CNIC: U.S.-Swedish Workshop on Assessment of Multimodal-Multilingual Development in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

美国的目标是-瑞典研讨会旨在促进新的研究合作，重点关注早期视觉和听觉体验如何塑造婴幼儿的语言和认知发展，特别是那些天生失聪或听力困难的儿童。 研讨会的研究框架将不仅仅考察聋人和听力障碍儿童的听觉和口语能力，而是将这些儿童概念化为多语言学习者，他们既能通过视觉又能通过视觉体验世界。研讨会的参与者将解决四个关键的方法学问题：（1）什么是最好的神经影像学方法为聋人和重听儿童，（2）我们如何才能最好地评估沟通能力的多语儿童，（3）什么是家庭语言环境的评估的挑战，以及（4）如何可能有效的干预策略，制定和验证？来自斯德哥尔摩大学语言学系的瑞典合作伙伴是这一奋进的理想伙伴，因为在瑞典的教育系统中，在聋人和听力困难儿童的双语双文化教育方面有着丰富的经验，并且人工耳蜗植入率相对较高。研讨会的初步成功应该为下一步探索人工耳蜗植入和使用视觉手语和听觉口语之间复杂的相互作用指明方向。为了产生更广泛的影响，斯德哥尔摩研讨会的另一个目标是为美国博士生和早期研究人员提供一个论坛，与瑞典专家和其他欧洲学者建立联系，使他们接触到聋人和重听儿童发展的新观点。聋人学者和学生将与学校和家长团体的代表一起参加研讨会，以最大限度地发挥广泛科学影响的潜力。通过将讨论框架和未来的研究规划从赤字转向多样性，研讨会的参与者旨在制定创新的研究建议，以解决如何最好地教育聋人和重听儿童的社会问题。

The goal of this U.S.-Swedish workshop is to catalyze new research collaborations focused on how early visual and auditory experiences shape the linguistic and cognitive development of infants and young children, especially those born deaf or hard-of-hearing. Rather than examining only the auditory and spoken language abilities of deaf and hard-of-hearing children, the workshop's research framework will conceptualize these children as multilingual learners who experience the world both auditorily and visually. The workshop participants will address four key methodological questions: (1) what is the best neuroimaging approach for deaf and hard-of-hearing children, (2) how can we best assess communicative competence in multilingual children, (3) what are the challenges for assessment of the language environment in homes, and (4) how might effective intervention strategies be developed and validated? Swedish partners from the Department of Linguistics at Stockholm University are ideal counterparts in this endeavor because in Sweden's education system, there is extensive experience in bilingual-bicultural education for deaf and hard-of-hearing children and there are relatively high rates of cochlear implantation. Initial success at the workshop should point the way for next steps to explore the complex interplay between cochlear implantation and use of both a visual sign language and an auditory spoken language. For broader impact, another objective of the workshop in Stockholm is to provide a forum for U.S. doctoral students and early stage researchers to network with Swedish experts and other European academics, exposing them to new perspectives on the development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Deaf academics and students will be included in the workshop, alongside representatives of schools and parent groups, to maximize the potential for broad scientific impact. By shifting the framework for discussion and future research planning away from one of deficit to one of diversity, the workshop participants aim to develop innovative research proposals to address the societal problem of how to best educate deaf and hard-of-hearing children.