Visual Sequence Repetition Learning is Not Impaired in Signing DHH Children

• Published in: Journal of deaf studies and deaf education Vol. 26; no. 3; pp. 322 - 335
• Main Authors: Terhune-Cotter, Brennan P, Conway, Christopher M, Dye, Matthew W G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford University Press 14-06-2021
• Subjects: Acoustics; American Sign Language; Auditory Perception; Child; Children; Comprehension; Deafness; Hearing Impairments; Hearing Loss; Humans; Language; Language Processing; Language Proficiency; Language Skills; Monolingualism; Persons With Hearing Impairments; Preadolescents; Repetition; Sign Language; Speech Communication; Visual Perception
• ISSN: 1081-4159; 1465-7325
• DOI: 10.1093/deafed/enab007

Abstract
The auditory scaffolding hypothesis states that early experience with sound underpins the development of domain-general sequence processing abilities, supported by studies observing impaired sequence processing in deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. To test this hypothesis, we administered a sequence processing task to 77 DHH children who use American Sign Language (ASL) and 23 hearing monolingual children aged 7–12 years and found no performance difference between them after controlling for age and nonverbal intelligence. Additionally, neither spoken language comprehension scores nor hearing loss levels predicted sequence processing scores in the DHH group, whereas ASL comprehension scores did. Our results do not indicate sequence processing deficits in DHH children and do not support the auditory scaffolding hypothesis; instead, these findings suggest that factors related to experience with and/or proficiency in an accessible language during development may be more important determinants of sequence processing abilities.