Preventing Language Deprivation Syndrome in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children: A Focused Intervention in Philadelphia's 19144 Zip Code
Lindsey Hoffman
Temple University
Abstract
Language deprivation syndrome (LDS) is a preventable developmental disorder occurring primarily in Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children (Hall et al., 2019). LDS occurs when a child does not have access to language from birth to five years old, which is the critical period for language development (Hall et al., 2017). Less than 6% of Deaf children in the United States receive access to sign language in early childhood, yet the primary prevention measure for LDS is exposure to a natural language at the earliest point in a child’s development (Murray et al., 2019; Hall et al., 2019). Hearing aids, cochlear implants, and spoken language are ineffective as sole methods of language acquisition (Hall et al., 2017). Additionally, a DHH child needs exposure to sign language. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s 19144 zip code, 2.1% of the population under five years old has a hearing difficulty, compared to 0.4% of the same group in Pennsylvania as a whole (United States Census Bureau, n.d.-f; United States Census Bureau, n.d.-c). With the heightened prevalence of hearing difficulties in children under five, and the existing neighborhood resources such as Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, Philadelphia 19144 is an ideal place to hold an intervention to prevent language deprivation syndrome in Deaf and Hard of Hearing children.
