| This study compared the language sample measures and communication breakdown and repair sequences signaled by maternal clarification request that were observed during interactions involving 18 3-year-old hard-of-hearing (HH) children and their hearing mothers and 18 3-year-old hearing children with their hearing mothers. Analysis of 25-minute interactions demonstrated that the measures of mean length of utterance in morphemes (MLU-M) and average number of different words (NDW) were significantly lower for the HH children when compared with the hearing children. On average, the dyads involving HH children had more communication breakdowns signaled by mothers than did the hearing children with their mothers. Specifically, HH children had more breakdowns due to phonological or transmission problems and due to semantic difficulties than did the hearing children. When compared with the hearing children, the HH children attempted to respond to a lower proportion of their mothers' requests for clarification and had a higher proportion of breakdowns that were left unresolved. Among the HH children, those that used at least some sign during the interaction had fewer communication breakdowns signaled by the mother than those children that did not use any sign. The implications of these findings were discussed in relation to early intervention practices for young HH children. |
