The Use of Visual-Tactile Communication Strategies by Deaf and Hearing Fathers and Mothers of Deaf Infants

Abstract

This article presents the results of a study comparing deaf and hearing parents in the use of visual-tactile communication strategies during interaction with their hearing-impaired children between 18 and 24 months of age. The study includes 17 deaf and hard-of-hearing children and 33 parents, covering hearing mothers (n = 12), hearing fathers (n = 11), deaf mothers (n = 5), and deaf fathers (n = 5). The four groups of parents are compared in the use of visual-tactile communication strategies during free play with their children. Overall results show that deaf mothers and deaf fathers differ significantly from hearing parents in the use of a visual communication style adapted to the developmental communication needs and abilities related to the 18- to 24-month age period. The study pays special attention to differences in visual-tactile communication strategies according to hearing status, gender, use of languages, and communication modes.

The Impact of Visual Communication on the Intersubjective Development of Early Parent-Child Interaction With 18- to 24-Month-Old Deaf Toddlers

“…These findings are consistent with data of earlier research comparing hearing mothers and their deaf/hard-of-hearing children to hearing mother-child dyads. Most of these studies indicated communication difficulties in hearing mother-deaf child interactions and pointed to the development of a controlling interaction dynamic from the age of about 18 months on, when language usually starts to play an important role in the motherchild interaction (for reviews see Gallaway & Woll, 1994;Jamieson, 1995;Lederberg & Everhart, 2000;Lederberg & Prezbindowski, 2000;Loots & Devisé, 2003a, 2003bMeadow-Orlans, 1997, Musselman & Churchill, 1993.…”

“…Deaf mothers also facilitate the immediate connection of linguistic symbols with shared objects and events in the environment by displacing many of their signs so that both sign and nonverbal context can be observed simultaneously (Erting et al, 1990;Harris, 2000;Harris et al, 1987Harris et al, , 1989Harris & Mohay, 1997;Koester, 1992;Loots & Devisé, 2003b;Swisher, 1991;Waxman, Spencer, & Poisson, 1996). In a detailed analyses of the interaction between two deaf mothers with their deaf children at ages 7 and 10 months, Harris et al (1987) found that two thirds of their signed utterances were presented within the children's line of vision.…”

“…Touching the child, waving the hands, or moving the body into the child's field of visual attention and attracting and maintaining the child's visual attention with objects or toys are the strategies that researchers most frequently observed and described (Erting et al, 1990;Harris, 2000Harris, , 2001Harris et al, 1987Harris et al, , 1989Harris & Mohay, 1997;Jamieson, 1994aJamieson, , 1994bJamieson, , 1995Koester, 1992;Koester et al, 2000;Loots & Devisé, 2003a, 2003bMaestas y Moores, 1980;MeadowOrlans, 1997;Mohay et al, 1998;Spencer, 2000;Spencer & Gutfreund, 1993;Spencer et al, 1992;Swisher, 1991Swisher, , 1992Swisher, , 2000Waxman & Spencer, 1997). The nature and intensity of the deaf mothers' use of those visual-tactile communication strategies change over time, depending on the development of the infant's communication skills (Harris, 2001;Loots & Devisé, 2003a, 2003bSwisher, 2000;Waxman & Spencer, 1997;Waxman et al, 1996).…”

“…Although hearing mothers appear to intuitively adapt to their deaf infants' visual communication needs by an increase in the use of visual and tactile communication (Koester et al, 2000;Lederberg & Everhart, 2000;Loots & Devisé, 2003b;Spencer & Lederberg, 1997), their life-long auditory-verbal communicative experiences and habits harden a sensitive tuning to the sequential visual communication needs of their children (Jamieson, 1994a;1994b;Koester, 1992;Spencer & Gutfreund, 1993;Spencer et al, 1992;Swisher, 1991Swisher, , 1992Waxman & Spencer, 1997;Waxman et al, 1996). Many researchers argue that the intuitive visual-tactile communication strategies of deaf mothers should be taught as early as possible to hearing parents Harris, 2001;Jamieson, 1994b;Koester, 1992;Lederberg & Everhart, 2000;Meadow-Orlans, 1997;Mohay et al, 1998;Prendergast & McCollum, 1996;Spencer & Gutfreund, 1993;Spencer et al, 1992;Swisher, 1991Swisher, , 1992Waxman & Spencer, 1997).…”

The language development of a deaf child with a cochlear implant

“…(Papousek, 2007: 260;emphasis added). The link between intersubjective development and language development has been discussed in Loots 2003aLoots , 2003bLoots , and 2005. Therefore, in this paper we are interested to study longitudinally what the linguistic environment (linguistic input and parental behaviour) one hearing mother creates for her deaf daughter looks like, what this daughter's linguistic productions look like and what the possible interactive relationships are between this particular linguistic environment and the girl's language development.…”