaf sibling interacted with an older
hearing sibling who has been exposed primarily to a simultaneous visual-auditory (SimVA) pattern
of communication, as compared to when a deaf sibling interacted with a younger hearing sibling
who has been exposed to both a SimVA and a sequential visual (Seq V) pattern of communication.
Video-taped playbouts were observed between each of two sibling dyads at play within a single
family: (a) an older dyad composed of a seven-year-old hearing child and her five-year-old deaf
sister, and (b) a younger dyad with the second-born deaf sister and her three-year-old hearing
brother. The video-tapes were coded to determine: the kinds of play siblings engaged in;
the use and expression of behavioral and communicative elements of attention-getting, exchange of
information, and termination processes of dialogs; who initiated and terminated dialogs; the
occurrence of turn-taking during message delivery; and the expression of patterns of
communication used by siblings during dialogs.
Only three of five possible kinds of play were actually noted, of which social play was the
most frequently observed kind of play taking place between siblings within both dyads. In the
older hearing and deaf sibling dyad, it was found that the older hearing sister predominately used
visual processes and patterns of communicative interaction when conversing with her deaf sister,
whereas the deaf sibling relied extensively on visual-auditory processes and patterns of
communication when conversing with her hearing sister. In the younger dyad, visual-auditory
patterns of communication predominated both hearing and deaf siblings' expression of processes
and patterns of communication with each other. New terminology reflecting siblings' behavioral
and communicative patterns of communication are introduced.
This study represents the first known research examining the processes and patterns of deaf
and hearing siblings' behavioral and communicative interactions of dialog. The findings are
discussed in relation to potential applications to early intervention programs for hearing families
with deaf and hearing siblings and to future research directions. Overall, the findings from this
study appear to indicate that deaf and hearing siblings communicate in ways largely influenced by
developmental maturation and the communicative environments to which each child has been
exposed during language acquisition processes. The findings are also consistent with Vygotsky's
theory of a sociocultural origin of language development. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/10126 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Van Horn, Dennis |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 9293340 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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