METHODOLOGY

1. 'GENERAL AH1 OF THE iJTUDY

• In the ±,amily environment, the deaf child is ..

exposed toa variety of speakers and a variety of I

natural and infol.'lll.al communication situations. The

general aim of the. study is to trac~ the emerging

patterns of communication between deaf child and his

parents and siblings within the context of the family's

socia-economic background, and analyse the influencing ,

factors as perceived by each parent, the problems each

identifies and ways of coping with these problems that

-each parent devises. ,

2. DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS AND THEORY BA;;)E •

~'irst of' all, the ait"ferenc e between impairment,

disability and handicap must be'spelt out. Impairment •

refers to any loss or abnormality of psychological,

phYSiological or anatomical structure or function • •

Disability refers to any restriction on or lack of

ability resulting from impairment to perform the

33

activity within the manner or within the range consi­

dered normal for a human being. ~ica12 refers to a

disadvantage for a given individual (resulting from

an impairment or a disability) that limits, or prevents

the fulfilment of a role.that is normal depending upon

age, sex, social or cui tural factors for that 1no.ividual.

t WHO, 1981).

The "Deaf chi.J.a." has oeen clasl::lified in different

ways by different disciplines according,'to the angle , .

through which they perceive the Child. t'or the purpose

of this s;udy, the educational classification has Oean

ul::led,where deaf children are those who require education

by methods Suitable for pupils with little or no .

naturally acquired speech or language.

This study is focused on the ~re-lingual Deaf

Child that_._is, a chi..Ld who either is congenitally Cleaf

or loses his hearing prior to the acquisition of

language.

Broadly speaking, Communication is a dynamic

process through which interchange of information,

knowledge, ideas and feelings takes place between tw.

interacting individuals. This interchange can be

carried out with any form of language. Language is a

purely human, non-instinctive method of communicating

ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of

voluntarily produced symbols. This method includes

34

the follOWing forms of communication - speech, reading,

writing, facial expressions, gestures and Signs. Speech

as ~ form of language is a motor-mental skill in which

articulate sounds or words are used to convey meaning.

Reading is the conversion of print into auditory

equivalents and their subsequent interpretation based

on previously learned oral language skills (Lloyd, J.,

1979). Writing is a form of expressive language which

is dependent on a number of preskills: the necessary

auditory and visual discriminations required for reading,

the necessary visual-motor integration needed for form­

ing letters and words, and the necessary conceptual and

language functions· needed to formulate words into

patterns and sentences (Kroth, J., 1971). Facial

Expressions and Gestures are spontaneous movements

of the hands and facial muscles and are truly

35

speaking, an accompaniment of language and not

language proper. ~or the hearing-impaired, one more

form of communication has been introduced and that is

finger-spelling and signing. Finger-spelling involves

the use of a manual alphabet with a hand-finger pattern

or token for each letter of the alphabet. Signing

involves the use of a repertoire of patterned movements

of the hand and face.

One way of reducing the handica~ping conditions

is through special education programmes. ~peciab

Education refers to all special provisions made to

enable handicapped children to acquire education, whether

at home, in hospital, special or regular schools. A

Special Education Programme is one that provides direct

or indirect services of a trained. special educator who

uses a unique curriculum, a different method and

specialized instructional material (Dunn, 1973). There

are three types of educational environments for deaf

children in India:

(i) Residential schoQls - private or public;

(ii) Day schools which also provide segregated

educational facilities but do not provide

boarding facilities; and

(iii) Day classes which are usually located in

schools primarily for hearing students where

deaf students are integrated into classes with

hearing students under the supervision of

resource teachers.

36

Special education programmes in India have been

mostly using the oral method of teaching deaf children.

Oral Method refers to th€ teaching through speech and

reception through lip-reading. Reading and writing are

included for the development of language and acquisi­

tion of knowledge. It also includes early ~uditor!

training or training in the use of amplified sound to •

exploit the residual hearing possessed by most deaf

children.

Let us now take a long look at the process of

communication. Human communication is said to have

occurred when an individual responds to a symbol.

But this is not a one-way but a two-way process,

in that an individual communicates with another

individual or group of individuals. This process

involves verbal and/or non-verbal symbols which are •

used intentionally or unintentionally by the source

37

who seeks to elicit a covert or overt, intentional or

unintentional response from the receiver which mayor

may not match his intent. Therefore, it is contextual

as each person influences and is influenced by the • other person or persons. ~hus, communication is

basically a process as it is a dynamic, ever-changing,

on-going phenomenon which has no fixed sequence of

events; the elements in this process act and interact;

each affects all the others.

Though every communication situation differs

in many ways from every other, Berlo (1960) has

identified certain basic elements that all of them

have in common and has prepared a model applicable to

two-person Situations. These elements are (i) the

communication source; (ii) the encoder; (iii) the

message; (iv) the channel; (v) the decoder and

(vi) the communication receiver.

This researcher has adopted Berlo's model to

observe the interaction between the elements in the •

process of communication between the deaf child and

his family. Diagram 1 shows this process. A brief

explanation of the terms used in the diagram is given

below.

At the basis of most of the encounters an

individual has with another individual, whether

spontaneous or deliberate, .:here are purposes, ideas,

reasons for engaging in communication. They prompt

38

the individual to initiate the process of communication

in order to convey the message contained in the idea.

As there can be any number of purposes or reasons for

such a process, this researcher has restricted herself

to five purposes which are basic to any communication

situation. They are (i) information exchange;

(ii) eliciting actionj (iii) explaining cause-and­

effect relationship; (iv) helping child understand self;

and (y) emotional expression.

Before going further, recorded here are the

precise meaning of the terms used in Berlo's model and

their application in this study.

Di

Interd endence between the Elements in t~; Process unication between Deaf Cbild and his Fami!

