Engaged communication between mother and a child in their early developmental stages is one of the predictors of children's development of higher-order thinking skills. For deaf children, this engaged communication between mother and child hinges on the home language environment (HLE) being fully accessible to the child. This research uses…

Children need to learn the demands of their native language in the early vocabulary development phase. In this dynamic process, parental multimodal input may shape neurodevelopmental trajectories while also being tailored by child-related factors. Moving beyond typically characterized group profiles, in this article, we synthesize growing evidence…

This study aimed to explore the literacy interactions of deaf and hearing parents with their preschool children in Saudi Arabia. The participants were three sets of parents (six individuals) of preschoolers. Data were collected through home literacy observation, experience sampling method, and interviews. All participants endorsed learning through…

This longitudinal multiple-case study research focused on the scaffolding strategies that two Israeli deaf mothers use to boost their young hearing children's engagement in reading interactions. Despite being significant to language learning, few studies have examined the dialogic reading practices of deaf-signing mothers. The study shows that…

The linguistic and cognitive importance of early language exposure for deaf children is well reported in the literature. However, most of such studies have been conducted in industrialized countries with less of such studies conducted in developing and nonindustrialized countries such as Ghana. Therefore, hinged on the social interactionist theory…

The needs of parents and family members of deaf and hard of hearing students are unique. Not only do they face courses that are structured without regard for their needs, but they also endure other significant barriers. After brainstorming for many sessions and putting down ideas for a new curriculum that would teach and empower parents and their…

The discussion on the role of American Sign Language (ASL) in deaf students' reading development has been long and contentious. The students' limited knowledge of English has been commonly perceived as a culprit in making reading difficult. However, a more nuanced explanation of reading performance and its relationship with competence in ASL's…

Children's acquisition of directional verbs in sign languages has received a lot of attention, but less is known about the sociocultural process of using these verbs, especially in the context of emerging sign languages in diverse language ecologies. Directional verbs are a common grammatical phenomenon of many sign languages in which some verbs…

Parents of deaf children must decide whether to raise their child using spoken and/or signed language. Multilingual parents have the additional decision of whether to use multiple spoken languages (with or without a signed language as well). These communication choices -- which can be both explicit and implicit -- can change over time and are…

The study focused on the adaptation and development of the first diagnostic instrument to assess the visual communication and Flemish Sign Language skills of deaf signing children (age [less than or equal to] 24 months). An adaptation of the standardized Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist for Signing Children (VCSL; Simms et al.,…

This paper discusses the role of mediation as it arose in developing and teaching two online American Sign Language (ASL) courses for parents of deaf children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Deaf children and their families who are still acquiring ASL have ongoing learning needs that are most often not met in mainstream educational systems, and…

Prior to the emergence of the coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19), studies revealed lower involvement of fathers in the education of learners who are Deaf and Hard of hearing (LDHH). Although research evidence reveals that work structure and other commitments may be responsible for fathers' limited involvement in the education of their…

The aim of this study is twofold: To examine if deafness is invariably associated with deficits in executive function (EF) and to investigate the relationship between sign language proficiency and EF in deaf children of deaf parents with early exposure to a sign language. It is also the first study of EF in children acquiring Polish Sign Language.…

The study asked whether Deaf mothers seek to exploit the iconicity in signed languages to facilitate their infants' word learning. Two longitudinal case studies followed modifications that 2 Deaf mothers applied to their input while interacting with their hearing infants. Both mothers were sensitive to the communicative abilities of their infants…

Recent evidence suggests that deaf children with CIs exposed to nonnative sign language from hearing parents can attain age-appropriate vocabularies in both sign and spoken language. It remains to be explored whether deaf children with CIs who are exposed to early nonnative sign language, but only up to implantation, also benefit from this input…