Couvee S, Wauters L, Knoors H
… +2 more, Verhoeven L, Segers E
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ
· 2025 Mar · PMID 40111190
·
Full text
We investigated relations between kindergarten precursors and second-grade reading skills in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children, and aimed to identify subgroups based on reading skills, in order to explore early sig...We investigated relations between kindergarten precursors and second-grade reading skills in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children, and aimed to identify subgroups based on reading skills, in order to explore early signs of later reading delays. DHH children (n = 23, Mage kindergarten = 6.25) participated from kindergarten-second grade. They were tested on phonological awareness, letter knowledge, spoken vocabulary, speechreading, fingerspelling, and sign vocabulary in kindergarten, and word decoding and reading comprehension in second grade. In second grade, word decoding scores were low-average while reading comprehension scores were below average compared to hearing norms. Word decoding correlated with phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and spoken vocabulary. Reading comprehension correlated with all measures except fingerspelling. Cluster analysis identified three second-grade-reading subgroups; group-1: below-average word decoding and reading comprehension; group-2: high-average word decoding, below-average reading comprehension; group-3: average word decoding and reading comprehension. Furthermore, group-1 differed from group-2 and group-3 on word decoding, group-1 and group-2 differed from group-3 in reading comprehension. Regarding kindergarten measures, group-1 scored below group-2 on letter knowledge, and below group-3 on spoken and sign vocabulary. We found that particularly letter knowledge and spoken and sign vocabulary seem to be crucial for the development of reading skills 2 years later.
This qualitative study focused on the synergistic experience of a group of Deaf1 and hearing participants during a 2-week international study-abroad program to investigate the impact of immersing hearing American Sign La...This qualitative study focused on the synergistic experience of a group of Deaf1 and hearing participants during a 2-week international study-abroad program to investigate the impact of immersing hearing American Sign Language (ASL) undergraduate majors with culturally Deaf faculty and doctoral students. 20 participants included undergraduate students who were ASL majors, Deaf doctoral students, faculty members, and an interpreter. Data included narratives with the Deaf faculty leader and the hearing ASL interpreter, a content analysis with the hearing undergraduates, and a section focused on the Deaf perspective with a thematic analysis with the Deaf faculty, students, and alumni. 6 themes emerged in the discussion of students' experiences during the tour in Thailand, including being immersed into the Deaf world, the challenge of not comprehending what was happening, the patience of the Thai people, experiencing cultural differences, receptive skills improving, comprehension increasing, and issues related to scheduling of events. The impact of both international and multicultural influences are discussed. Additionally, recommendations for travel agencies that work with Deaf study-abroad leaders are included.
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ
· 2025 Jun · PMID 40094381
·
Full text
This study explores the experiences of deaf college students during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to examine institutional capacity to retain their most vulnerable students during this time of crisis. A secondary an...This study explores the experiences of deaf college students during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to examine institutional capacity to retain their most vulnerable students during this time of crisis. A secondary analysis of the National Center for Education Statistics dataset, the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, was conducted to explore deaf students' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic with communication from their college and disruptions related to finances, housing, or academics and to determine whether deaf students were more likely to leave their institutions than hearing students. The findings demonstrated that despite deaf students receiving similar amounts of helpful communication as their hearing peers and experiencing fewer economic disruptions, they were still nearly twice as likely to take a leave of absence or withdraw from their institution during the pandemic. These findings highlight the vulnerability of deaf college students to leaving college despite receiving institutional support.
