Maternal Sensitivity and the Visual Attentiveness of Children Who Are Deaf

Abstract

Maternal sensitivity may be even more important for the development of deaf infants' social and cognitive competence than previous research has shown it to be for hearing children. We report ratings of mothers' sensitivity and infants' time in coordinated joint attention (CJA) during play interactions videotaped in a laboratory at 9,12 and 18 months. Participants include 80 dyads in four groups: two matched for hearing status (Deaf or Hearing mothers with deaf or hearing babies), two unmatched for hearing status (Deaf mothershearing babies and Hearing motherddeaf babies). Mothers in matched dyads were rated more sensitive than mothets in unmatched dyads. Deaf infants with Deaf mothers showed more time in CJA compared to infants in unmatched dyads. However, significant correlations of sensitivity and attention were found only for the two unmatched hearing status groups at 18 months. These results are discussed in terms of dyadic hearing status differences, intuitive parenting and developmental stage. 019% by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Early Dev. Parent. 5: 213-223, 1996 Key words: sensitivity; attention; deafness; hearing impairment In our culture, it is theoretically assumed that 'sensitive' parents attend to both the social and the cognitive needs of their children; that they provide meaning as well as enjoyment, in environments

Visual attention in deaf and hearing infants: the role of auditory cues

“…Using analysis of videotaped interaction in mother–child dyads, Prezbindowski, Adamson, and Lederberg (1988) found that hearing children (aged between 20 and 24 months) were engaged in coordinated joint attention for 63% of the time compared to 43% for deaf children of hearing parents. However, the amount of time spent in coordinated joint attention by deaf children of deaf parents has been shown to be similar to that found for hearing children at 18 months (Meadow‐Orlans & Spencer, 1996), while hearing children of deaf mothers show a smaller amount (Spencer et al, 2004). This pattern of results suggests that coordinated join attention is more frequent when child and mother are similar in hearing status.…”

Awareness and regulation of emotions in deaf children

“…Moreover, hearing mothers have been shown to be less patient with their young deaf children in the sense that they are more intrusive, more inclined to direct the children, and give them less scope to explore and learn from their mistakes. This, combined with findings in other studies that hearing mothers spend less time communicating with and are less sensitive to their deaf children during interactions than either hearing mothers with hearing children or deaf mothers with deaf children (Barker et al , 2009; Gale & Schik, 2008; Lederberg, 1998; Lederberg & Everhart, 1998; Meadow‐Orlans & Spencer, 1996) means that one could also question to what extent these negative aspects will extend to conversations about emotions some years later.…”

Evaluation of Communication Between Normal Hearing and Hearing Impairment Children with Their Parents: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…28 Duyarlılığı yüksek olan bir ebeveyn; çocuğu ile iletişimine önem verir, iletişimde çocuğuna karşı olumlu ve kabul edici yaklaşım gösterir, çocuğu ile iletişimini aksatacak engelleri kullanmaktan kaçınır. 29 Sağlıklı işiten ebeveynler ve onların işitme kayıplı çocukları üzerinde yapılan prospektif bir çalışma, ebeveyn duyarlılığının çocuklarda (okul öncesi dönem) dil gelişimine çok güçlü etkileri olduğunu göstermiştir. 30 Diğer yönden işitme kayıplı çocuğuyla duyarlı iletişim gerçekleştiremeyen ebeveynler çocukları ile düşük kalitede iletişim kuracağından, bu çocukların dil gelişimi de olumsuz etkilenmektedir.…”