Louise Paatsch

The development of speech production following cochlear implantation

Conversational speech samples were analysed over a six-year period postoperatively for nine profoundly deaf children implanted with the Cochlear Limited 22-electrode cochlear implant between ages 2-5 years. Four years post-implant, at least 90% of all syllables produced by each child were intelligible, although only one of the children (who had suffered a progressive hearing loss) had over 10% intelligible syllables prior to implantation. Over the 6-year period, the mean number of intelligible words per utterance increased from 0.15 to 4.2 and the mean number of syllables (counting both intelligible and unintelligible syllables) increased from 1.7 to 5.2, indicating an increase in complexity as well as intelligibility. The speech samples were transcribed phonetically and percentage correct analyses were conducted on the transcripts. These analyses showed a steady improvement in the percentage of correctly produced monophthongs, diphthongs and consonants. There was a corresponding rise in the percentage of words that were produced without phonetic errors. Following six years of implantation, the speech acquisition process was incomplete, although there was no evidence to suggest a plateau in performance.

The Mathematical and Science Skills of Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Educated in Inclusive Settings.

Abstract This study examined the science and mathematics achievements of 16 Year 9 students with hearing loss in an inclusive high-school setting in Western Australia. Results from the Monitoring Standards in Education (MSE) compulsory state tests were compared with state and class averages for students with normal hearing. Data were collected from three cohorts of Year 9 students across a 3-year period (2005–2007). Results from mathematics MSE9 and the MSE9 science assessments showed that the majority of students with hearing loss performed below the state average (88%). Findings in this study suggest that students with hearing loss demonstrated more mathematical strength in the areas of space and measurement, which use visuo-spatial skills. Results for students with hearing loss in the five sections of the science assessment suggest more consistency across the different areas tested in the MSE. Comparisons with the MSE9 English paper for the 2005 cohort of students with hearing loss suggest a strong relationship between reading and writing skills and performance on mathematics and science assessment. In particular, questions with high language content created difficulty. On the science assessment, questions requiring a written explanation appeared to be particularly challenging. These findings have implications for teaching and learning in these crucial areas for students with hearing loss in inclusive secondary school settings. Greater attention to the interpretation of the language of mathematics and to writing about science concepts may help to improve outcomes for students with hearing loss on statewide assessments.

A critical level of hearing for speech perception in children

Cochlear implants have raised questions about how children with profoundly impaired hearing can learn spoken language. This study addresses the question of whether there is a critical level of hearing for the development of adequate speech perception abilities. A comparison of the relationships between speech perception scores and spoken language scores shows that a group of profoundly deaf children using hearing aids process spoken language in a way that is fundamentally different from two groups of children with severe and moderate hearing losses. We infer that there is a critical level of hearing below which speech perception relies very heavily on linguistic processing to compensate for limited auditory information. We also show that a cochlear implant can promote profoundly deaf children from below to above the critical level of hearing.

A Comparison of Pragmatic Abilities of Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Their Hearing Peers

Pragmatic skills are the key to a satisfying and sustained conversation. Such conversation is critical for the development of meaningful friendships. Previous studies have investigated the conversational skills of deaf children while interacting with adults or when interacting with peers in structured referential tasks. There are few published studies that have compared the pragmatic skills of children who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) in free conversation with their hearing peers. In this study, the conversational skills of 31 children who are D/HH when interacting with a hearing friend were compared with those of 31 pairs of hearing children. Findings suggest that school-aged children (Years 3-6 of study; aged 8-12 years) who are D/HH have a wide range of pragmatic skills that they use effectively when conversing with their hearing peers. Specifically, these children asked more questions, made more personal comments, initiated more topics, and took longer turns in their conversations with a hearing friend. In contrast, the conversations between hearing peers were very balanced with similar topic initiation, length of turn, numbers of questions, personal comments, and minimal answers. These findings will help teachers to provide support for both pragmatic and social skills in children who are D/HH.