Wong H, Sheehan J, Sung V
… +2 more, Best S, Leigh G
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ
· 2025 Jun · PMID 40073445
·
Full text
This study investigated service providers' perspectives on the barriers experienced by families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds along the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) pathway in...This study investigated service providers' perspectives on the barriers experienced by families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds along the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) pathway in Victoria, Australia. Twelve service providers (i.e., hearing screening program staff and diagnostic audiologists) participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Service providers identified differences in service delivery, communication, and support needs between families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and those from majority cultural and linguistic (predominantly English-speaking) backgrounds. Perceived barriers included communication difficulties, lack of access to interpreters and translated written resources, cultural factors, and practical barriers to attending appointments. Clarifying the roles of service providers, providing access to resources to support communication, and requiring service providers to participate in cultural responsiveness training are suggested as strategies to improve services for families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Findings from this study inform service provision throughout the EHDI pathway to improve care for families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ
· 2025 Jun · PMID 39957433
·
Full text
Bryan and Emery introduced a new concept in legal jurisprudence through which a critical examination of how the law deals with deaf people can be undertaken: deaf legal theory (DLT). They define it as "how the law seeks...Bryan and Emery introduced a new concept in legal jurisprudence through which a critical examination of how the law deals with deaf people can be undertaken: deaf legal theory (DLT). They define it as "how the law seeks to frame Deaf people" and argue that legal systems should be reoriented to recognise and accommodate the unique perspectives and experiences of deaf people. Current legal systems are biased in favour of hearing people and these bias disadvantage deaf people in a variety of ways, including in their access to justice, employment, and education. The aim of this article is to advance Bryan and Emery's DLT by expounding its main arguments, situating it within its jurisprudential home of critical legal studies, considering the justification for its existence and providing a framework to apply it. The concept was introduced not within legal discourse but within Deaf Studies discourse and is therefore not yet widely known in legal scholarship. This article aims to bridge the gap between the two disciplines and firmly establish DLT as a legal theory in jurisprudence following which it can be applied to various legal subjects of intellectual enquiry.
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ
· 2025 Jun · PMID 39950241
·
Full text
This paper is the fifth in a series concerned with factors affecting the level of access that educational interpreters provide to deaf and hard-of-hearing students. In previous papers, we have examined accuracy and intel...This paper is the fifth in a series concerned with factors affecting the level of access that educational interpreters provide to deaf and hard-of-hearing students. In previous papers, we have examined accuracy and intelligibility of educational interpreters who use Cued Speech (CS) and Signing Exact English (SEE). In this study, accuracy, or the proportion of the message correctly produced by the interpreter, was evaluated in 12 Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE) transliterators with varying degrees of experience at 3 different speaking rates (slow, normal, fast). Results were similar to previously reported data for CS and SEE transliterators: (a) speaking rate had a large negative effect on accuracy, primarily due to increased frequency of omissions, and (b) lag time had a very small negative effect on accuracy, accounting for just 3% of the variance. A small difference from previous studies was that increased experience level was not associated with increased accuracy; rather, all experience groups performed similarly. Finally, like their CS and SEE counterparts, the overall accuracy of the CASE transliterators (61% on average) was relatively low, which continues to raise concerns about the quality of transliteration services that (at least some) children receive in educational settings.
Anderson ML, Wilkins AM, Hostovsky S
… +4 more, Pici-D'Ottavio E, Aldalur A, McGinnis F, Meza K
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ
· 2025 Jun · PMID 39887011
·
Full text
At the time of publication, there are no evidence-based psychotherapies to treat any behavioral health condition with Deaf clients. This article describes unique study design considerations for psychotherapy clinical tri...At the time of publication, there are no evidence-based psychotherapies to treat any behavioral health condition with Deaf clients. This article describes unique study design considerations for psychotherapy clinical trials conducted in the U.S. Deaf community. We synthesized emergent themes from participant exit interviews with feasibility data and real-life challenges that our team encountered when implementing the Signs of Safety pilot clinical trial, conducted from 2019 to 2022. Particularly illustrative participant accounts were selected to demonstrate five major lessons learned-expanding reach for recruitment; formally assessing participants' ASL fluency; selecting ethically-sound control groups; streamlining video fidelity monitoring; and making crystallized outcome assessments ASL-accessible. These lessons learned informed the design of the first-ever full-scale psychotherapy trial in the U.S. Deaf community, to be conducted from late autumn 2024 through 2028. This trial will potentially validate the first evidence-based therapy for Deaf people and provide a vital roadmap for conducting Deaf community-engaged clinical trials.
This article revisits the polarities of oralist and cultural-linguistic approaches to deaf identities through the perspective of the medieval Icelandic sagas, a product of mainly the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. Th...This article revisits the polarities of oralist and cultural-linguistic approaches to deaf identities through the perspective of the medieval Icelandic sagas, a product of mainly the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. Through a historically informed close reading of the Sagas of Early Icelanders corpus, 5 saga episodes were selected for further analysis with regard to the meaning of being deaf and/or non-speaking and intersections with other social categories like gender and class. This study suggests diverse ways in which being deaf and/or non-speaking was given meaning before the advent of oralism and the establishment of Deaf communities in Iceland, that is, as traits that lead to social exclusion as well as a part of the identities of individuals with considerable social status. An intersectional perspective shows male deaf characters exerting control over their lives and yielding political power, while deaf and non-speaking women are more portrayed as disenfranchised, regardless of their social class.
