Department of Communication of Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2024 Jan 8;67(1):187-195. doi: 10.1044/2023_JSLHR-23-00386. Epub 2023 Nov 13.
Caregivers of deaf/hard of hearing infants are faced with challenging decisions regarding their child's communication method. The purpose of the current research note is to characterize the advice that caregivers receive and value as well as the factors that influence caregivers' decision making.
The current study enrolled 105 caregiver-child dyads, including children between 12 and 18 months of age with bilateral, congenital hearing loss. All children were exposed to spoken language, and 63.81% of children were also exposed to sign language. Caregivers completed the "Making Decisions About Sign, Speech, and Multilingualism Survey" (Crowe et al., 2014).
Caregivers most frequently received advice to use both speech and sign and highly valued advice from speech-language pathologists. When considering the use of speech, the factors that caregivers most frequently rated as were "My child's future academic success" (96.19%), "My child's future literary success" (95.24%), and "My child's future access to higher education" (95.19%). When considering the use of sign, the factors that caregivers most frequently rated as were "My child's ability to form friendships and future relationships" (82.52%), "My child's future literary success" (81.37%), and "My child's future academic success" (81.37%).
Results of the current study suggest that throughout the decision-making process, caregivers' highest priority is understanding how their decisions will influence their child's future access to opportunities and relationships. Providers may consider discussing these factors early in the decision-making process to support caregivers' ability to make an informed choice regarding their child's communication method.
聋儿/重听婴儿的照顾者在为其子女选择沟通方式时面临着具有挑战性的决策。本研究报告的目的是描述照顾者所获得的建议以及他们重视的因素，以及影响照顾者决策的因素。
本研究纳入了 105 对照顾者-儿童对，包括年龄在 12 至 18 个月之间、双侧先天性听力损失的儿童。所有儿童都接受了口语教学，其中 63.81%的儿童还接受了手语教学。照顾者完成了《关于手语、言语和多语言选择的决策调查问卷》（Crowe 等人，2014 年）。
照顾者最常收到使用口语和手语的建议，并高度重视言语治疗师的建议。在考虑使用言语时，照顾者最常评为 的因素是“我孩子未来的学业成功”（96.19%）、“我孩子未来的文学成就”（95.24%）和“我孩子未来接受高等教育的机会”（95.19%）。在考虑使用手语时，照顾者最常评为 的因素是“我孩子形成友谊和未来关系的能力”（82.52%）、“我孩子未来的文学成就”（81.37%）和“我孩子未来的学业成功”（81.37%）。
本研究结果表明，在整个决策过程中，照顾者的首要任务是了解他们的决策将如何影响孩子未来获得机会和人际关系的能力。提供者可以考虑在决策过程早期讨论这些因素，以支持照顾者为孩子的沟通方式做出明智选择的能力。
