A new paper in Pediatric Annals lays out what good care looks like for deaf and hard of hearing kids: put full language access first, connect families to early intervention and deaf mentors, and learn from deaf people and families. Sign language is a complete language, not a backup, and it does not hold back spoken language.

"Parent choice" requires informed parents, backed by support.

Our recent study, in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development "Hearing parents as sign language learners" by Elana Pontecorvo, Julie Mitchiner, and Amy Lieberman explores whether hearing caregivers can successfully learn a sign language like ASL to communicate with their deaf or hard of hearing children. Spoiler: they absolutely can! Key Findings: Hearing caregivers who participated in the study were beginning and intermediate signing skills. Many parents dem

Research tells us that exposing deaf and hard of hearing children to ASL from an early age has a wide range of benefits, spanning language, social development, cognitive development, and school readiness. But how do hearing parents learn ASL? Our experience has been very positive. All have learned so much and felt so supported. My anxiety over communication barriers has decreased tremendously. Learning a new language can be a daunting task and one that takes a lot of time and

Understanding the Dynamics of Visual Attention in ASL Learning American Sign Language (ASL) is all about seeing and using signs to communicate. For deaf or hard-of-hearing children, learning ASL depends on knowing when to look at the person signing. But how do children learn this skill? In a recent study published in the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2024), researchers Paris Gappmayr and Amy M. Lieberman explored how deaf and hard-of-hear

As professionals working with deaf or hard of hearing children, one of the most critical aspects of care is ensuring they have full access to language—not just sound. This is essential for their cognitive and social development. Deafness vs. Language Deprivation Deafness and language deprivation are related but distinct. While deaf children may lack full access to sound, they can thrive with full access to language, whether signed or spoken. Language deprivation occurs when c

Tools for diagnosing autism are often not well suited to deaf children, which can make it challenging to diagnose. That is for two big reasons. The first is that the usual autism measures (e.g., the ADOS-2, ADI-R, and CARS2) focus on a child's use of spoken language. That makes them ill suited to measuring language skills in deaf and hard of hearing children who use sign language. The second reason these tools don't work will is that deaf kids are often at risk for language d

Deaf children exposed to ASL before 6 months show age-appropriate vocabulary growth, matching peers with deaf parents.

Do signers organize their mental dictionary by how signs are formed, the way speakers organize theirs by sound? And does that change when language comes late? A look across a series of our studies.

Deaf children learning ASL split one visual channel between language and the world. Our research looks at how they manage it, what parents do to help, and why it matters for vocabulary.

Parents' ASL skills don’t impact toddlers’ vocabulary but are crucial as children grow, highlighting the need for early exposure.

Pediatricians are often the first professionals families turn to after a newborn hearing screen. Here are some things every pediatrician should know about deaf children and language access.

Nearly 40% of deaf adults say they were often left out of family conversations growing up. A series of studies co-authored by pediatrician Dr. Arielle Spellun shows what that missing communication access can affect health, leading to higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and fatigue.

Philadelphia Deaf signers show a unique signing style called dominance reversal, reflecting how social factors shape regional ASL variations