Analysis of Factors Related to Social Play Development between Hearing-Impaired Preschoolers and their Hearing Peers in Inclusive Settings

Abstract

In this study we observed 8 hearing-impaired preschoolers whose average hearing level was 72.6 dB (48.7-92.5 dB, 1 SD 18.7) in inclusive settings twice over the course of a year, and analyzed how their communicative behavior, MLUm and social maturity, along with the attitude of their hearing peers, influenced their cooperative play. The results revealed that they generally developed their play levels by the second observation, and most notably they participated in cooperative play significantly at 6 years old. Their MLUm did not lengthen although their communication behavior marked progress during the year. Hearing-impaired children construct cooperative play by nonlinguistic cues or appreciation of the situation. It is important for individual evaluation and educational treatment to enrich social play development using proper language contents and constructions. Participating in cooperative play needs both social maturity in the hearing-impaired children and appropriate attitude in their hearing peers. The results suggest that preparation of inclusive settings is useful in terms of both these factors.