| The purpose of this qualitative research is to provide rich, descriptive data about the interactive dynamics of a working class African American family with two young deaf children, focusing on sibling relationships, parent-child/children relationship and the family's relationships with early intervention professionals. This case study has been guided by family systems theory, examining the interaction patterns and relationships within the family subsystems in naturally occurring situations in their everyday lives. The interaction processes within the family and between the family and professionals, the social roles, communication strategies used and early intervention strategies and approaches have been closely analyzed.; The family consists of parents, siblings and extended family of cousins. The initial focus of the case study is a 2-year-old girl with severe to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. She is the third of three children. She has an older deaf brother. During the course of the study, the focus changed to the family and its relationships with early intervention service providers.; Descriptive data were collected during an eight-month period through participant observation, interviews, videotaping. The study provides portraits of the family members, thematic analyses of the interactions within the subsystems, between the subsystems within the family and the interactions and relationships between the family and service providers and the relationships.; The findings disclose misconnections in (1) the interaction patterns within the family and between the family and intervention professionals, (2) cultural and belief structures between family and professionals, (3) developmental expectations and standards of the focus child and (4) collaboration between family-professionals and between professionals. The mother who is an effective primary caregiver, adopted various roles in order to interact and provide multiple social experiences for her children. Data also reveal that the child's strengths as she employs a wide range of communication strategies to initiate and maintain membership in the family. Her communication abilities and language development are influenced by the home culture and social experiences. Overall, the findings have implications for educators of deaf children, early intervention professionals, and research. Qualitative studies using the systems theory framework can provide a holistic view of the families with deaf children. |
