Parental factors related to language development in deaf children
Abstract
This study sought to identify parental factors that related to the language development of preschool deaf children. The factors include manifestations of parents' acceptance of children's hearing impairment, parents-deaf children communication interaction, the role of the father in language interaction, and home style and culture. Subjects for this investigation were parents of 20 deaf children, ages 3 to 5 years old, attending an early childhood program in Puerto Rico. A Parents Questionnaire (FRDCCS) was designed to measure the factors included in the study. The questionnaire consisted of 10 multiple-choice statements. Each factor was measured with 10 statements. Each item represented a behavior. Parents had to rate each behavior on a scale of very few, few, don't know, sometimes, and very much. The values of the scale were from 1 to 5, where very much has the highest score and very few the lowest score. Data obtained in the study were analyzed through a correlation analysis to determine whether relationships existed between the set of variables. The Pearson correlation coefficients were correlated to determine the relationship between deaf children's levels of vocabulary skills and the mean scores of the subjects on the questionnaire (FRDCCS) and on each factor, and to determine the relationship between the mean scores of the subjects among the factors on the Parents Questionnaire. Significant relationships were found between parent's acceptance of the child's hearing impairment and the deaf child's language abilities. Also, significant relationships were found between communication interaction between the mother and the deaf child, and the deaf child's language abilities; between parent's home style and culture, and the deaf child's language abilities, and between fathering and deaf child's language abilities. The results of this investigation indicated that there were significant relationships between the factors related to the deaf child's language development. This has practical implications for educators and specialists involved in the development of programs for parents. It is recommended that future research separate factors and follow this study with an ethnographic study that brings the opportunity to observe parents' dynamics with their children and to corroborate the responses.
Subject Area
Special education|Language arts|Minority & ethnic groups|Sociology
Recommended Citation
Cortes-Rivera, Elie, "Parental factors related to language development in deaf children" (1992). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9511254.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9511254
