Supporting Deaf Children's Pragmatic and Social Communication Skills

Student thesis: Phd

Abstract

Deaf children's pragmatic language and social communication skills may be delayed. Such delays could be due to their reduced hearing ability during interactions and their diminished exposure to rich language environments. This negatively affects their ability to communicate with others and, in turn, may affect a wide range of abilities, such as their social, emotional and educational outcomes. Therefore, deaf children may benefit from additional support in order to develop their pragmatic and social communication skills. However, there is a lack of accessible resources and guidance that the teachers of the deaf and parents/carers can use when supporting deaf children. Therefore, a research team at the University of Manchester has created an accessible, easy-to-use resource containing fundamental information, advice and clear rules concerning pragmatic and social communication skills development among deaf children, by targeting their parents/carers. This thesis aimed to provide an evidence base for developing this resource, in addition to investigating the acceptability and feasibility of its preliminary implementation. This thesis used a quantitative and qualitative exploratory design, comprising three studies informed by two literature reviews. The studies were a survey, a focus group discussion and a mixed method study (involving a questionnaire, reflective notes and interviews) as part of a feasibility pilot study. Both survey and focus group study were conducted before the resource was created. The survey of the parents of deaf children and teachers of Deaf (ToDs) explored both their feedback and suggestions concerning developing pragmatic and social communication skills in deaf children. This study found that the majority of deaf children face challenges across all aspects of their pragmatic and social communication development. Furthermore, parents are concerned about the communicative development of their deaf children in a number of areas. Therefore, these children need support to enhance their pragmatic abilities, but there appears to be a mismatch between the support that the ToD perceive that they provide and that which the parents perceive that they receive. Moreover, both ToDs and parents lack sufficient knowledge about the development of these skills and how this can be supported in this group. Therefore, both groups require knowledge about why pragmatics and social communication might be challenging for deaf children, which aspects are most challenging and some practical ideas about interventions (i.e., setting goals, measuring change, activities). The focus group discussion explored issues arising from this survey in order to discuss effective strategies that can be used to support the development of these skills in deaf children. This study found that, to support the pragmatic skills of deaf children, the starting point should be to enhance deaf children's confidence and self-advocacy. This can be achieved by focusing on the informal, spontaneous interactions that can help children to learn pragmatic skills. Additionally, the existing programmes for enhancing the development of these skills in other groups can provide useful ideas. Furthermore, involving the parents/carers after making them aware about these skills in deaf children is a vital component of any program for supporting deaf children. The feasibility pilot study was conducted after developing the resource to investigate the acceptability and feasibility of its preliminary implementation by the parents of deaf children. It was found that, although some of parents needed guidance from their child's ToDs about how to use this resource, it can provide helpful, useful knowledge for the parents of deaf children about the challenges that deaf children face and their need to improve this ability. Possessing such knowledge can significantly improve the quality of the support that parents provide to enhance their deaf children's pragmatic and social communi
Date of Award1 Aug 2024
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • The University of Manchester
SupervisorAntje Heinrich (Supervisor), Chris Plack (Supervisor) & Helen Chilton (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Pragmatic language; social communication skills; deaf children

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