Early Pragmatics in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Infants

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: A set of important pragmatic skills emerge during infancy and pave the way for later language learning. It is thought these early social communication skills develop through infant-caregiver interaction. In a microanalysis, we tested whether deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) infants (typically at high risk of reduced access to rich communicative interaction in infancy) are less likely to engage in gestural and vocal pragmatic behaviors. METHODS: We coded the naturalistic communication of 8 DHH infants who had no additional needs, who were not preterm or low birth weight, whose parents were hearing, monolingual English speakers, and who had spoken English as their primary target language. The frequency of use of 5 types of infant communication known to positively predict later language development (show gestures, give gestures, index-finger pointing, communicative vocalizations, and early word use) was compared with that of 8 typically hearing infants matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. RESULTS: Hearing loss had a significant negative effect on the frequency with which infants engaged in all types of early communication that predict later language development. CONCLUSIONS: DHH infants are at high risk of delay in the gestural and vocal communicative skills that lay the foundations for later language. Delay in the gestural domain suggests this is not simply a consequence of difficulties in imitating auditory stimuli. There is significant potential to lift DHH infants onto a positive developmental trajectory by supporting caregivers to nurture interaction from the first year.

Assessing a Video-Based Intervention to Promote Parent Communication Strategies with a Deaf Infant: A Feasibility and Acceptability Study

“…Nine participants were recruited across England and Scotland through the UK's National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) database of families who have a deaf child as part of two concurrent studies; the present study and another investigating infant social communicative skills [38]. Two parents were of the same child in the same household (participants 6a and 6b).…”

The interplay between early social interaction, language and executive function development in deaf and hearing infants

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Análisis de las funciones ejecutivas de memoria de trabajo y control inhibitorio en alumnado con implante coclear en Educación Infantil

“…La falta de audición conlleva a los progenitores, como agentes educativos próximos a la criatura, a incitar la estimulación oral para favorecer el desarrollo preverbal de su hijo o hija. No obstante, la imitación de un modelo articulatorio que no se percibe o se percibe deficitariamente no siempre se puede interpretar como un acto del habla, ya que no es sencilla y dificulta el acceso a la comprensión y aprendizaje del lenguaje, por tanto, limita el desarrollo comunicativo, social y cultural del sujeto con el entorno (Colletti et al, 2005;Kelly, Morgan, Bannard y Matthews, 2020).…”