2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
3/09/2020 | 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM | What do you mean, "language deprivation"? | Chouteau B
What do you mean, "language deprivation"?
The term “language deprivation” frequently arises in the longstanding and often heated controversies among various stakeholder groups who care about the well-being of d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. Unfortunately, this term tends to elicit different responses from different stakeholder communities, sometimes leading to serious misunderstanding which then hinder progress toward the shared goal of ensuring that all DHH children develop to the fullest of their potential. Here, I argue that one important source of such misunderstandings is that the term “language deprivation” is used and/or understood (by academics, clinicians, educators, service providers, and families) in four separate senses:
(1) The deliberate withholding of language input from a DHH child.
(2) A lack of accessible linguistic input in a DHH child’s environment during their prime language-learning years.
(3) Delayed or incomplete mastery of a 1st language.
(4) Downstream consequences of delayed or incomplete mastery of a 1st language in other developmental domains (e.g. cognitive, social-emotional, (pre)-academic, mental health).
It should be clear that these senses are not entirely independent: indeed, I argue that (4) is a result of (3) which in turn results from (2). Of the four, I suggest that (1) is the least useful for making progress toward the shared goal of optimizing the developmental potential of DHH children. Unfortunately, sense (1) also seems to be the most prominent. I hope that the introduction of this four-tiered conceptual framework will spur the development of more precise language (in both spoken languages and sign languages), especially for senses (2) and (3). By being more explicit about what exactly is meant by the phrase “language deprivation”, various stakeholder communities will be able to understand one another better, which should help to eliminate some of the barriers that currently prevent DHH children from developing to the fullest of their potential.
- Attendees will learn to distinguish 4 different senses of what people mean by "language deprivation"
- Attendees will learn to differentiate "language access" from "language exposure" and "communication mode"
- Attendees will learn how to apply this knowledge to support JCIH goals (esp. Goal 6)
Presentation:
21060_12421MattHall.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Matthew Hall
(), Temple University, matthall@temple.edu;
The overarching goal of Matt Hall’s research program is to maximize all d/Deaf children’s developmental potential. As an assistant professor of Communication Sciences & Disorders at Temple University, he applies knowledge from cognitive/developmental psychology and linguistics to questions that concern DHH children, their families, the professionals who serve them, and other stakeholders. He is particularly concerned with the paucity of evidence regarding language acquisition and psychological development in DHH children whose hearing parents have chosen to include ASL as part of their child’s access to language. In his reading of the literature, strong and contradictory claims have been made without sufficient empirical support. He is therefore committed to increasing the quality of the empirical evidence so that clinicians and families can make better-informed decisions.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.