2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
3/10/2020 | 9:40 AM - 10:10 AM | Effects of Parents’ Mealtime Conversation Techniques for Young Children with Hearing Loss who use Listening and Spoken Language | Chicago C
Effects of Parents’ Mealtime Conversation Techniques for Young Children with Hearing Loss who use Listening and Spoken Language
Many children with hearing loss (HL) gain access to the sounds of spoken language from increasingly early ages through early detection, technology fitting, and intervention. However, outcomes in developing listening and spoken language (LSL) continue to vary, with many young children with HL lagging behind their peers with typical hearing in their vocabulary and basic-concepts knowledge (Bracken, 1986; Davidson, Geers, & Nicholas, 2013; Moeller & Tomblin, 2015; Nott, Cohen, Brown, & Wigglesworth, 2009). Of particular importance to early intervention and preschool programs attempting to close this language gap is the role of language input as they coach families to provide frequent, rich language input through everyday routines in the home (DesJardin, 2006; Simser & Estabrooks, 2012). This study investigated the relation between the quality of language input experienced by preschoolers with hearing loss during mealtimes in their natural home environments and their development of receptive vocabulary and basic-concepts knowledge. Using LENA technology, 35 children with HL from LSL programs across the US contributed naturalistic, daylong recordings of their everyday environments. Twenty-minute dinnertime audio was transcribed and coded for parents’ use of conversation techniques and explicit instruction using a coding strategy adapted from Duncan and Lederberg (2018). Codes included parents’ use of both higher-level techniques (i.e., reformulation, open-ended elicitation), which have previously been shown to facilitate children’s language growth, and lower-level techniques (i.e., closed-ended elicitation, imitation, directives), which have not. The characteristics of conversation techniques and explicit instruction in vocabulary and grammar used by parents during mealtimes with their young children with HL will be presented, along with the relation between this quality of language input and the quantity of adult words and conversational turns recorded during the full day. Preliminary results of analyses linking parents’ use of conversation techniques and children’s receptive vocabulary and basic concepts will also be discussed.
- List and define higher- and lower-level conversation techniques used by parents.
- Discuss the characteristics of parents' use of conversation techniques and explicit instruction during mealtimes with their young children with HL.
- Explain the relation between parents' use of conversation techniques and the quantity of language input in children's full-day environments.
Presentation:
21060_12435ElaineSmolen.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Elaine Smolen
(), Teachers College, Columbia University, elaine.smolen@gmail.com;
Elaine Smolen, PhD, CED, LSLS Cert. AVEd, is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research work centers around language and literacy development for young deaf and hard of hearing children who use listening and spoken language. Smolen received her PhD in deaf and hard of hearing education from Columbia as a National Leadership Consortium in Sensory Disabilities scholar. An experienced teacher of the deaf and certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, Smolen has served young children with hearing loss and their families as a head classroom teacher and in an itinerant role. She holds teaching certification in the areas of deaf education, elementary education, and English.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Salary for Employment from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Nonfinancial -
• Has a Personal (hard of hearing, wears hearing aids)
relationship for Other volunteer activities.
Maria Hartman
(), Teachers College, Columbia University, mch33@columbia.edu;
Maria Hartman, Ph.D., is a NYS certified Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing with many years of classroom teaching experience. She is currently a lecturer and the director of the the Program of Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Teachers College, Columbia University.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Ye Wang
(), Teachers College, Columbia University, yw2195@tc.columbia.edu;
Ye Wang, a professor and the director for Education of the d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing (EDHH) Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, earned both of her M.A. and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Her primary research interest is the language and literacy development of children and young adults who are d/DHH. She is currently the Senior Associate Editor of American Annals of the Deaf.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -