Georgia State University Series

Glossary

Affect - emotion shown on the face.

Affective Tone: The emotional tone of the parent and overall

mood of communication exchanges.

Amplification: The act or result of amplifying, enlarging, or

extending.

ASL - American Sign Language (ASL) is a manual language distinct from spoken English. It has its own syntax and grammar, and is the second most common language in the United States. Its history began in France in the late 1700’s, and brought to the U.S. in 1815 by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc. ASL is used as an expressive language, and written English is used to communicate with the hearing world. This communication method is also referred to as ASL/ESL or Bilingual/Bicultural. Like any living language, ASL continues to evolve.Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs)- refers to systems that improve the signal-to-noise ratio by transmitting amplified sound directly to the listener and transforms sound into a visual or tactile signal.

Audiogram- a graphic representation of a person’s hearing or auditory responses. The vertical line of the graph represents hearing level in decibels (dB). The horizontal line of the graph represents frequency or pitch. 

Auditory: The sense of hearing.

Auditory/Oral Approach - these programs teach children to make maximum use of their residual hearing through amplification (hearing aids or cochlear implants), to augment their residual hearing with speech (lip) reading, and to speak. this approach excludes the use of sign language. the philosophy behind the Auditory/Oral method is to prepare children to work and live in a predominately hearing society. 

Auditory Training – instruction designed to maximize an individual’s use of residual hearing by means of both formal and informal listening practice

Auditory/Verbal Approach - this approach is similar to the auditory/oral approach, except it does not encourage lip reading. this method emphasizes the exclusive use of auditory skills through one on one teaching. it excludes the use of sign language, while emphasizing the importance of placing children in the regular classroom as soon as possible. 

Aural Rehabilitation- therapy used to increase the use of residual hearing; in most cases the mouth is covered so no facial cues are given. The listener must distinguish using only his/her hearing what is being said.

Babbling: consonant-vowel clusters that babies produce that sound

like speech (ba-ba, da-da)Behind-the-ear hearing aid - (BTE) these hearing aids rest behind the ear and present the amplified signal through a tube that is connected to a custom-fit earmold that fits in the child’s ear. Due to children’s rapid growth, custom earmolds for infants and toddlers must be refit frequently. Bilateral Hearing Loss - a hearing loss in both ears Bilingual/Bicultural - in this method American Sign Language (ASL) is taught as the child’s primary language, and English as a second language. ASL is recognized as a true language in its own right and does not follow the grammatical structure of English this method is used extensively within the Deaf community. 

Bone-conduction hearing aid - a bone vibrator that amplifies like a traditional hearing aid may be fit on a headband to stimulate the cochlea mechanically. This may be an appropriate amplification device for children without external ear components. Bracketing- a method of linking language and meaning. A sign, or a phrase, is placed at both the beginning and end of an utterance. (Example: parent names an object, points to the object, and then presents the sign for the object again).Classifiers: a type of sign that represents a “class” of objects to describe movement, placement, and visual characteristics of a person or object.

Cochlea- the osseous (bony) portion of the inner ear which surrounds the organ of hearing.

Cochlear Implant - (CI) these devices may be appropriate for children ages 12 months and older who do not receive benefit from hearing aids. The child must be severely or profoundly deaf (some physicians use the criteria of a 70 dB level in the better ear). The CI itself is surgically inserted into the cochlea. The other parts of the device, a microphone and a speech processor, are worn on the body. Recent developments have led to small processors worn over the ear with a microphone in a BTE aid case. The information from the speech processor travels by magnetic induction to the 16-22 electrodes in the cochlea. The CI can transmit time, intensity, and frequency information to any surviving hair cells and auditory nerve fibers.

Cognitive: The developmental area that involves thinking skills, including the ability to receive, process, analyze, and understand information. Matching red circles and pushing the button on a mechanical toy to activate it are examples of cognitive skills.

Collaboration: To work together, especially in a joint

intellectual effort.

Communication: The active process individuals use to exchange information, ideas, needs and desires with and to one another by speech, signals, writing, or behavior.Communication Mode- the type of through-the-air interaction (verbal or visual).Completely in-the-canal hearing aid - (CIC) these tiny hearing aids are seated fully in the bony portion of the ear canal. These aids are not appropriate for children, but may be used later in life. Conductive Hearing Loss - is a permanent, intermittent, or temporary hearing loss resulting from problems in the parts of the hearing system that conduct sound to the cochlea, such as the ear drum or the bones in the middle ear 

Cooing: the gurgling sounds that babies make.

Cooking—Another meaningful experience (like a field trip without actually leaving the school) that can teach many concepts such as number, sequence, texture, color, and other descriptive terminology.

Critical Period (for language development) – the time when the developing brain is best able to absorb a languageCued Speech - this is a visual communication system combining eight handshapes (cues) that represent different sounds of speech. these cues are used simultaneously with speaking. the hand shapes help the child distinguish sounds that look the same on the lips * such as "p" and "b". The use of cues significantly enhances lip reading ability. It is a particularly good system for a child who may not be able to learn entirely through amplified hearing. 

deaf - with a lowercase "d", this term refers to individuals who have a medical/audiological condition of having little or no hearing. This term does not have any implication of the individual*s cultural or community involvement. 

Deaf - with an uppercase "D", this term refers to individuals who

identify themselves as Deaf and share a culture and community, not

just a medical condition. Deaf people don*t want to be fixed and

would not prefer to hear. Usually their preferred mode of

communication is Sign Language

Deaf Culture: Is considered by its members as a minority culture

with it’s own history, customs, values, social patterns, traditions,

beliefs, rules of behaviors, stories, and jokes.

Deaf Community: Consists of a larger and more heterogeneous

group of people who share the values and goals of Deaf people, but

are not necessarily culturally Deaf.

Decibels (dB)- used to express sound pressure.

Deictic Gaze: The infant’s gaze is directed at objects.

Demonstrations—“how to” activities that impart new skills to children; child manipulated activities.

Developmental Milestones - Physical or behavioral signs of development or maturation in infants and children. Rolling over, crawling, walking, and talking are considered developmental milestones and provide important information regarding the child’s development. The milestones are different for each age range.

Diagnostic: Serving to identify a particular disease;

characteristic.

Echoing: Repeating what the child says.Efficacy: Power to produce effects; operation or energy of an agent or force; production of the effect intended; as, the efficacy of medicine in counteracting disease; the efficacy of prayer.

Empathic: Showing empathy or ready comprehension of

others' states; "a sensitive and empathetic school counselor"Empowering: To equip or supply with an ability; enable: “Computers... empower students to become intellectual explorers”Entrainment: Small, synchronous movements an infant makes in response to the adults speech at the phoneme, syllable, phrase, and sentence levels. ESL—English as a second language; teaching English to those who use another language as their primary or first language.

Etiology: physiological reason or cause for any anomaly

Expansion: To restate what a child has said in a more

linguistically correct way.

Expatiation: Expanding on a word a child says by offering

more information.

Experiments—useful ways to demonstrate properties of the natural

world to a child.

Expressive: Serving to express or indicate.

Field Trips—Ways to share information with students; also provide topics for conversation many days after the event.

Frequency- perceived by people as the “pitch”- low or high

spectrum of sound.

Gesture: Nonverbal form of communication (i.e. pointing)Hard-of-hearing: Term used to describe an individual who uses hearing as the primary mode for speech perception, speech monitoring, and language acquisition. Hearing Impaired: A genetic term indicating a hearing loss that may range in severity from mild to profound.

I.D.E.A. - the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees the right to a free and appropriate education to student with disabilities (ages 3 to 21). eligible children can receive special services and assistance (known as special education and related services) under IDEA.  

IEP - an Individual Education Program (IEP) is a written statement outlining the educational program that meets a child*s individual needs. Every child receiving special education services must have an IEP as it sets reasonable learning goals for the child, and most importantly, states the services the school district will provide for the child. .

Imitation: An infant matches or repeats what an adult or other person does.

Implement: To put into practical effect; carry out: implement

the new procedures.

Indexing: pointing to an area/object to reference a person or

object that is not present.

Inner Ear- the area beyond the bones of the middle ear space;includes the cochlea.

Initialized Signs- signs that are made using the first letter of the English word equivalent.

Initiate: To set going by taking the first step; begin: initiated

trade with developing nations.

In-the-canal hearing aid - (ITC) these hearing aids are smaller than the ITE aids and fit mostly in the canal area with some of the device outside the concha. This device is not practical for small children for several reasons, including the same impracticality of ITE aids and the small size that allows them to be easily swallowed. 

In-the-ear hearing aid - (ITE) these hearing aids are custom made to fit in the ear, filling the entire ear bowl (concha). All of the electronics for the hearing aid fit within this custom case. Since the ears of babies and small children grow rapidly, ITE aids are considered an impractical alternative. However, ITE aids may be fit on older children and teenagers, although regular remakes may be required. 

Intonation: The linguistic use of pitch.Joint Action: Routine actions shared between the adult and infant.Joint Attention/Reference: When two or more participants share a common focus on one thing.Kinesthetic: An awareness of one’s body as it moves through space.  Language: A socially shared code or conventional system for representing concepts through the use of arbitrary symbols and rule-governed combinations of those symbols.Labeling: Attaching a name to an object.

