Modality use in joint attention between hearing parents and deaf children

Abstract

The present study examined differences in modality use during episodes of joint attention between hearing parent-hearing child dyads and hearing parent-deaf child dyads. Hearing children were age-matched to deaf children. Dyads were video recorded in a free play session with analyses focused on uni- and multimodality use during joint attention episodes. Results revealed that adults in hearing parent-deaf child dyads spent a significantly greater proportion of time interacting with their children using multiple communicative modalities than adults in hearing parent-hearing child dyads, who tended to use the auditory modality (e.g., oral language) most often. While these findings demonstrate that hearing parents accommodate their children’s hearing status, we observed greater overall time spent in joint attention in hearing parent-hearing child dyads than hearing parent-deaf child dyads. Our results point to important avenues for future research on how parents can better accommodate their child’s hearing status through the use of multimodal communication strategies.

Vocal matching in interactions between mothers and their normal-hearing and hearing-impaired twins

“…Vocal imitation is considered to be a part of turn-taking structures in dyadic communicative exchanges (Hallgen, 2012;Papousek & Papousek, 1989;Pawlby, 1977). Recent studies showed there were fewer and shorter turn-taking sequences (Depowski, Abaya, Oghalai, & Bortfeld, 2015;Tait, De Raeve, & Nikolopoulos, 2007) and a greater proportion of speech overlap in dyadic vocal interactions with HI as compared to NH infants (Fagan, Bergeson, & Morris, 2014). Thus, our results agree with evidence from previous studies confirming the effect on infant hearing loss on characteristics of mother-infant vocal interactions (Fagan et al, 2014;Tait et al, 2007).…”

What leads to coordinated attention in parent–toddler interactions? Children's hearing status matters

“…Even after cochlear implantation or fitting with hearing aids, the signals they receive are still often suboptimal and can affect not only their sound processing but also their language learning (Bergeson, Houston, & Miyamoto, ; Houston, Stewart, Moberly, Hollich, & Miyamoto, ). The (lack of) auditory experiences they have from early life likely creates different patterns and trajectories when they interact with their hearing parents, who mostly rely on auditory/verbal mode of communication (Bortfeld & Oghalai, ; Depowski et al, ). These children did not only have a different start point from their hearing peers, they also have a different history in interacting with their parents which may have cascading effects on their social interaction with their parents.…”

“…Some previous studies focusing on intentionality or mutual awareness aspects of joint attention have shown that, compared to their hearing peers, children with hearing loss were less successful in initiating and responding to their parents' attentional bids, and therefore, less likely to achieve joint attentional states with their parents (Bortfeld & Oghalai, ; Depowski et al, ). Using a leaner definition and focusing on the micro‐level gaze data, our study showed that children with hearing loss had similar coordinated attention patterns as their hearing peers.…”

“…In the rich literature on this topic, joint attention has been conceptualized and operationally defined in different ways (Siposova & Carpenter, ; Tasker & Schmidt, ). Traditionally, many researchers view intentionality and/or (mutual) awareness of social partner's attentional state as critical components of joint attention (e.g., Bakeman & Adamson, ; Depowski, Abaya, Oghalai, & Bortfeld, ; Moll & Meltzoff, ; Tasker, Nowakowski, & Schmidt, ; Tomasello & Farrar, ). To successfully establish joint attention, one needs to look at an object of interest first, which is followed by a verification look to the partner's face to confirm that the other person is also looking at the same object.…”

“…They found that toddlers with hearing loss were less successful in initiating or responding to their hearing parents' attentional bids than their hearing peers. Moreover, hearing parents of toddlers with hearing loss have been found to be more likely to touch the child when trying to elicit or maintain their attention (Depowski et al, ). Prezbindowski, Adamson, and Lederberg () found that, compared to age‐matched hearing peers, 22‐month‐old children with hearing loss spent more time alternating attention between their mother's face and the objects they played with, suggesting that those children may be more likely to look at their mother's face than hearing children did.…”