November 30, 2025

Investigating Context-Driven Multimodal Tools to Support DHH Children's ASL Exposure at Home

Key Points

Active caregiver engagement boosts language development in DHH children, and enhances cognitive skills.
Utilizing assistive communication technologies aids in bridging communication gaps between caregivers and children.
Investigation of design guidelines and prototypes was conducted to facilitate effective ASL communication.
Findings indicate that support for caregivers can significantly impact social interactions and cognitive development outcomes.

Abstract

Having caregivers actively engage in child-directed speech, and providing face-to-face communication to their child, can play a central role in the child's language, cognitive, and social development over their lifetime. However, over 90% of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children are born to hearing parents who might not know American Sign Language (ASL) and are faced with the potentially steep learning curve of a new language. With my dissertation work, I plan on investigating assistive communication technologies that can support caregivers in communicating with their DHH children. This work aims to explore design guidelines and hands-on prototypes that can bridge this communicative gap.

Mark Helpful

Bookmark

Relay