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In the few studies that have been conducted, researchers have typically found that deaf adolescents have more mental health difficulties than their hearing peers and that, within the deaf groups, those who use spoken language have better mental health functioning than those who use sign language. This study investigated the hypotheses that mental health functioning in adolescence is related to an early and consistent mode match between mother and child rather than to the child's use of speech or sign itself. Using a large existing 15-year longitudinal database on children and adolescents with severe and profound deafness, 57 adolescents of hearing parents were identified for whom data on language experience (the child's and the mother's) and mental health functioning (from a culturally and linguistically adapted form of the Achenbach Youth Self Report) was available. Three groups were identified: auditory/oral (A/O), sign match (SM), and sign mismatch (SMM). As hypothesized, no significant difference in mental health functioning was found between the A/O and SM groups, but a significant difference was found favoring a combined A/O and SM group over the SMM group. These results support the notion of the importance of an early and consistent mode match between deaf children and hearing mothers, regardless of communication modality.

This study compared 20 young deaf children with either exceptionally good or exceptionally poor spoken language for their hearing loss, age, and intelligence. Factors associated with high performance included earlier use of binaural ear-level aids, better educated mothers, auditory/verbal or auditory/oral instruction, reliance on spoken language for communication, individualized instruction, integration, and structured teaching by parents. (Author/DB)

This study examined the social adjustment of deaf adolescents enrolled in segregated (n=39), partially integrated (n=15), and mainstreamed (n=17) settings. Partially integrated students reported better adjustment than mainstreamed students with deaf peers; mainstreamed students reported better adjustment than partially integrated students with hearing peers. Segregated students showed the lowest levels of adjustment overall. (DB)

This article describes three aspects of visual communication in the context of training parents to communicate more effectively with a deaf child. The communication strategies described are appropriate to a deaf child's need for visual information: visual listening, visual expression, and visual cuing. Specific skills for enhancing parents' visual communication abilities are presented. (Author/DB)

A longitudinal study (with data collected at 54 and 83 months of age) was conducted of conversational control in 34 dyads of mothers and their children with severe and profound hearing losses. Results indicated that maternal control was negatively related to the children's developmental levels, and declines in control were not commensurate with the children's language growth. (DB)

Conversational control was compared between hearing mothers using auditory-oral communication (A/O) and those using total communication (TC) with 34 deaf preschool children. Among A/O children, maternal style reflected children's spoken language ability, whereas among TC children, maternal style related to children's social development, and conversational control was higher. (Author/PB)

An experimental program is described that teaches hearing parents to develop communication skills in young deaf children. Emphasis is on the increased use of visual information including attentiveness to the child's visual cues, appropriate use of natural gestures, and incorporation of visual analogs to intonation and rhythm in simultaneous communication methods. (Author/DB)

Five teachers using a conversational approach to language teaching with hearing-impaired students were studied. Teachers tended to exert a high level of conversational control, though conversational control decreased over time. The children (ages 4-10) exhibited language growth in their imitations and responses but not in spontaneous utterances. (Author/JDD)

This study of 121 young deaf children identified 3 distinct groups: children with losses of 70-89 decibels developed some intelligible speech, children with losses of 90-104 decibels exhibited considerable variability, and children with losses above 105 decibels developed little intelligible speech. The unaided hearing threshold level was the best predictor of intelligibility. (Author/JDD)

A longitudinal study was conducted of 139 Ontario preschool children with severe and profound hearing losses, to detect potential interactions among communication mode, program type, and degree of hearing loss. The relationship of several background and educational variables with the linguistic, academic, and social development of the children was investigated. (Author/JDD)

A longitudinal study of the effect of mothers' communication modes on the language development of children (N=149) with severe or profound hearing loss indicated that children whose mothers used oral communication had higher scores on measures of spoken language, whereas children whose mothers used manual communication had higher scores on measures of receptive language and mother-child communication. (Author/CB)

Children (n=118) with severe/profound hearing loss were assessed on language and social skills when aged three-five years and again three-four years later. The study failed to obtain evidence of lasting gains associated with intervention during infancy, intensified programing, or direct instruction by parents. (Author/JDD)

A 4-year study of 131 preschool children with severe/profound hearing losses found that children tended to be placed first in auditory/oral programs and later moved to total communication programs. Evaluated are the performance of children in both types of programs on measures of spoken language, receptive language, and mother-child communication. (Author/JDD)