1. Janet R. Jamieson Susan Lane
Assessing Communication and Social/Emotional Development in Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing: Infancy to Early School Age
Janet R. Jamieson Susan Lane
Educational & Counselling BC Family Hearing
Psychology, & Special Ed. Resource Centre
UBC

2. How Does Hearing Loss Impact Development?
Early infancy
mother-infant “courtship dance”
synchronous vs. asynchronous communication
hearing loss affects every aspects of psychological development in a bidirectional way:
social-emotional
language
cognitive

3. How Does Hearing Loss Impact Social-emotional Development?
From the Parent’s Perspective:
parental grieving (anger and denial)
parents may not make necessary adjustments to communication
increased control
in communication
in behaviour
what is the impact of this increased control on the child?

4. How Does Hearing Loss Impact Social-emotional Development?
From the Child’s Perspective:
inability to predict what will happen next
resulting frustration
fear of taking risks (e.g., new settings, new experiences)
increased dependence on others
sense of isolation and loneliness
preference for peers with same hearing status

5. How Does Hearing Loss Impact Language Development?
From the Parent’s Perspective:
lack of expected response
spirals of increasing control
difficulty with turn-taking
increased use of directions, 2-choice questions, “air time”

6. How Does Hearing Loss Impact Language Development?
From the Child’s Perspective:
may be delayed, but not deviant
approx. 1/3 of deaf children have other disabilities (leading to possible language disorder)
inability to divide attention between visual and auditory cues
strong reliance on visual cues

7. Overall, then... Language development includes:
phonology
semantics / morphology
syntax
Neurologically, there are many paths to language development
Focus on the process; don’t worry if a path is unique

8. How Does Hearing Loss Impact Cognitive Development?
A learning cycle has been created:
the child does not respond as expected
the parent reacts by taking control
the child has less room to take risks, unless she does so quickly

9. We assess young children to...
determine if child needs help
design an appropriate plan
monitor change in child and family to determine if intervention is resulting in positive outcomes

10. What we look at when we assess...
child-caregiver interactions
listening
play
vocalizations / speech
gestures
vocabulary development
combining of words / signs
pragmatics

11. What assessment tools do you use?1. 2. 3. 4 5.
etc…..

12. Special Considerations when Assessing a Child with a Hearing Loss
What language systems surround the child?
What is the child’s preferred modality (vision or hearing)?
Are there idiosyncracies in the child’s use of the language system?

13. Special Considerations when Assessing a Child with a Hearing Loss
Bottom line #1: During assessments, use the child’s preferred language, and receive input from informants across contexts.
Bottom line #2: For non-English-speaking hearing parents, use culturally sensitive interpreters and and at least one parent report instrument that is valid for the home.

14. Special Considerations in Test Selection and Interpretation of Results
Both formal and informal assessments are needed.
Most formal tests are normed on hearing children
some tests unfairly penalize deaf children and make their language appear more delayed than it is
procedures may differ from standardized test
question the value of comparing the performance of younger hearing children with older deaf children
make sure some part of assessment occurs in relevant communication context

15. Other Professionals Who May Be Involved in the Assessment of a Child with a Hearing Loss
Medical
Family Physician
Ear, Nose, & Throat Physician (ENT)
Audiologist
Habilitation
Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)
Occupational Therapist
Physical Therapist
Aural Rehabilitationists
Family Support
Social Worker

16. Videos: Communicators in Action!
E.L.R
Joshua
Sam

17. Your (Very Important) Role in the Assessment of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children
You are a key team member -- each member holds a piece of the puzzle
The overall goal of intervention is to impact the communication system
Select assessment tools carefully and interpret the results with caution