2024 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 17-19, 2024 • Denver, CO
| Pandemic-related Changes to Language Environment and Development for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children
Pandemic-related Changes to Language Environment and Development for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on families’ daily lives, and thus the dynamics of social and linguistic interactions. As these interactions are critical for language development – especially for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children who use cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing aids (HAs) (Ambrose, et al., 2014; Gilkerson, et al., 2018) – it is essential to thoroughly understand the effects of the pandemic on parent-child interactions and language development.
Key measures of during-pandemic parent-child interaction, including adult word count (AWC) and conversational turn count (CTC) were obtained through 27 LENA (Language ENvironment Analysis) recordings from 15 families of DHH children (3=CI, 12=HA) and compared with 304 recordings from 42 families of DHH children (22 = CI, 20 = HA) collected before the pandemic. Analyses of these measures indicate an average decrease in CTC (11.5 turns/hr) during the pandemic while AWC remained relatively stable. This suggests that while the quantity of adult language input in the environment remained unchanged, there was a decline in parent-child interactions during the pandemic, which could prove detrimental for language development.
To evaluate the effect of the pandemic on language development, 109 administrations of the Preschool Language Scales-5 to 50 DHH children (22=CI, 28=HA) from before the pandemic and 25 administrations to 19 DHH children (9=CI, 10=HA) from during the pandemic were compared. Linear mixed-effects models showed a significant effect of the pandemic on Expressive Communication (p=0.02*) standard scores and a marginally significant effect on Total Language (p=0.05) standard scores, both of which were lower during the pandemic than before.
These findings illustrate how early language environments and language development outcomes are closely related and are suffering due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We hope they will inform evolving clinical practice as early intervention models adapt to address challenges posed by this global crisis.
- Participants will be able to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on parental participation in early language environments of DHH children.
- Participants will be able to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on critical measures of language development.
- Participants will be able to describe how parent-child interaction influences critical measures of language development.
Presentation:
3353554_14908MollyCooke.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPjxdQYSPRk
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Molly Cooke
(Primary Presenter,Author), University of Connecticut, molly.cooke@uconn.edu;
Molly Cooke is a research coordinator in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Connecticut. She earned her bachelor's degree in linguistics from Georgetown University, where she wrote her honors thesis on speech communities among adult cochlear implant users. She now works on projects studying language acquisition in deaf and hard-of-hearing infants and toddlers.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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AAA DISCLOSURE:
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Carrie Davenport
(Co-Author), The Ohio State University College of Medicine, carrietdavenport@gmail.com;
Carrie Davenport, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Otolaryngology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Carrie is a teacher of the deaf by training with a Master's degree in Family-Centered Early Education from Gallaudet University. She earned her doctorate in special education at OSU in 2017. Prior to entering the PhD program at OSU, she was the Early Childhood Consultant for the Center for Outreach Services at the Ohio School for the Deaf. Carrie is a founding Board member of Ohio Hands & Voices. Her research interests include parental self-efficacy, parent-to-parent support, and parent-infant interaction. She is especially interested in building academic-community partnerships with families with deaf/hard-of-hearing children and other stakeholders.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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No relevant financial relationship exists.
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No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
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No relevant financial relationship exists.
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No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Yuanyuan Wang
(Author,Co-Author), The Ohio State University, yywang118@gmail.com;
Dr. Yuanyuan Wang was a Research Assistant Professor from the department Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The Ohio State University. She received her doctoral degree in Linguistics from Purdue University. Her research focused on the role of infant speech perception, cognition, and linguistic environment on language development in children with normal hearing and children with hearing loss. Dr. Wang has left academia and now works in the financial sector.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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AAA DISCLOSURE:
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Derek Houston
(Author,Co-Author), University of Connecticut, derek.houston@uconn.edu;
Derek M. Houston, PhD, received his doctorate in cognitive psychology from Johns Hopkins University in 2000, focusing on how typically developing infants segment words from fluent speech and recognize words across different talkers. After graduating, he constructed the world's first laboratory to investigate the speech perception and language skills of deaf infants who receive cochlear implants at Indiana University. Since then, his work (supported by NIDCD) has investigated the role of early auditory experience and parent-child interactions on cognitive, linguistic, and social building blocks of language development. He also engages in community-based participatory research aimed at addressing barriers families face in obtaining high-quality early intervention services for their children.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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AAA DISCLOSURE:
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