The conversational skills of school-aged children with cochlear implants

Abstract Children with cochlear implants have been shown to have language skills on a par with children with severe hearing losses who have hearing aids. Earlier implants, bilateral implantation, and focused intervention programmes may result in some children with cochlear implants displaying similar language skills to their hearing peers. The development of pragmatic skills is central to communication competence and underpins the development of friendships. Although some studies of pragmatic skills in children with cochlear implants have been reported, most have used a contrived referential communication task rather than free conversation. Method This study investigated the conversational skills of 20 children with cochlear implants, aged between 9 and 12 years, in free conversation with their hearing peers. The pragmatic skills of these 20 deaf/hearing pairs or dyads were compared with the pragmatic skills of 20 hearing/hearing dyads. Pragmatic skills were analysed in terms of conversational balance, conversational turn types, and conversational maintenance. The impact of the participants’ level of speech intelligibility was also investigated. Results Children with cochlear implants tend to dominate conversations with their hearing peers. They initiated more topics, took longer turns, asked more questions, and tended to make more personal comments while their hearing friends tended to use more conversational devices and minimal answers. In contrast, pairs of matched hearing children were very balanced in all of these aspects of conversation. Speech intelligibility did not appear to impact consistently on the pragmatic skills of the children with cochlear implants but all children had a relatively high level of speech intelligibility. Discussion Rather than being characterized by frequent conversational breakdown as in older studies, children with cochlear implants had a strong grasp of basic conversational rules. They conversed in a similar way to some deaf adults who also have been shown to take control of the conversation. Findings are discussed for their implications for intervention and future research.

Comparison of methods in speech acquisition research

The paper examines the effect of choices involved in speech acquisition research among children with impaired hearing. Choices involving transcription method, sampling procedures, subject selection and statistical approaches affect the outcome of any research. Two recent papers used different methodological approaches to examine the conversational speech samples of children with impaired hearing and arrived at differing conclusions about their rates of improvement. To compare these results, a further data set was examined using both methodologies. The analyses indicated a closer alignment of results than was immediately obvious from the two previous studies, suggesting that the different results were primarily due to differences in methodology.

Beliefs, practices, and expectations of oral teachers of the deaf

Abstract This study investigated the beliefs and practices of 28 teachers of the deaf about their practices. The teachers were all working in oral settings either as visiting teachers or teachers in a mainstream school facility supporting groups of students with hearing loss. Teachers who used an Auditory Verbal approach largely adopted a positivist paradigm, whereas those using an Auditory Oral approach were more likely to adopt a constructivist paradigm. Those using a mixed approach (AV/AO) adopted a paradigm that was a mix of both positivist and constructivist. Results suggest that there is a strong relationship between the underlying beliefs of teachers and the model of practice that they adopt, and that professional experience, professional development and the inclusion movement exert an influence on those beliefs and practices.

(Re)affirming identities: implementing a play-based approach to learning in the early years of schooling

ABSTRACT Learning through play has traditionally been a central tenet in early childhood education, however, in recent times primary schools have begun to consider the benefits of introducing a play-based approach into early years classrooms to support young children’s learning, especially in the areas of language and literacy. This study focuses on the introduction of a play-based approach to a Foundation classroom (first year of formal schooling) in one Catholic primary school in Victoria, Australia. Taking a qualitative approach, drawing on interpretivist theory, data collection methods included group interviews with two Foundation teachers and their Early Years Coordinator at different points during the year, and two classroom observation sessions. This paper considers some of the challenges these teachers experienced and how they interpret and make sense of their work and the consequences this has for their identities as teachers. The data highlight tensions for these teachers that relate to issues of accountability and legitimisation.

School Improvement as a Global Movement

School improvement has become a common policy option to reform education. This chapter provides an overview of school improvement research, its history and particularly how it has travelled from a variety of national locations. This chapter theorises how global policy responses, such as school improvement are realised in local contexts, in this instance a network of schools in the Australian state of Victoria. The chapter troubles current understandings of education reform, particularly those based on a narrow conception of student attainment. These too often locate the problem of school improvement directly on the quality of teachers with the individual school as the unit of analysis. Rather, this analysis points to connections between schools and the learning that takes place in networks of schools in providing leadership to direct change in individual schools. Ultimately, this chapter questions what is valued and valuable in school improvement, providing the context and theoretical positions supporting the analysis pursued in subsequent chapters.

Video-based methodologies: the affordances of different viewpoints in understanding teachers’ tacit knowledge of practice that supports young children’s oral language

ABSTRACT Using video as a mode of data generation in research involving young children and their teachers has become a more common practice in educational research. Digital video recordings provide the opportunity to capture the complexity of interactions that occur between people, time, space and objects, however, working with this methodology and form of data can be complex and challenging. This paper focuses on the use of video as a methodology to understand teachers’ tacit knowledge of practice that supports young children’s oral language. This study explores four specific viewpoints that have been employed to investigate teachers’ practice: (1) camera, (2) teacher, (3) researcher and (4) peers. From our analysis of the affordances of the differing viewpoints, we propose that what can be ‘seen’ is directly impacted by the understandings of those involved in the research process in relation to data capture, viewing and analysing the data. We argue that these viewpoints are not neutral or mutually exclusive rather they should be considered complementary and supplementary in building a comprehensive understanding of teachers’ tacit knowledge of literacy practice.