Navigating sign language learning: insights from hearing parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
Jos Ritmeester, Beyza Sümer, Marije Boonstra and 3 others
PMID 41159582WHAT IT FOUND
Parents valued home-based lessons and Deaf teachers but struggled with courses that focused on vocabulary over grammar and ended when children turned four.
They reported receiving conflicting advice from professionals, which made choosing between sign and speech difficult.
Key findings
01Parents identified conflicting or negative advice from professionals, such as speech therapists discouraging sign language, as a major source of confusion and frustration.
02Both parents and teachers reported that sign language courses often lacked explicit grammar instruction and focused too heavily on vocabulary, leaving parents unable to construct sentences.
03Parents valued initial courses taught at home and the presence of Deaf or hard-of-hearing teachers, who provided role modeling and reduced the stigma of signing in public.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was likely skewed toward highly educated and motivated parents who were proficient in written Dutch, potentially missing the experiences of families with lower literacy or migration backgrounds. The study did not collect data on socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or additional disabilities, limiting the generalizability of the findings to the broader DHH population. The distinction between NGT and NmG courses was often blurred in practice, making it difficult to attribute specific challenges to one instructional approach.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the University of Amsterdam and Innovation Exchange Amsterdam.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the parents' preference for home-based or Deaf-led instruction as evidence that these methods improve child language outcomes. This study reports on the parents' subjective learning experience and access barriers, not on the clinical efficacy of any specific teaching model.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →