JCPSLP Vol 16 Issue 1 2014

2012). The diversity of languages that caregivers bring to intervention and early education situations can be overwhelming for educators, clinicians, and service providers (Mennen & Stansfield, 2006). However, acknowledgement of this diversity does provide a starting point for drawing the needs of cultural and linguistically diverse families to the attention of organisational heads and governments. There is growing recognition of the unique needs of culturally and linguistically diverse children and families and the necessity for the allocation of additional resources to these families in order to provide competent and equitable services (International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech, 2012; Speech Pathology Australia, 2009). Table 2. Languages used by 3-year-old children with hearing loss and their parents (based on data from Crowe, McLeod, & Ching, 2012) Language Children Female Male Parent Parent Afrikaans X X Arabic X X X Aroma X Assyrian X X X Cambodian X Cantonese X X X Chaldean X X Creole (Mauritius) X Dutch X X X English X X X Farsi X X X French X X X German X X Greek X X X Hindi X X X Hula X Hungarian X X Italian X X X Japanese X X X Kannada X X X Korean X X Macedonian X X Maltese X X X Mandarin X X X Maori X Nuer X X X Oromo X X X Pidgin (Papua New Guinea) X Polish X X Russian X Polish X X Samoan X X X Slovak X X Spanish X X X Sri Lankan X X X Tagalog X X X Telugu X X X Thai X X Turkish X X X Twi X X Ukranian X Urdu X X X Vietnamese X X X

Influences on parents’ decisions about using speech and sign Parents reported that their children’s audiological characteristics (e.g., hearing thresholds, device type, age of diagnosis), intervention experiences (e.g., good development of spoken language skills, age of enrolment in early intervention), and abilities to access opportunities in the future (educational, vocational, and social pursuits) were important influences in their decision-making about using speech and sign. However, children’s audiological characteristics and intervention experiences were more important in making decisions about whether or not to use speech than whether or not to use sign (Crowe, McLeod, McKinnon, et al., 2012). Parents reported that their children’s ability to communicate with those around them, the speech skills of the family, and parents’ own attitudes and experiences with hearing loss and communication were important in making decisions about using speech with their children (Crowe, McLeod, McKinnon, et al., 2012). The majority of parents reported that their own attitudes and perspectives about using sign and the signing skills of other people were not very important in their decision-making about the use of sign (Crowe, McLeod, McKinnon, et al., 2012). The practicalities of different communication modes for children and families were often mentioned as important, as was the need for children to experience belonging. This included children needing to fit in with the way the family already communicated, engaging in the hearing and/or Deaf community, parents’ signing skills, and parents’ understanding of critical periods for language acquisition (Crowe, Fordham et al., 2013). In making decisions about using speech and using sign parents commented on the importance of the advice they had received. In general, advice from professionals was rated to be less important than other factors. However, professionals were also the most frequently reported factor to have influenced parents’ decisions when parents specified the factor that had most influenced their decision- making (Crowe, Fordham et al., 2013; Crowe, McLeod, McKinnon, et al., 2012). Parents reported that the majority of advice they had received from professionals was in favour of using speech and of using sign. Responses from some parents indicated that conditions were not optimal for making an informed choice; for example “the teacher Table 3. Parents’ home communication style when children with hearing loss were 3-years-old (based on data from Crowe, McLeod, & Ching, 2012) Communication style Mothers Fathers Communication Speech only 91% 93% mode Sign only 1% 2% Sign and speech 8% 5% Spoken Spoken English 94% 93% language use Other spoken language 25% 26% Spoken English only 74% 72% Other spoken language only 5% 5% Spoken Monolingual 78% 77% language Multilingual 20% 21% multilingualism Note. Based on data from 792 parents of children participating in the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment (LOCHI) study. Percentages do not all add to 100% as some parents did not use any spoken language, some parents used more than one language, and there were small amounts of missing data.

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JCPSLP Volume 16, Number 1 2014

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