# American Sign Language and Spoken English Development of Young Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

> **NIH NIH R01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $827,851

## Abstract

Project Summary
One of the most highly debated questions for caregivers of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children and the
professionals who serve them is that of which “communication mode” to use. Will the child have higher
language skills if they are taught American Sign Language (ASL) or spoken English or both? Caregivers face
this decision when their child is diagnosed, their hearing status changes, and they show language difficulties.
Professional guidance is hampered by contradictory perspectives and limited evidence on how communication
mode affects long-term outcomes. Limited data for language growth expectations make it unclear whether a
DHH child is making sufficient progress to achieve age expectations. The relevant data are spotty, especially
for ASL, and often restricted to a subpopulation, single measure, and/or short time span. As a result, DHH
children are at risk for receiving ineffective intervention. To provide vital empirical guidance on the impact of
exposure to ASL and/or English and whether children are making expected progress, we first need to
characterize the language development of DHH children who vary in their access to signed versus spoken
languages and developmental histories. Currently, no such natural history data exists, which is a major
roadblock. Our team will collaborate with the Kansas Language Assessment Program – DHH to analyze data
from one of the largest sources of ASL and English development data currently available. We create growth
curves of expressive ASL and English skills of 250 DHH children (0–8 years old) from this population-based
sample. These models will provide novel information regarding the natural history of language development in
DHH children, which is critical for making intervention decisions and improving language outcomes (Aim 1).
Without knowledge of expected developmental trajectories and which lead to age-expected language skills,
professionals currently risk providing suboptimal or even detrimental amounts or types of intervention. We also
initiate a programmatic line of research to identify sources of variation in language outcomes across DHH
children and then address malleable factors to improve outcomes. In this proposed project, we focus on
elucidating the effects of language access on language growth because our sample is uniquely positioned to
address this far-reaching and longstanding question (Aims 2 and 3). Importantly, the participants are exposed
to varying amounts of ASL and English and such data are collected systematically. We not only evaluate the
influence of language access on ASL and English growth, but also its predictive value when traditional
communication mode (i.e., "sign" versus "oral”) is already accounted for (Aim 3). This study provides a robust
foundation for analyzing an enduring population-based sample with enormous potential. Future studies will
take advantage of the growing sample to predict longer-term outcomes and intervene on malleable factors to...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10880916
- **Project number:** 1R01DC021188-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Jena C McDaniel
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $827,851
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-01 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10880916

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10880916, American Sign Language and Spoken English Development of Young Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children (1R01DC021188-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10880916. Licensed CC0.

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