Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education最新文献

This article is the sixth in a series of eight articles that comprise a special issue on Family-Centered Early Intervention (FCEI) for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and their families, or FCEI-DHH. The Support Principles article is the second of three articles that describe the 10 Principles of FCEI-DHH, preceded by the Foundation Principles, and followed by the Structure Principles, all in this special issue. The Support Principles are composed of four Principles (Principles 3, 4, 5, and 6) that highlight (a) the importance of a variety of supports for families raising children who are DHH; (b) the need to attend to and ensure the well-being of all children who are DHH; (c) the necessity of building the language and communication abilities of children who are DHH and their family members; and (d) the importance of considering the family's strengths, needs, and values in decision-making.

This study is the first to analyze data from a national survey to investigate the significance for deaf identity of the different forms of social and technological support that deaf people rely upon. Data were derived from a survey among 839 deaf people and were analyzed with regard to social identification as deaf, hearing, bicultural, and marginal. Findings showed connections between technology and identity, including the use of a range of technology to support being culturally deaf. Findings also showed that the deaf and hearing groups had strong homophilous social networks, while the bicultural group tended toward more mixed but equally strong social connectivity. The marginal group had a much thinner social connectivity and relied more upon institutional social support, findings that are in line with previous research revealing a sub-group struggling with social participation and well-being. Theoretically, the paper builds bridges between the fields of social identity and microsociology and shows how a microsociological perspective brings attention to the significance of reiterated social relations and practice for constructing social identity.

The current study presents the results of a qualitative investigation into the perspectives of mothers who have adopted children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Nine mothers, recruited via convenience and snowball sampling, participated in semi-structured interviews via videoconference technology. The interviews were transcribed and coded for thematic analysis. Parent perspectives on the following topics were analyzed: motivation, reaction to identification, communication and technology decisions, language, services pre- and post-adoption, others' reactions, expectations, race and ethnicity, and attachment and adjustment. Based on thematic analysis of the participants' responses, key themes and implications for professional practice are proposed.

Early childhood programs promote language play opportunities due to the well-documented positive influences on cognition, language, and literacy development. This qualitative investigation explores language play through the form of signed rhyme and rhythm among young deaf children. Teachers specializing in deaf education within an early childhood program were interviewed to assess their knowledge and implementation of signed rhyme and rhythm in their pedagogical practices. The results reveal that despite recognizing numerous advantages and deeming signed rhyme and rhythm as essential for deaf children's development, these teachers perceive themselves as lacking adequate knowledge and preparation to effectively incorporate this approach in their classrooms. To address this gap, professional development opportunities should be provided to develop knowledge and confidence in teachers, empowering them to effectively implement signed rhyme and rhythm with deaf children.

This paper examines policies and practices of inclusive education for young deaf children in Ghana. Though existing Government policy promotes the principles and implementation of educational inclusion of all children in Ghana, caregivers often encounter significant challenges ensuring access to early years' education for their deaf children. We used Bronfenbrenner's (2005) bioecological systems theory and interviewed 15 educators of deaf children and 9 hearing-health clinicians, to capture different knowledge, experience, and perspectives on policy, practice, and inclusive approaches to deaf children's education. We ask: (a) How do teachers, clinicians, and caregivers connect to promote early childhood care education (ECCE) for young deaf preschoolers in Ghana? and (b) What resources and precarities are available to educators of deaf children and hearing-health clinicians in sustaining inclusive educational practices across urban and rural contexts in Ghana? We address these unanswered questions about the potential pathway to bring about changes in policy and practice in promoting successful inclusive education for deaf children in Ghana. Implications for national and international policy and practice of ECCE for deaf children are discussed and recommendations are made.

When a deaf or hard-of-hearing child enters a classroom with an interpreter, the goal, and sometimes the assumption, is that they will be granted full access to the classroom experience. This study focuses on the clarity and completeness with which critical elements of classroom discourse are conveyed through the interpretations of 40 educational interpreters. Elements studied include conveyance of main ideas, directions for assignments, relevance strategies, orienting commentary, participation solicitation, mental state reference, and semantic organization. The interpretations clearly and completely conveyed approximately one-third to two-thirds of the information (M = 48.6%) related to these elements of classroom discourse. Frequent omissions and alterations rendered large parts of the message markedly different. Results suggest a need to improve training of educational interpreters, increase communication between teachers and interpreters, provide students supplementary services, and heighten awareness that the interpretation process is fallible in ways that can impact access to classroom discourse.

Studies have shown the benefits of fingerspelling on literacy skills in school-age deaf and hard-of-hearing students. This study is an observation of 20 first- and second-grade classrooms. The classroom observations were coded for fingerspelling event frequency, type, length, and whether it was chained to print. The observations showed that teachers used an average of 54 fingerspelled events during 40-min lessons. Teachers' frequency of fingerspelling was positively related to students' frequency of fingerspelling. The types of words fingerspelled included Vocabulary (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs), Function (prepositions, articles, and conjunctions), Abbreviations, and Single Letter Names (i.e., manual alphabet). Teachers most frequently fingerspelled Vocabulary words (57.9%, SD = 22.1%) followed by Function words (15%, SD = 11.2%). The average length of Vocabulary and Function words were 4.2 (SD = 0.7) and 2.9 (SD = 1.1) letters, respectively. Teachers chained fingerspelling to print 20% (SD = 10%) of the time. We suggest that teachers could increase and more systematically use fingerspelling in early-elementary classrooms, explicitly bridging the connection between fingerspelling and print given its association with reading.