Fluency and Connectedness: Building the Foundation for Language Development in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

Parent-child interaction is a foundational component of language development. This study examined parent-child interaction in deaf and hard-of-hearing children 6 or 9 months after they received hearing aids or cochlear implants. Expressive, receptive, and overall language skill were probed 9 to 18 months later. Thirteen DHH children and their parents participated in a videorecorded, semi-structured play interaction. Items from an adapted version of the Joint Engagement Rating Inventory were used evaluate parent-child interactions (i.e., fluency and con-nectedness, shared routines and rituals, child joint engagement, and parental sensitivity). Language skills were assessed using the Preschool Language Scales-5th (Zimmerman et al., 2011). Results indicate statistically significant re-lationships between child-parent joint engagement and expressive (p = .004), receptive language (p = .043), and total language scores (p = .007). The shared routines and rituals item was significantly related to expressive language (p = .037) and approached statistical significance with total language (p = .076) but was not significantly related to receptive language. The fluency and connectedness item was significantly related expressive language (p = .008) and total language (p = .028) but did not reach statistical significance with receptive language (p = .077). A quantitative measure of parental language input (i.e., words per minute) was not significantly related to any language variables.