Mother-child interaction: the case of deaf children in Addis Ababa.
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2007-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
The study investigates the effect of deafness on communicative interaction: the methods of
communication used and the challenges the dyads experience. In addition, the study focused on
investigating the relationship between parenting style, communication and psycho-emotional
feelings of hearing mothers of deaf children in Addis Ababa. The study used both qualitative and
quantitative methods. The data were collected through observation of the dyad's communicative
interaction, semi- structured interview and questionnaire. Accordingly, a sample group consisted
of 6 hearing-mother deafchild dyads and 40 hearing mothers of deaf children other than the
dyads attending at CoAction pre-school, Mechanisa and VICKtory schools for the deaf were
selected using incidental sampling method The children were between the ages of 5-9. Video
recording was carried out at the dyad's home for three days, for 15 minutes each day.In-depth
interview was also conducted with hearing mothers. The data were analyzed qualitatively case by
case. The result shows that deaf children lack the provision of early identification, linguistic
stimulation and optimal communicative environment at home. They had also impoverished their
natural language, signing, and verbal input as well. There is a mismatch of communication
modality between the dyads. Consequently, they are deprived of adequate information from the
surrounding environment and exchange of ideas, thoughts and feelings, etc. On the other hand,
because of the inability to use signs for interactive communication, hearing mothers experience
different psycho-emotional feelings. All these appeared to be related with lack of adequate
informationlknowledge on the part of the mothers and family members about deafness, its causes,
characteristics and lack of early and appropriate support service in any form for the dyads. The
analysis of the questionnaire using Kruskal-Wallis Test showed no significant difference between
loving and demanding dimensions on communication and psycho-emotional feelings of hearing
mothers of deaf children.
Description
Keywords
Mother-child