UPDATED REFERENCE (OCTOBER, 2012)
Crowe, K., McLeod, S., & Ching, T. Y. C. (2012). The cultural and linguistic diversity of 3-year-old children with hearing loss. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 17(4) 421-438. doi: 10.1093/deafed/ens028
Crowe, K., McLeod, S., & Ching, T. Y. C. (2012). The cultural and linguistic diversity of 3-year-old children with hearing loss. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 17(4) 421-438. doi: 10.1093/deafed/ens028
ABSTRACT
Understanding the cultural and linguistic diversity of young
children with hearing loss informs the provision of assessment, habilitation,
and education services to both children and their families. Data describing
communication mode, oral language use, and demographic characteristics were
collected for 406 children with hearing loss and their caregivers when children
were 3-years-old. The data were from the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with
Hearing Impairment (LOCHI) study, a prospective, population-based study of
children with hearing loss in Australia. The majority of the 406 children used
spoken English at home; however, 28 other languages also were spoken. Compared
to their caregivers, the children in this study used fewer spoken languages and
had higher rates of oral monolingualism. Few children used a spoken language
other than English in their early education environment. One quarter of the
children used sign to communicate at home and/or in their early education
environment. No associations between caregiver hearing status and children’s
communication mode were identified. This exploratory investigation of the
communication modes and languages used by young children with hearing loss and
their caregivers provides an initial examination of the cultural and linguistic
diversity and heritage language attrition of this population. The findings of
this study have implications for the development of resources and the provision
of early education services to the families of children with hearing loss,
especially where the caregivers use a language that is not the lingua franca of
their country of residence.
