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Year Awarded: 2007
Project Leaders:
Harold Johnson, Counseling, Educational Psychology & Special Ed; Ellen Whipple, Social Work; Brenda Fink, MI Dept of Community Health, Early Hearing Detection & Intervention
Project Description:
Children who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/hh) are nearly twice as likely as to experience child abuse and neglect (CA/N) as their hearing peers. This increased risk is thought to occur as a result of the children's restricted communication skills and reduced knowledge of personal boundaries. The risk may also be due to: a) parental and professional lack of awareness and information concerning CA/N; b) parents' provision of effective learning environments for their young children who are d/hh; and c) parents'/professionals' ability to observe the indicators associated with CA/N. The low incidence of deafness (i.e., 1 in a 1,000 births), the controversial and complex nature CA/N and the geographic dispersal of children who are d/hh combine to increase the difficulties in gathering needed information concerning CA/N. This proposal represents an initial effort to address this lack of information via the establishment and use of a multidisciplinary, ecologically-based, family-centered collaborative network. If funded, the project will provide the necessary pilot data, knowledge and community that are required to secure funding and implement intervention efforts to reduce the incidence and impact of CA/N experienced by infants, toddlers and youth who are d/hh. More specifically, this project has been designed to accomplish three objectives concerning CA/N as experienced by children who are d/hh, i.e., 1) conduct pilot investigations regarding parent/professional knowledge, home learning environment and observational skills; 2) establish a knowledge base and community of learners; and 3) seek the external funding that will be needed to implement intervention efforts.
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