19th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 8-10, 2020 • Kansas City, MO
3/10/2020 | 3:45 PM - 4:15 PM | Hearing parents learning ASL: the relationship between available resources, beliefs, and parent ASL skill | Chicago A
Hearing parents learning ASL: the relationship between available resources, beliefs, and parent ASL skill
Most deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children are born into hearing families. It is often assumed that hearing parents will not or cannot learn American Sign Language (ASL) and thus ASL is dismissed as a viable option. However, some hearing parents do learn ASL, yet there is little data on this topic. This study analyzes the experiences and ASL proficiency of hearing parents who have learned ASL.
This study consists of a two-part online survey administered to hearing parents with DHH children between the ages of 3 and 18 years. The first survey (n = 77 participants) contains approximately 30 questions probing family communication methods, approaches to learning ASL, a ranking of helpful resources, and a self-assessment of ASL proficiency. The second survey (n = 11 participants) probes the expressive and receptive proficiency of participants by eliciting two ASL language samples and completion of an ASL comprehension test. Survey responses were coded for dominant themes and parents’ language samples were transcribed and scored on a 6-point scale.
Analysis revealed positive correlations between the resources used to learn ASL and overall ASL production score. Parents who scored higher on the receptive and expressive tasks took ASL courses at a college or through their child’s school and/or early intervention program, and spent time interacting with Deaf adults. Participants’ self-ratings of their receptive and expressive skills were correlated with their scores on the ASL tasks. There was variability in linguistic ability among the participants’ ASL ability.
This study provides initial evidence that hearing parents of DHH children have the capability to learn ASL when provided with the appropriate resources. In future work, it will be crucial to determine the extent to which hearing parents’ language skills are predictive of their deaf child’s language development.
- Participants will learn about the challenges and accomplishments that hearing families experienced while learning ASL.
- Participants will recognize the benefits of providing parental support in learning ASL to better communicate and support their deaf/hh children.
- Participants will better understand the range of ASL abilities of hearing families who learn ASL.
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Presenters/Authors
Kerianna Chamberlain
(), Boston University , kerianna@bu.edu;
Kerianna Chamberlain, Masters student studying Deaf Education at Boston University. She received her BS in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of New Hampshire. Kerianna has worked as a classroom assistant at the Marie Philip elementary school at The Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham Massachusetts. She is passionate about providing Deaf students with educational equity through language access using a bilingual approach. Along with this, she is interested in researching about the language and literacy acquisition of Deaf and Hard of Hearing children and how this can help with future understandings of language access and Deaf education. She currently works for the Language Acquisition & Visual Attention Lab under Dr. Amy Lieberman studying how visual attention can maximize language learning.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Amy Lieberman
(), Boston University, alieber@bu.edu;
Amy Lieberman, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and Director of the Language Acquisition and Visual Attention Lab. Her research focuses on the acquisition and processing of American Sign Language (ASL) in deaf individuals, and the development of visual attention in deaf children. Her research employs multiple approaches to studying language and attention, ranging from naturalistic observations of parent-child interactions to the development of a novel eye-tracking paradigm to investigate real-time processing of ASL in deaf children and adults. Prior to joining the BU faculty, she was at the University of California, San Diego, where worked as a Research Scientist at the Center for Research on Language and the Mayberry Lab for Multimodal Language Development. She previously worked as an Early Childhood teacher at the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School at Gallaudet University’s Clerc Center.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Grants for Other activities from National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Julie Mitchiner
(), Gallaudet University, julie.mitchiner@gallaudet.edu;
Julie Mitchiner, a professor in the Education Department at Gallaudet University, focuses primarily on Early Childhood Education. She directs the Master's program in Deaf Education. Mitchiner taught at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School at the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center in the bilingual ASL/English Early Childhood Program for six years. She received her BA in Early Childhood Education and MA in Deaf Education with a specialization in Family Centered Early Education at Gallaudet University. She received her Ph.D. in Education at George Mason University with a specialization in Early Childhood Education and a secondary concentration in multicultural/multilingual education. Her research interests include bilingual education in ASL and English and using the Reggio Emilia approach in teaching deaf and hard of hearing children. Mitchiner has presented at many national and international conferences and made several publications related to deaf families with children who have cochlear implants and on family language planning and policy with deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Elana Pontecorvo
(), tba, asdf@gmail.com;
tba
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -