Developmentally – Appropriate Approaches to Listening Technology
By: Jessica Dallman, Leigh Hardin, and Elizabeth Seeliger
Note: This article is influenced by Leigh Hardin’s experience of parenting her son, who uses bilateral hearing aids and is mainstreamed in a school without many deaf/hard of hearing peers. It is meant to be a conversation starter, not a prescription for the technology roller-coaster ride.
Most of the time, the choices behind hearing technology are discussed primarily in terms of the growing complexity of a child’s listening environments as they age. However, as children go through different social-emotional developmental stages, they have different primary needs. This article breaks down the technology conversation based on the Freeman Developmental Model.
Stages of Development
The first stage of development (approximately 0-18 months) is about safety. At this stage, a baby is gathering information about whether the world is okay, safe, and predictable. Most of that information comes through direct interactions with the immediate caregivers and the environment. At this stage, a baby needs to know that they will be sensitively responded to in a timely manner. That response can be visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, kinesthetic, or some sensory combination. For example, rocking a baby in your arms to soothe them includes, at a minimum, touch (tactile), movement (kinesthetic), and smell (olfactory) information. It might also include visual information (if the eyes are open), or auditory information if there is talking or singing involved (and the baby has access to the sound). At this stage, technology needs to prioritize auditory access to caregivers and the immediate environment. This access can help a baby to understand that sounds can be meaningful and inform the baby’s sense that the world is okay, safe, and predictable.
The second stage of development (approximately 18-36 months) builds on the initial need to establish environmental and relational safety (i.e. “My caregivers will take care of me.”), and emerges into the realm of personal value and worth (i.e. “I’m okay.”). More complex communication develops at this stage, oriented around the development of self (i.e. using the potty, feeding oneself) and boundaries (i.e. walking away or using the word “No.”). Therefore, the tone (including facial expressions) of setting limits, making behavioral corrections, and reinforcing desirable behaviors becomes a focal point. Is the baby perceiving that, “When I struggle, I am loved and supported.” or “When I don’t behave right, I am bad.”? Knowing how technology allows access to different tones of voice can be useful in navigating aided and unaided conversations. The difference between aided and unaided access may inform decisions about a) when to have emotionally-charged conversations, and b) how to strategically include visual supports (i.e. eye contact and facial expressions) or tactile supports (i.e. comforting touch) to communicate the layers of emotional meaning. These thoughtful interactions build the foundation for theory of mind, empathy development, and social-emotional pragmatics. It is an unfair expectation of a toddler to appropriately control external technology (i.e. FM systems) – caregivers must be responsible for scaffolding auditory access and ensuring the child’s inclusion.
The next stage of social-emotional development (approximately 3-6 years) connects with the prior two and expands into the capacity for skill development. A child explores the question “How much can I do?” They might rapidly produce drawings, working on a new one before you’ve even commented on the first one. Language access is much more complex at this stage. An important consideration becomes how to navigate accessibility with and without technology (i.e. in pools, on soccer fields, on ski hills, etc.). Even though theory of mind, and cause-and-effect are not clearly established in a young child’s brain, a sense of inclusion is. So, at this stage, perhaps one of the most important questions to be asking regarding developmentally appropriate technology use would be: “Does my kid know that communication is meaningful, and that I/we will make efforts for them to be included in conversations regardless of technology?”
Once a child is school age (approximately 6-11 years), their relational development builds into an interest in mastery. They need to know that they can do things well and will start gauging their efficacy by comparing themselves to others. Developmentally, this means that they might start to notice the ways in which technology makes them visibly different from hearing peers (while not comprehending that their behaviors associated with not having adequate linguistic access will also make them visibly different). Language becomes a tool for mastering skills in school, social interactions and extra-curriculars. While testing out some independence, school-age children still heavily rely on adults to make decisions about activities, what is or is not safe/appropriate, and even basic pragmatics around linguistic and social interactions. For that reason, even if kids start to develop some self-consciousness around visible technology, they will often still defer to adults, like teachers, to manage technology (like the FM system) and ensure access. This also sends a strong message (even if a kid resists it) that their linguistic inclusion is valued, and therefore they are valued, too (even if it also brings up hard feelings).
As kids approach and enter puberty (approximately 11-18) and adolescence, identity formation becomes primary in their developmental process. While, under stress, they may revisit previous developmental questions (Is the world OK? Am I OK?), they are working hardest at figuring out who they are and where they belong among their peers. Social relationships start to take precedence over family relationships. This can be particularly anxiety-inducing for parent and child alike. It might result in learning that your child is turning off technology in order to tune out teachers and try to listen to peers nearby. They will seek autonomy, especially with the goal of accessing peer interactions. For that reason, exploring technology options (i.e. a Roger Pen or Select) that give your (pre)teen more control over their listening environment might boost their confidence, and help them access more incidental learning opportunities that are developmentally-appropriate.
Ideally, through these different developmental stages when kids are using technology to access sound and language, they ultimately get social-emotional reinforcement that they are safe, that they are valued, that they are capable, and that they belong, even through the ups and downs of it all. ~