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

A dataset to train computers to recognize isolated signs.

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.