Communication Outcomes of Children With Permanent Hearing Loss Developing Speaking and Signing Concurrently: A Review
International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
Kumar, S., Young, G., et al. (2009).
International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11(2), 135-146.
This systematic review investigates the effects of access to signed, spoken, or signed and spoken language on the development of signed or spoken language and on communication and learning outcomes in children with permanent bilateral hearing loss identified before 36 months of age.
Health Hearing Program, Queensland Health (Australia)
January 1995 through November 2006
Original empirical research studies, including quantitative and/or qualitative study designs
4
Children with permanent bilateral hearing loss exposed to both sign language and oral language:
<ul>
<li>showed greater syntax development and complexity in sign language than oral language in four studies;</li>
<li>performed in the normal range of semantics, as compared to hearing children, when using sign in one study;</li>
<li>used "one- and multi-'word' utterances at about 12 months; the expected age for hearing children" (p. 142);</li>
<li>increased their word knowledge over time with a bias towards sign language in one study; and</li>
<li>"did not match their hearing peers for vocabulary knowledge" in two studies (p. 142).</li>
</ul>
The authors concluded that "different permutations of concurrent exposure to and use of spoken and signed language are associated with children who acquire communication skills in each of these communication modes. Although these results are encouraging, they are not conclusive due to the restricted and limited evidence base" (p. 144).
