Abstract
This study investigated the distribution of ten facilitative language techniques (FLTs) in the linguistic input of hearing, signing mothers to their children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). Four hearing mothers and their DHH children under the age of three participated in six, ten-minute caregiver-child interaction sessions via Zoom. The recorded sessions were coded for mother FLTs and child utterances. Results indicated that the mothers tended to use more initiative than responsive types of FLTs, consistent with findings of previous studies that examined the input of mothers who were using spoken-only language with their children who are DHH. Additionally, the mothers tended to use combined signed and spoken input more frequently than signed language alone. These findings point to the need for focused intervention to increase hearing, signing caregivers’ use of responsive and linguistically stimulating FLTs. Findings also suggest that hearing caregivers may need more ongoing support to learn to use American Sign Language (ASL) effectively with their children.
Recommended Citation
Brock, A. S. (2023). The Signed Linguistic Input of Hearing Mothers to Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention, 8(1), 46-55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26077/7bcb-d748
Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/jehdi/vol8/iss1/6
