Avoiding Linguistic Neglect of Deaf Children

Humphries, Tom; Kushalnagar, Poorna; Mathur, Gaurav; Napoli, Donna Jo; Padden, Carol; Rathmann, Christian; Smith, Scott

doi:10.1086/689543

Cited by 70 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 106 publications

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“…Glickman [79] describes the most commonly-used term as “low functioning deaf.” The vocational rehabilitation field offers its own description – a “traditionally underserved person who is deaf,” a subset of deaf people who exhibit limited communication abilities, difficulty maintaining employment without assistance or support, poor social/emotional skills including problem-solving, impulsivity, low frustration tolerance, inappropriately aggressive, and inability to live independently [60]. We recommend the term “language deprivation syndrome” [40,42,43] to highlight the possible cluster of symptoms that result from language deprivation. There is not enough empirical evidence to currently formulate formal diagnostic criteria, but there appears to be a need to begin empirically developing these criteria.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The hypothetical existence of a unique mental health syndrome that has a relationship with language deprivation deserves investigation as language difficulties complicate diagnosis and treatment of many deaf patients [38,40–43]. There is a need to help clinicians to differentiate primary and secondary contributors to deaf patients’ mental health issues.…”

Section: Behavioral Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Language deprivation syndrome: a possible neurodevelopmental disorder with sociocultural origins

Hall

Levin

Anderson

2017

Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol

170

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Purpose There is a need to better understand the epidemiological relationship between language development and psychiatric symptomatology. Language development can be particularly impacted by social factors, as seen in the developmental choices made for deaf children which can create language deprivation. A possible mental health syndrome may be present in deaf patients with severe language deprivation. Methods Electronic databases were searched to identify publications focusing on language development and mental health in the deaf population. Screening of relevant publications narrowed the search results to 35 publications. Results Although there is very limited empirical evidence, there appears to be suggestions of a mental health syndrome by clinicians working with deaf patients. Possible features include language dysfluency, fund of knowledge deficits, and disruptions in thinking, mood, and/or behavior. Conclusion The clinical specialty of deaf mental health appears to be struggling with a clinically observed phenomenon that has yet to be empirically investigated and defined within the DSM-5. Descriptions of patients within the clinical setting suggest a language deprivation syndrome. Language development experiences have an epidemiological relationship with psychiatric outcomes in deaf people. This requires more empirical attention and has implications for other populations with behavioral health disparities as well.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Behavioral Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language deprivation syndrome: a possible neurodevelopmental disorder with sociocultural origins

Hall

Levin

Anderson

2017

Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol

170

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“…Instead, our findings suggest that late entry to a signing program, in the absence of early exposure to signing in the home or other substantial ASL exposure, often brings with it difficulties with acquiring complex syntax. In essence, when children acquire a signed language at later ages, they may be less sensitive to its syntactic structure (Humphries et al, 2016).…”

Section: Age Of Entering a School For The Deaf Influences Syntactic Smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notes 1 While language deprivation may appear to be a contentious term, it has recently become a common label for the host of language dysfluency issues that tend to appear in deaf children who have absent or inconsistent language exposure (Hall, 2017;Humphries et al, 2016). 2 Both wh-initial and wh-in-situ are accepted in ASL (Lilo-Martin, 2000).…”

Section: Final Revised Version Accepted 7 February 2017mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of Sensitivity to Grammatical Violations in American Sign Language: Native Versus Nonnative Signers

et al. 2017

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Factors influencing native and nonnative signers’ syntactic judgment ability in American Sign Language (ASL) were explored for 421 deaf students aged 7;6–18;5. Predictors for syntactic knowledge were chronological age, age of entering a school for the deaf, gender, and additional learning disabilities. Mixed‐effects linear modeling analysis revealed main effects of each predictor and an interaction between signing status and learning disability. The native signers showed typical syntactic development that varied by chronological age, gender, additional learning disabilities, and age of entering a deaf school. In contrast, the syntactic development of nonnative signers was more variable. It was less tightly related to chronological age and more strongly influenced by the age at which they had entered the school where assessment occurred, which was highly related to length of exposure to a sign language.

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“…For some of these deaf patients, language deprivation is so severe that it may be its own mental health disorder – a “language deprivation syndrome” (Glickman, 2007, 2009; Gulati, 2003, 2014; W. C. Hall, Levin, & Anderson, in press; Humphries et al, 2016b). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: The Risk of Language Deprivation by Impairing Sign Language Development in Deaf Children

Hall

2017

Matern Child Health J

201

100

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A long-standing belief is that sign language interferes with spoken language development in deaf children. Brain changes associated with language deprivation may be misrepresented as sign language interfering with spoken language outcomes of cochlear implants, which leads to professionals and organizations advocating for preventing sign language exposure before implantation and spreading misinformation. The existence of one – time-sensitive – language acquisition window means a strong possibility of permanent brain changes when spoken language is not fully accessible to the deaf child and sign language exposure is delayed, as is often standard practice. There is no empirical evidence for the harm of sign language exposure but there is some evidence for its benefits, and there is growing evidence that lack of language access has negative implications. This includes cognitive delays, mental health difficulties, lower quality of life, higher trauma, and limited health literacy. Claims of cochlear implant- and spoken language-only approaches being more effective than sign language-inclusive approaches are not empirically supported. Cochlear implants are an unreliable standalone first-language intervention for deaf children. Priorities of deaf child development should focus on healthy growth of all developmental domains through a fully-accessible first language foundation such as sign language, rather than auditory deprivation and speech skills.

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Avoiding Linguistic Neglect of Deaf Children

Cited by 70 publications

References 106 publications

Language deprivation syndrome: a possible neurodevelopmental disorder with sociocultural origins

Language deprivation syndrome: a possible neurodevelopmental disorder with sociocultural origins

The Development of Sensitivity to Grammatical Violations in American Sign Language: Native Versus Nonnative Signers

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: The Risk of Language Deprivation by Impairing Sign Language Development in Deaf Children

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