JCPSLP
Volume 16, Number 1 2014
21
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
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
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.
