Reading Picture Books in Sign Language to a Deaf Child : Building Enhanced Communication Between the Deaf Child and the Hearing Mother

ロウジ　ノ　タメ　ノ　ニホンシュワ　ニ　ヨル　エホンヨミ　カツドウ　ロウジ　ト　チョウボ　ノ　ヨリ　ユタカ　ナ　コミュニケーション　ヲ　メザシテ

タナカ, ミズホ

Tanaka, Mizuho

佐野, 愛子

サノ, アイコ

Sano, Aiko

Mother Tongue, Heritage Language, and Bilingual Education Research Association

ボゴ　ケイショウゴ　バイリンガル　キョウイク　ケンキュウカイ

聴母親

日本手話

母子相互作用

研究論文

Research Papers

Acquiring a spoken language can be a challenge for hard of hearing or deaf children. Therefore it is of crucial importance to expose them to natural sign language as early as possible. However, since the majority of such children are born to hearing parents, it is often difficult for the parents to communicate through sign language. Given such a situation, special intervention classes were conducted for a deaf child and her mother in which a natural signer read books for the child. This study reports the observation of the development of communication between the deaf child and her hearing mother. The classes were held over a period of two years, from the time the child was seven months old. During that period, the child developed an interest in having someone read books to her. Furthermore, it was observed that the hearing mother learnt how deaf adults communicate with deaf children. The child was also found to be acquiring new vocabulary by watching the conversations between her mother and teacher. The possible impact of such intervention on the development of communication between a deaf child and a hearing mother will be discussed.

佐野, 愛子