Linguistic- pertaining to language.

Linguists: Specialists who work to determine the language rules that individual people use to communicate.

Lipreading: The process of recognizing speech using only the visual speech signal and other visual cues, such as facial expression, understanding speech by watching the lips.

Mainstreaming: Reassignment of children with disabilities from a special education classroom to a classroom in the regular school environment.

Manipulatives—Materials used to represent other real-life objects or concepts.

MAP – specifications of threshold, suprathreshold, and frequency by which the speech processor of a cochlear implant processes the speech signal and delivers it in electrical form to the electrodes in the electrode array

Mastoid Bone- the lower portion of the temporal bone which lies

just behind the ear.

Modeling: A natural strategy that takes place during

motherese/parentese. Providing a correct example for the infant

to imitate and follow.

Morphology – the study of meaningful word units.

Motherese/Fatherese/Parentese: The natural tendency of a parent

or caregiver to modify their communication skills to convey

meaning to a child.

Mutual Gaze: When the parent or caregiver and child are

looking at one another.

Nonlinguistic Cues: Gestures, body posture, facial expression, eye contact, head and body movement, and proxemics used while communicating.

Noun Modification: using aspects such as space to show differences in size, quality, etc. between nouns (a big bowl vs. a small bowl).

Overarticulating: Stretching out sounds in words to be more precise.Parallel Talk: Describing a child’s actions while he or she is doing them.Pathology: The scientific study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences.Phonology - the study of speech sounds.Pitch: The variation in ones vocal sound (i.e. low to high).

Prelinguistic: before speechPre-literacy: The development of skills which will be later used in language and literacy.

Prosody: The natural rise and fall of pitch during conversation.

Proxemics: The physical distance between communicative partners (i.e. between the adult and infant) used in communication.

Rate: The speed at which one uses language in communicating.

Recasting: To phrase a sentence in various ways.

Receptive: Of or relating to the skills of listening and reading.

Reinforcement: Anything that increases a behavior.

Referencing: Noting the presence of a single object, action, or event for one’s communication partner.

Reflective thinking: to look back at attentively and

thoughtfully.

Retrocochlear Hearing Loss - is a permanent hearing loss related to an actual problem with the hearing nerve or parts of the brain which process speech. ("beyond the cochlea") 

Residual Hearing- the amount of hearing that is left when a hearing

loss is present.Responsivity: The adult’s tendency to recognize an infant’s signal and meet that signal with an appropriate and consistent response.

Rhetorical Question: when the signer provides both the question and answer.

Role Shifting: an aspect of storytelling in which the signer assumes the different roles by shifting their body.

Sandwiching- A process of couching a new skill within an old skill; first you present the known, then the unknown, then the known again.

Semantics- the study of meaning in language.

Sensori-neural Hearing Loss - is a permanent hearing loss typically resulting from damaged or missing hair cells in the cochlea, or from problems with the auditory nerves. 

Signed English – a signing system based on spoken English, not a true language.

Singulars/Plurals—one/ more than one

Social/Emotional:The developmental area that involves skills

which enable the child to function in a group and to interact

appropriately with others, such as playing a circle game with

other children or comforting someone who is crying by offering a

hug.

Socioeconomic: Involving social as well as economic factors; "socioeconomic status".

Speech – talking, one way that language can be expressed

Speech Banana- an area on an audiogram (which holds the shape of a banana) that covers the frequency area in which speech sounds are produced.

Speech Reading – speech recognition using auditory and visual

Cues

Stress: The emphasis placed on speech by varying ones pitch or sound of voice.Suprasegmental: Stress, rate, pause, and intonation used to signal attitude or emotion in speech.

Syntax- the way words are put together to form sentences and phrases; rules of grammar.

Tactile: Perception achieved through the sense of touch.Turn Taking: Turn taking is taught through game playing routines.Threshold - the softest sound an individual is able to hear at a

particular frequency or pitch 

Total Communication - (TC) uses a combination of methods to teach a child, including a form of sign language, finger spelling, speech reading, speaking and amplification.  

Transliterator - someone who understands the mode and can communicate with and speak for the cuer

Two-way communication: Communication that is reciprocated by

the other person involved in the interaction.

Unbiased: Without bias or prejudice; impartial.

Unilateral- affecting one ear.

Unilateral Hearing Loss - a hearing loss in only one ear 

Verb Modification: (includes directionality- direction of the sign tells

you the subject and object

Vicarious Experiences—Representing real-life events through pretend (i.e. going to the doctor’s office, police station, restaurant, post office, etc.)

Visual: Anything that can be seen.

Visual representations—using codes or labels, symbols, gestures, icons, color codes and signs for language categories in order to visual organize language .