Language comprehension is an essential component of human development that is associated not only with expressive language development and knowledge acquisition, but also with social inclusion, mental health, and quality...Language comprehension is an essential component of human development that is associated not only with expressive language development and knowledge acquisition, but also with social inclusion, mental health, and quality of life. For deaf and hard-of-hearing adults with intellectual disability, there is a paucity of measures of receptive sign language skills, although these are a prerequisite for individualized planning and evaluation of intervention. Assessments require materials and procedures that are accurate, feasible, and suitable for low levels of functioning. We adapted measures of English-language comprehension in young children-a direct assessment and a caregiver questionnaire-into Austrian Sign Language and to the target group of adults with intellectual disability and used them with a non-preselected sample of 67 deaf and hard-of-hearing adults with intellectual disability living in therapeutic communities specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing people with multiple disabilities in Austria. Findings for both assessments demonstrate their construct validity, excellent internal consistency, and a large symmetrical distribution over the referential age range. Acceptance by the deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals and the caregivers and time-efficient administration suggest high practicability. We recommend further implementation in clinical practice, albeit with cautious interpretation of the results, and the inclusion of the instruments in research on intellectual disability and deafness.
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ
· 2025 Jun · PMID 39838536
·
Full text
Characters in movies have the potential to influence perceptions of how people see themselves. Deaf adolescents who have little opportunity to interact with Deaf peers or family members may be particularly drawn to Deaf...Characters in movies have the potential to influence perceptions of how people see themselves. Deaf adolescents who have little opportunity to interact with Deaf peers or family members may be particularly drawn to Deaf people they see in the media. How the media portrays Deaf people may impact Deaf adolescents' self-perceptions of and language preferences. Yet little is known about the ways Deaf people are portrayed in movies, particularly films developed outside of the United States and not in English. In this study, we utilized content analysis to explore the portrayal of Deaf characters in Korean movies and Deaf involvement in the production of films. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the extent to which characters were portrayed by medical or cultural perspectives of Deaf people. Findings indicate that 68.5% of scenes in the sampled Korean films include medical rather than cultural messages about Deaf people. Additionally, none of the movies had Deaf people directly involved in the production of the films. Implications for future directions regarding identity and portrayal of Deaf people in media are discussed.
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ
· 2024 Dec · PMID 39565282
·
Full text
Deaf aesthetics is a theoretical framework we actualized to enhance interactions in deaf education, particularly via multimodal pedagogy and curricular experiences. Prior research illustrates that deaf aesthetics are des...Deaf aesthetics is a theoretical framework we actualized to enhance interactions in deaf education, particularly via multimodal pedagogy and curricular experiences. Prior research illustrates that deaf aesthetics are desired by deaf teachers and students who are deaf; however, most instructional-delivery formats lack these supports. The present mixed-methodology, multi-method case study is an empirical evaluation of how deaf aesthetics contributed to the process of redesigning a course, including major revisions to instructional slide decks (e.g., PowerPoint, Google Slides, Prezi). The research question we examined is: How can instructional designers and university educators effectively design and use deaf aesthetics and multimodal curricula and pedagogies to prompt and sustain educational interactions with deaf or deafblind learners and teachers?
This study critically examines the biases and methodological shortcomings in studies comparing deaf and hearing populations, demonstrating their implications for both the reliability and ethics of research in deaf educat...This study critically examines the biases and methodological shortcomings in studies comparing deaf and hearing populations, demonstrating their implications for both the reliability and ethics of research in deaf education. Upon reviewing the 20 most-cited deaf-hearing comparison studies, we identified recurring fallacies such as the presumption of hearing ideological biases, the use of heterogeneously small samples, and the misinterpretation of critical variables. Our research reveals a propensity to biased conclusions based on the norms of white, hearing, monolingual English speakers. This dependence upholds eugenics ideas and scientific ableism, which reinforces current power dynamics that marginalize the epistemologies and lived experiences of deaf populations. Going forward, it will be imperative for deaf people to be included in meaningful roles in deaf-related research as active contributors who help define the whole research process. Without this shift, the research risks remaining detached from the very populations it seeks to understand.
