This talk will be during lab meeting Language Development Department.
Abstract:
Most research on spoken language development in children who are deaf/hard-of-hearing has, understandably, focused on auditory access and speech perception. However, speech perception accounts for less than 25% of variance in language outcomes. Like typically hearing children, language outcome of children who are deaf/hard-of-hearing on their ability to make meaning of the auditory input they receive during social interactions with caregivers. Four years ago, I proposed a conceptual framework that asserted that variability in outcomes depended on the total language input that is accessible, attended to, and coordinated with children’s attention during social interactions (Houston, 2022). In this talk, I will use this framework to organize findings from my lab and others toward a growing but far-from-complete understanding of how many input and parent-child interaction factors contribute to variability in language outcomes in children who are deaf/hard-of-hearing.