18th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 3-5, 2019 • Chicago, IL
3/04/2019 | 3:35 PM - 4:05 PM | Dinner Table Syndrome: “What are You Talking About?” | Paris
Dinner Table Syndrome: “What are You Talking About?”
Conversations at the dinner table typically involve reciprocal and contingent turn taking. This context typically includes multiple exchanges between family members, providing opportunities for rich conversations and opportunities for incidental learning. Deaf individuals often miss out on these exchanges when typical hearing turn taking rules are used with either verbal or visual communication. Hearing turn taking rules includes using auditory cues to both get a turn and to cue others when a new speaker is taking a turn. Given these mechanisms, hearing individuals frequently interrupt each other—even if they are signing. When Deaf individuals attempt to obtain a turn, they are frequently lost in the ongoing dialogue; therefore, this experience is known as the “dinner table syndrome” where Deaf individuals frequently are unable to follow the flow of conversations. Challenges include access to information, communication, conversational involvement, and social and world knowledge. Therefore, this study focused on discovering retrospective experiences at the dinner table, as a deaf child, with their hearing families. Personal interviews were used to explore how deaf adults (n=6) experienced conversations during family dinner gatherings. The study was conducted using a qualitative, phenomenological in-depth interview methodology. Results of this study showed that participants often missed out during dinner and were left out of the conversations due to inaccessible communication. This experience often led to missed opportunities of social and world knowledge, which also led to a sense of isolation. Communication in the deaf person’s family should be equally accessible for all members to have rich conversations where no one feels isolated.
- Identify different issues related to the “dinner table syndrome” and the impact on deaf individuals.
- Explain the importance of access to information, communication, conversational involvement, and social and world knowledge.
- Understand the importance of building a strong foundation to having rich and accessible conversations.
Presentation:
18878_10325DavidMeek.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
18878_10325DavidMeek.docx
Presenters/Authors
David Meek
(), Lamar University, dmeek1@lamar.edu;
Dr. David R. Meek currently works as a Field Experience Supervisor and as an Instructor in Deaf Studies and Deaf Education (DSDE) at Lamar University. Prior to David’s doctoral work at Lamar, he received a Bachelor of Science in Deaf Education and a Master of Arts in Mild Intervention from Ball State University. David has twelve years of experience as a teacher in both Deaf Education and Special Education, working with students with various degrees of disabilities. He most recently taught at Indiana School for the Deaf working with students with additional disabilities.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.