No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This is the republication of a study originally entitled The Deaf Child and his Family which was a landmark in the study of early deafness. Dr Gregory's work, based on interviews with 122 mothers of deaf children under the age of six years, parallels that already done with hearing children and investigates with the same methodology the ways in which deaf children develop, change and are changed by their home and their wider environment. The book describes the everyday life of young deaf children and their families, looks at the deaf child's activities and their daily routine and considers the support and advice given to the parents during the child's early years. This republication, and the addition of a new introduction, coincides with the publication of Dr Gregory's follow-up longitudinal study of the same cohort of families in Deaf Young People and their Families.

This paper examines whether relationships can be demonstrated between specific infantile comfort habits and later personality development. Indications of aspects of personality at 11 and 16 yr were derived from structured, but open-ended, interviews with the children's mothers. Some reliable statistical associations are shown, and these are maintained even when allowance is made for sex, social class and family size differences in the two samples. They suggest that children with a persistent oral habit at 4 yr may later be less 'well-adjusted' emotionally and more difficult for their parents to influence and control than other children. Possible interpretations are discussed.