Affectionate Touching and Intentional Communication in 9, 12, and 18 Month-Old Deaf Infants with Deaf and Hearing Mothers By: Sherri Ewing Introduction Deaf mothers use more touching to communicate in general than hearing mothers (Mohay, 2000). Parent-Infant Dyads with a mismatched communication system (i.e., deaf parents with hearing children and hearing parents with deaf children) tend to have difficulty interacting effectively (Mohay, 2000). In the current study, we were interested in how parents use affectionate touch and intentional communication with infants. Scores on the Infant-Caregiver Interaction Scale (ICIS) for Intentional Communication and Affectionate Touching were compared. It was predicted that Deaf mothers with Deaf infants (Dd) would score higher than Hearing mothers with Deaf infants (Hd) on both measures with their infants. Methods Participants Participants Video tapes were analyzed for 30 mother-infant dyads from an archival data set retrieved from the Gallaudet Infancy Study (Meadow-Orlans et al., 2004). This was a longitudinal study conducted at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. Materials Infant-Caregiver Interaction Scale (Munson & Odom, 1995). The ICIS is an unpublished scale developed to assess play and feeding interactions between parents and infants. We used two dimensions from the ICIS (Communicative Intent and Affectionate Touching). Discussion Overall, Dd dyads did appear to use affective touching and intentional communication more than Hd dyads at all ages. These findings were consistent with Mohay (2000). These types of interaction patterns are important to identify and understand in order to help mismatched dyads communicate more effectively. Abstract Researchers know that deaf mothers use more touching to communicate in general than hearing mothers (Mohay, 2000). In the current study, we were interested in how parents engage in affectionate touching and intentional communication with their infants. Video tapes were analyzed for 30 mother-infant dyads from an archival data set, using two dimensions from the Infant-Caregiver Interaction Scale (Munson & Odom, 1995). Deaf mothers were rated slightly higher on average than Hearing mothers on affectionate touching and intentional communication when interacting with their infants at 9, 12, & 18 mos. These interaction patterns are important to identify and understand in order to better help mismatched dyads communicate more effectively. Results ( (See figures 1 and 2) Mothers Mothers: Deaf mothers were rated slightly higher on average than Hearing mothers on affectionate touching and intentional communication at each age. Mothers communicated more than infants over all the ages. The Deaf mothers used equal amounts of touching at all ages. Hearing mothers communicated more than infants at each age. Infants Infants: The Deaf infants attempted to communicate with their Deaf mothers more at 18 mos. than 9 & 12 mos. Deaf infants at 12 mos. used more affectionate touching than at 9 & 18 mos. The Deaf infants attempted to communicate with their Hearing mothers more at 18 mos. than at 9 & 12 mos. The Deaf infants used an equal amount of touching at all ages. Figure 1 Acknowledgements The author would like to thank the people who allowed their experiences to be video taped. Also, a huge thank you to Dr. Lynne Koester, Eve Lahti-Harper, The Bridges Program, and The University of Montana. References Brazelton, T. B., & Greenspan, S. (2000). Our window to the future. Newsweek Special Issue, Meadow-Orlans, K. P., Spencer, P. E., & Koester, L. S. (2004). The world of deaf infants: A longitudinal study. New York: Oxford. Mohay, H. (2000). Language in sight: Mothers’ strategies for making language visually accessible to deaf children. In P. E. Spencer, C. J. Erting, & M. Marschark (Eds.), The deaf child in the family and at school (pp ). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.. Munson, L. J., & Odom, S. L. (1995). Infant-Caregiver Interaction Scale. Unpublished Manuscript, Portland State University Average Ratings I-CommI-TouchC-CommC-Touch Infant-Caregiver Communication & Touch Deaf-deaf Behaviors - All Ages Figure 1 D-d 9 D-d 12 D-d Average Ratings I-CommI-TouchC-CommC-Touch Infant-Caregiver Communication & Touch Hearing-deaf Behaviors - All Ages Figure 2 H-d 9 H-d 12 H-d 18