CSD 5400 REHABILITATION PROCEDURES FOR THE HARD OF HEARING Hearing Loss and Identity Psychosocial Aspects Personal and Social Effects

Questions to Address 1.Does being deaf cause problems with personality? 2.Do deaf children have more difficulty than hearing children in social development? 3.What is the role of language in the social interaction of deaf children, teens, and adults? 4.What are the barriers to social integration between deaf and hearing people?

Identity and Personality Self-concept is developed through an ongoing process of social interactions The key to these interactions is communication Deaf identity Oral deaf Signing Deaf Hard-of-Hearing

Personality Research studies from the 1960s and 1970s have profiled deaf people as egocentric, rigid, immature, lacking empathy, constricted, deficient in social adaptiveness, impulsive, suggestible, and lacking an inner locus of control

Self-Esteem One of the principal components of mental health Major factors contributing to the self- esteem of deaf persons: 1.Hearing status 2.Family environment 3.School environment 4.Group identification

Hearing Status and Self-Esteem Most studies report lower self-esteem among deaf people Directly related to the degree of hearing loss Is stigma internalized??

Family and Self-Esteem Self-image has its origins in the connection between the deaf child and his parents Deaf children with deaf parents have, overall, higher self esteem than deaf children with hearing parents Deaf children whose hearing parents use sign language are more likely to have higher self- esteem than deaf children whose parents don’t

School and Self-Esteem School type is NOT directly related to self-esteem Self-esteem may be more directly related to academic achievement

Group Identification and Self-Esteem Group identification involves having friends who share an identity, being involved in a community with shared values and identity, and feeling a sense of shared characteristics with members of a group Deaf and hard-of-hearing are one of the following: Culturally hearing Culturally marginal Culturally Deaf Bicultural

Social Integration and Social Skills Studies to understand the state of knowledge about the social skills of deaf children and the impacted of integrated education

Social Abilities and Adjustment Studies looking at social abilities of deaf children show mixed results A deaf child’s social ability is strongly related to language ability Age Recent studies make the following conclusions: Social adjustment of deaf children with deaf parents is no better or worse than the social adjustment of deaf children with hearing parents The social functioning of deaf children is no better or worse than the social functioning of hard-of-hearing children Deaf students in residential school settings are less socially mature than deaf students in mainstream settings

Social Interaction In educational settings, social integration is the same as social interaction Important area of research regarding mainstreamed deaf children

Social Interaction During Preschool and Kindergarten Deaf children tend to interact more often with their teachers than with their peers Deaf children with better oral skills interact more often with hearing children than deaf children with poorer hearing skills

Deaf Preschoolers and Kindergarteners Language is crucial for social interaction 1.Deaf children with high language ability are more likely to engage in play activities that require linguistic interaction 2.Deaf children with high language ability are more likely to choose playmates who also have strong language abilities 3.Deaf children with high language ability tend to use more language and expect their playmates to use more language

Deaf Children and Playmate Preference Peer relationships developed by deaf preschoolers similar to hearing preschoolers Deaf and hearing preschoolers have two types of relationships Maintained and non-maintained friendships Deaf preschoolers tend to have fewer long-term friendships than hearing children Social interaction between hearing and deaf playmates is more dependent on their familiarity with one another than prior experiences with deaf children

Social Interaction During Childhood and Young Adolescence An important variable is the primary educational setting Language level plays an increasingly larger role for social interaction Which is the best environment for the development of social skills? Residential school Public school

Social Interaction During Late Adolescence and Young Adulthood Retrospective studies A major finding is that deaf people who attended public high schools typically describe their high school experiences as less positive socially and more positive academically than deaf students who attended residential schools Continues through the college years

Personal and Social Development for the Adventitiously Deaf Acquired deafness must be considered first and foremost a social and psychological loss which affects all communication and interpersonal interactions, and which deprives individuals of the type of social relationships, occupational goals, and overall quality of life to which he/she was accustomed and which gave life meaning