Spoken language multilingualism in deaf children

An increasing number of D/deaf children are born to multilingual parents who must decide whether to raise them with spoken language multilingualism (SLM). This PhD comprises three studies designed around the evidence-based practice framework to support professionals in their role in helping multilingual parents make informed communication decisions. Study 1 investigates the beliefs of 108 professionals on SLM in deaf children and what advice they give to parents. Study 2 explores the decision-making process around SLM in deaf children from the parents’ perspective through 14 semi-structured interviews. Study 3 examines the language and cognitive abilities of five deaf children with SLM compared to five oral monolingual deaf children, five hearing monolingual children and five hearing multilingual children. Results from study 1 found that most professionals believed deaf children can achieve SLM and would advise parents to speak their home language. However, in study 2, whilst parents greatly valued professional advice, they reported receiving mixed advice on SLM. They also had a strong desire to speak their home language to provide better language models and support the child’s cultural identity and family relationships. Study 3 suggests that deaf children can achieve SLM. Although expressive vocabulary skills in English were lowest for the deaf children with SLM, three out of five scored above average compared to monolingual test norms. Morphosyntactic abilities in English and parental self-rating of abilities in the home language, were also comparable to the multilingual hearing children. Finally, deaf children with SLM had similar executive function and Theory of Mind abilities to the other three groups. The decision-making process around SLM is complex for multilingual parents of deaf children and professionals play a key role. The three studies will help professionals engage in evidence-based practice when supporting multilingual parents of deaf children to make informed decisions regarding SLM