Deaf children needed for research

Mar 26, 2013 in Hearing Aids

Deaf children needed for research

The call has gone out for deaf children who could take part in research at the Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre, London.

Youngsters from the ages of six to 11, both hearing and deaf, have been invited to take part, according to the organisation’s website.

The research project is called Executive Function Abilities in Deaf Children, and according to the site is investigating how Executive Function skills and language are linked in children who are deaf.

Studies began last September and are set to continue until next year’s end.

Children are required to do several age-appropriate activities, with researchers coming to see the child and their family twice in two years. Visits can be arranged for school or home, at whatever time is best, and take an hour or so.

Children are given small presents as a thank you for participating and their parents get a £10 gift voucher for filling in several questionnaires, too.

Anyone interested can get in touch with University College London’s Tanya Denmark at [email protected].

The research is about Executive Function, a phrase which according to the DCAL website is used to describe a lot of diverse thought processes such as problem solving and planning.

Executive Functions are used by children while they are in school on a daily basis.

One example is when they are concentrating on what is happening within the classroom environment and developing the skills to ignore information that is distracting.

According to the site, past studies have shown that language plays an important role in Executive Function skills, with kids talking to themselves when engaged in a task as a memory and planning aid and way of avoiding distracting information.

Researchers are looking for deaf children who use sign language, those who can speak and have hearing aids or cochlear implants and children who can hear. Results from these groups will be compared as part of the research.

NDCS, the National Deaf Children’s society, has reported on the research and call for participants.