American Sign Language and Spoken English Development of Young Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children
This collaborative study is designed to describe the language skills of DHH young children in a large, diverse sample of children who use American Sign Language (ASL) and/or spoken English. Through this longitudinal study, we explore the patterns of performance for DHH children on multiple language measures, including language samples, evaluate the psychometric properties of outcome measures, and examine predictors of language outcomes.
Lead K
LEAD-K (Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids) aims to make sure that Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children develop language skills during the critical early years. The focus is on preventing language deprivation by promoting access to both American Sign Language (ASL) and English, so DHH children can reach age-appropriate language abilities by the time they start school.
In the lab’s work with LEAD-K, team members are responsible for understanding language deprivation issues and how LEAD-K laws work. They do things like gathering information about laws passed in different states, finding out who is part of the state committees created by these laws, and tracking whether states are submitting reports on how DHH children are progressing in their language development. This helps ensure that states are following through on LEAD-K’s mission to support language growth in DHH kids and prevent them from falling behind.
https://leadkfamilyservices.org
NJ Language Instruction Program
The New Jersey Language Instruction Program focuses on making sure that information about language assessments for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children is entered and stored correctly. One of the main goals is to keep track of how many hours each child is receiving from language specialists and make sure the data is logged properly.
Another part of the program involves double-checking the accuracy of data entered into REDCap, where scores from different assessments are stored. This helps ensure that everything has been recorded correctly. Additionally, there is a task of creating forms for collecting information from intake interviews, which requires some experience with designing surveys and managing data. Lastly, paper score sheets for one of the assessments need to be scanned and saved digitally. These efforts all help the program keep accurate records and provide better support for the children involved.