Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Canadian Families’ Decisions Of Communication Options* For Children Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing: An Initial Exploration, Holly F. Pedersen, Suzanne Nichol, Nicole Swartwout, Daniel R. Conn

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Communication is an essential aspect of human interaction and helps connect us to the people around us. The majority of children who are deaf or hard of hearing are born to hearing parents who are likely unfamiliar with hearing loss. These parents are then asked to make critical decisions about communication options for their children. It can be a challenging process but one that needs to be done quickly in order to capture the critical language development period. Little research has explored the factors associated with parents’ decisions about communication options for their children who are deaf or hard of …