Parenting - Social Immaturity in Deaf/Hard of Hearing Children

One of the challenges of parenting a deaf/hard of hearing child is overcoming social immaturity. The deaf/hoh child may miss out on the normal verbal interactions of childhood. Missing out on these interactions has consequences, including:

• Difficulty interpreting facial expressions.
• Difficulty in "fitting in."

A socially immature deaf child can be more at risk for being easily victimized by bullying. This is because the socially immature child does not know how to cope with being bullied. (This happened to me as a young teen, and I reacted with anger because I didn't know any other way to handle it).

Discussing Social Immaturity

Social immaturity is a frequent topic of discussion on deaf/hoh parenting lists. On these lists, parents share tips for minimizing social immaturity. One tip is to invite one or two hearing children over to play with their deaf/hoh child.

Two such lists are the Listen-Up and ParentDeaf-HH (Subscription address: listserv@listserv.kent.edu; Subscription command: sub parentdeaf-hh firstname lastname) lists.

Social immaturity has also been discussed on the About Deafness/HOH forum in the thread "Social immaturity - less of a problem?" Respondents emphasized the need to provide social skills training to a deaf/hoh child. Any child, deaf or hearing needs to be taught how to behave socially, but deaf/hoh children especially need training because they can not pick up socially appropriate behavior by osmosis as they miss out on typical environmental cues.

Articles on Social Development of Deaf Children

The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education has published quite a few articles addressing social development:

• Social Processes and Outcomes of In-School Contact Between Deaf and Hearing Peers ( Summer 2002, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 200 - 213.) Can be downloaded free.
• Promoting Social Competence in Deaf Students: The Effect of an Intervention Program - A study on the effects of a social skills training program for mainstreamed deaf students (Fall 2000, Vol. 5 No. 4, - pp 323-333.) Can be downloaded free.
• Theory of Mind: Deaf and Hearing Children's Comprehension of Picture Stories and Judgments of Social Situations (Summer 2000, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 248-265.) Can be downloaded free.
• The Social Adjustment of Deaf Adolescents in Segregated, Partially Integrated, and Mainstreamed Settings (Winter 1996, Vol. 1 No 1, pp. 52 - 63. ) Can be downloaded free.

Additional articles found included:

• Social Interaction Among Deaf Preschoolers: The Effects of Language Ability and Age(American Annals of the Deaf, 1991, Vol. 136, No. 1, pp. 53-59.)
• Self-Perceptions of Social Relationships in Hearing-Impaired Adolescents (Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 88, 1996)
• Social Skills Training with a Deaf Adolescent: Implications for Placement and Programming(School Psychology Review, Summer 1984, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 385-90.) - about a study that tested social skills training on a deaf teenager

Books on Social Development of Deaf Children

The book, "Promoting Social and Emotional Development in Deaf Children: The Paths Project," University of Washington Press, December 1993 (ISBN 0295972270), examines the results of four years of using the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum for improving social skills.