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Development of Language, Theory of Mind and Executive Functions: A comparative longitudinal study on influencing factors and interrelations in deaf, hard of hearing and non-deaf children (ElSiE)

Subject Area Developmental and Educational Psychology
General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
Term since 2024
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 550191415
 
Deaf and hard of hearing children (DHH) of hearing parents are often affected by language delays compared to their non-deaf (ND) peers, due to a difficult access to both spoken and sign language. In addition, significant differences in the (social-)cognitive (Theory of Mind, Executive Functions) and social-emotional development have been observed. Whether these differences are the result of delays in language development or the hearing loss is subject to a controversial debate. Initial study results on deaf children of deaf parents (deaf native signing children: DNS) who exhibit a (social-)cognitive and social-emotional development comparable to that of hearing children of hearing parents, support the assumption that the difficulties observed in DHH children are primarily the result of language delays. A third influencing factor, which has not yet been sufficiently investigated, could be a change in parental interaction behavior as a result of the diagnosis and/or observed developmental challenges on the part of the hearing parents, which could explain the delays in the (social-)cognitive and social-emotional development of DHH children. There is also indication of different response tendencies of parents of DHH children and parents of hearing children in parent questionnaires, perhaps resulting in the reported differences in the children’s (social-)cognitive development. Longitudinal studies with DHH children of hearing parents, deaf children of deaf parents and hearing children of hearing parents are required in order to be able to investigate these four relevant influencing factors on (observed differences in) Theory of Mind, Executive Functions and social-emotional development and their relationships. The ElSiE project addresses this desideratum by (a) comparing (social-)cognitive and social-emotional development and their interrelationships in DHH, DNS and ND children and (b) analyzing the (direct or indirect) influence of language and parental interaction behavior on (social-)cognitive and social-emotional development in DHH, DNS and ND children. In addition, it shall be investigated (c) how the use of different assessment methods (parent questionnaires and objective tests) influences the results of the study. For this purpose, DHH, DNS and ND children will be followed longitudinally from the age of 3 - 4 years across four measurement points with objective tests, parent questionnaires and observations of parent-child interaction allowing for comparative longitudinal analyses of the data.
DFG Programme Research Grants
 
 

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