This qualitative study delves into the innovative Bilingual Grammar Curriculum. The curriculum aims to enhance bilingualism and linguistic skills among deaf students by integrating American Sign Language instruction and...This qualitative study delves into the innovative Bilingual Grammar Curriculum. The curriculum aims to enhance bilingualism and linguistic skills among deaf students by integrating American Sign Language instruction and written language grammatical structures. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 12 experienced educators of the deaf who have implemented the curriculum in their teaching practices. Employing a thematic analysis approach, the researcher sought to uncover the educators' perceptions, experiences, and insights regarding the curriculum's effectiveness and its impact on bilingual language acquisition for deaf learners. Findings revealed a diverse range or perspectives, highlighting both the advantages and challenges of the curriculum's implementation. Themes emerged encompassing the curriculum's alignment with linguistic theories, its adaptability to diverse learning needs, the role of educator training, and the incorporation of cultural nuances within bilingual instruction. The study contributes valuable insights to the field of deaf education, shedding light on the intricate dynamics of bilingual grammar pedagogy and providing recommendations for curriculum refinement and educator professional development. Ultimately, this research underscores the significance of innovative approaches in enhancing the linguistic abilities and educational experiences of deaf and hard-of-hearing students within a bilingual framework.
This study used an intrinsic case study to investigate how interventions from applied behavior analysis impacted language development, academic progress, and the reduction of severe challenging behaviors for an 8-year-ol...This study used an intrinsic case study to investigate how interventions from applied behavior analysis impacted language development, academic progress, and the reduction of severe challenging behaviors for an 8-year-old child who is Deaf and autistic. 3 main themes were identified: language acquisition, behavioral change strategies, and academic performance. Additionally, 2 common threads wove in and out of each and connected all 3 themes: language access and qualified providers, including Deaf professionals. This study expands the literature about using behavioral strategies with children who are Deaf and autistic and discusses implications for clinical and educational practice.
This study investigates the communication practices of four teachers in 3rd to 6th grade classrooms with 9 deaf students with limited language proficiency and in stages of emergent writing development. Analyzing language...This study investigates the communication practices of four teachers in 3rd to 6th grade classrooms with 9 deaf students with limited language proficiency and in stages of emergent writing development. Analyzing language modalities, utterance types, and class interactivity, we found that teachers using American sign language used student-centered approaches, generating a greater number of directives and responsive utterances. They persevered in increasing students' engagement and were successful in clarifying misunderstandings. Teachers using spoken English used teacher-centered approaches, making general comments directed at the whole class, which consequently reduced student participation and responsiveness. They also largely avoided repairing communication breakdowns with emergent writers, focusing instead on those with greater auditory and speaking abilities. These patterns reveal disparities in classroom communication that can affect student learning. Our findings highlight the need for teacher preparation programs to equip teachers with skill sets to employ accessible and effective communication during instruction, especially with deaf students who are still developing foundational language and writing skills.
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ
· 2024 Dec · PMID 39363852
·
Full text
Deaf children of hearing parents (DOH) are at risk for early language delays (ELD) due to environmental and etiological factors, compounding the previously reported higher incidence of ELD in deaf children of deaf parent...Deaf children of hearing parents (DOH) are at risk for early language delays (ELD) due to environmental and etiological factors, compounding the previously reported higher incidence of ELD in deaf children of deaf parents (DOD) compared to the general population. Archival data from the online database of the Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist yielded 147 ratings of DOH 3- to 5-year-old children whose parents reported American sign language (ASL) being used in the home at least equally to spoken language. Research goals included (1) examining the incidence of ELD in this cohort, (2) investigating differences in outcomes based on the scaling method used, (3) exploring patterns among the ratings of DOH children identified with ELD, (4) comparing the DOH outcomes to published DOD data, and (5) investigating differences between ratings and individual children. The DOH outcomes suggested an incidence of ELD twice that of the previous DOD sample, with a higher percentage of more severe delays. Even DOH children not identified with ELD demonstrated less well-developed ASL skills than their DOD peers. This emphasizes the need for ongoing monitoring of early ASL skills to allow for early identification of needs and adjustment of interventions to address ASL development.