Purpose: This study examined the use of different acoustic cues in auditory perception of consonant and vowel contrasts by profoundly deaf children with a cochlear implant (CI) in comparison to age-matched children and young adults with normal hearing. Method: A speech sound categorization task in an XAB format was administered to 15 children ages…

Purpose: Attaining speech accuracy requires that children perceive and attach meanings to vocal output on the basis of production system capacities. Because auditory perception underlies speech accuracy, profiles for children with hearing loss (HL) differ from those of children with normal hearing (NH). Method: To understand the impact of auditory…

Purpose: To explore dimensions of stigma experienced by older adults with hearing loss and those with whom they frequently communicate to target interventions promoting engagement and positive aging. Design and Methods: This longitudinal qualitative study conducted interviews over 1 year with dyads where one partner had hearing loss. Participants…

This article explains how Asssistive Technology products move from research and development into the hands of children. The assistive technology (AT) industry is maturing, with many exciting new technologies under development in university settings, by individual inventors and engineers, and by leading AT and information technology (IT) companies.…

This article features Jordan Thomas, who lost his feet in a spear fishing accident in August 2005. It describes how Thomas turned his own loss into a way to help kids get the prosthetics they need. Just three weeks after losing his feet, Thomas filed the paperwork for the Jordan Thomas Foundation, which aims to raise funds for prosthetic limbs for…

Aim: Our aim was to describe how the probability of walking, wheeled mobility, and assisted mobility changes with environmental setting and age in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP). Method: The parents of a population-based sample of 642 children and adolescents (360 males, 282 females; age range 16mo-21y) reported their children's…

The rise of technology within educational settings has allowed for a substantial shift in the way in which educators teach learners of all ages. In order to implement these new learning tools, school administrators and teachers alike must seek new research outlining the latest innovations in the field. "Educational Technology Use and Design…

This, the 30th annual "National Child Count of Children and Youth Who Are Deaf-Blind," is the first and longest running registry and knowledge base of children who are deaf-blind in the world. Begun in 1986 on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, it represents a nearly thirty year collaborative effort between the National Center…

The two objectives of this single-subject study were to assess how an FM system use impacts parent-child interaction in a noisy listening environment, and how a parent/caregiver training affect the interaction between parent/caregiver and child. Two 5-year-old children with hearing loss and their parent/caregiver participated. Experiment 1 was…

The purpose of this comparative efficacy study was to investigate the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and a speech-generating device (SGD) in developing requesting skills, social-communicative behavior, and speech for three elementary-age children with severe autism and little to no functional speech. Requesting was selected as the…

Participation as a citizen, that is, engaging in social, political, and governmental life, has been rarely seen as an important domain when studying social participation of disabled persons. The purpose of this study was to depict the participation in community and political life of persons with severe or multiple disabilities and to determine…

The author, who was raised oral deaf himself, recounts a visit to a school for young deaf children and discovers that young d/Deaf children and their rights are subverted by the cochlear implantation empire. The hypercapitalist, techno-manic times of cochlear implantation has wreaked havoc to the lives of not only young children with deafness but…

Like many other states, California is facing a daunting budget deficit, reportedly about $19 billion. Delayed budgets have held up the disbursement of money, affecting school programs in districts as well as at the California School for the Blind (CSB). The current financial constraints have had an impact on CSB's programs. Its department of seven…

The purpose of the study was to determine the use of computers and assistive devices amongst children with cerebral palsy (CP) and establish the satisfaction level of both users and educational staff. The study was carried out with 30 children with cerebral palsy. A questionnaire was designed to characterize the use of new technologies and…

The present study explored whether students would be attracted to having an intimate relationship with a wheelchair user if participants were able to first see a head shot photo and later read a short biography of the person. Four hundred and eight undergraduate students were surveyed regarding their interest in potentially being friends, dating…