1" Info rmation exchange

2, Eliciting action

J. Explaining cause and effect relationship

4, lmderstanding self

5, Emotional expression

Source -1, Mother

2. Father

J. Siblings

4. Dead child as perceived by mother

\

I Messa~

1. Verb . ca tion skill

• sp

• wr' {

2. Non.J lmmunica. tion 1.1 '

• fint ing, sigli :e

I • nat ;ures

Noise oirference ,

In tlree

1 • In ~~iver

• In thage

In trnel

• In \vironment

!~

Posi:feedback

• r egafJ'eedback

---(

Channels

Sensory organs of:

• vision

• hearing

• touch

• taste

• smell

Decoding skills ~ -1 -1

• lip reading 1, Deaf child

• reading 2, Father

• listening J. Mother

• observation· 4, Siblings

The term "source" is used for the person who

initiates communication with another person. In this

'study, the term It source" is used when talking about

either mother or father or deaf child.

The purpose of the source has to be encoded or

put in a form recognizable by others. Encoding is

40

the cerebral act of formulating a language response

for motor implementation. The vocal mechanisms used

in speech, the'motor skills used in writing and the use

of gestures or non-verbal behaviour are some

II encoding skills". '£ney have been grouped under verbal

and non-verbal skills.-

\ The concrete expression of the source's ideas

and purposes has been labeled as the "message" which has

three elements, namely, message code, message content

arid message treatment. In order to convey a message it

has to be arranged into some semblance of recognizable

order which is known as the message code and which is

usually the language used for expreSsing ideas. The

expression of this message code becomes the message

content. ~he deCision made in selecting and arranging

41

both these above two elements is known as the message

treatment. The source uses his encoding skills to

convey the message •

•

The message has to be routed across a "channel",

a medium through which to transmit messages. Here the

channel involves the five sensory organs of vision,

audition, touch, taste and smell as it is through

these five senses that an individual gains the rulL

perception of his sensory experiences. In a normal

individual, the distance senses of hearing and vision

and the close senses of olfaction, gustation and

taction work in a complementary relationship to give

him a full perception of the communication process.

But when an individual bas impaired hearing, the remain­

ing distance sense vision takes on a dual lead roLe and

the close senses become more supplementary and critical

to the individual's understanding of the communication

process.

The person to whom the message is directed is

the "receiver". In this study, when the source is the

mother 0r father, the receiver is the deaf child; and

42

when the source is the deaf child, the mother or

father or siblings are the receivers. The receiver

decodes the message with the help of "decoding skills" • which are again verbal and non-verbal. Decoding is the

cerebral act of comprehenaing the meaning of an

incoming language pattern. Besides the common decoding

Skills of reading, listening and .bservation, one more

skill has been listed, namely, lip-reading or speech­

reading,as it is a major decodins skill used by a deaf

child. Lip-reading is a process of understanding a

speaker's words by associating words with the movement

of the lips.

The receive.r then provides a "feedback" which

would give a clue to determining the success or failure

of the source's communication efforts. The term "nois~"

has been used for factors in any of these elements that

can reduce effectiveness of the whole process.

The core of the communication process is the

interdependence and interaction between these common

element~. This researcher has used these elements as

the baSic and focal pOints of her study and has worked

around them. In a lami~y situation, as members of

the family interact regularly with each other, patterns

nevelop in their communication from ~hich one can infer

their implicit agreements about ho~ they interact or

the operating rules which sustain family functioning • •

Fam~y communicatio~tterns are typical ways in

which family members relate to each other in various

situations. uonsequently, the objectives of the study

are woven around these elements and t~e emerging

communication patterns. HenceJorward in this

dissertation, communication patterns wi~~ Oe referred

to as (;Ps.

:5. .QBJECTlVEt:i AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ARHlING FROM OBJECTIVBI:l

A. Objectives

Objective I: ~o stUdy the process of communica-

tion between (a) mother and deaf chi~d;

(b) father and deaf chi.La.; and

(c) deaf child and mother, father, sitllings,

in order to observe the emerging C~S.

Objective II · • To examine the factors identified

by both parents as int'luencing

communication between them and

deaf child.

Objective III: To analyse the problems in

communication perceived by bbth

ObJective IV

ObJective V

· •

parents as those affecting themselves

and d.eaf child.

To obtain parents' views on what

they themselves could do to over­

come the identified prob~ems in

communication and what help, if any,

they wo~d need from others.

: To note the family's present

a tti tude towards the deaf child.

In the introauctory chapter, the need for

studying the process of communication between deaf

ChiLd and his family was outlined. The above objectives

are therefore the concrete expression of this need.

This process when traced through the basic elements

45

will bring out certain definite CPs which are the

study's tirst objective. In order to arrive at an ,

analytical understanding of these C~s it will be

necessary to examine the in!luencing Tactors. ¥or

gaining an inSight into the working of these patterns

and their stresspoints, the problems in communication

will have to be analysed. A look at the present

family reactions towards deaf child will provide a

Situational understanding of these Cis. Obtaining

parents' views on what they themselves can do to

overcome perceived problems in order to make this

interaction maXimally effective with or without out~ide

help is the final and overall purpose for undertaking

the study. This wOUld also enable this researcher and

users of this research ~o provide the necessary

services to parents. Parents' ability and success in

coping with communication problems will depend upon

their reactions or attitude towards deaf .child, the

type of CPs that emerge between them and him and vice-

versa, and the perceived ini"luencing factors and

problems. Thus the objectives are basically inter-

linked.

~. Research questions

As the objectives are essentially broad-based,

some of the specific research questions arising from

each obJective are given below:

Db j ecti ve-I

(a) .l!'or each purpose, what are the encoding skills

~combinationB of upto three skills) used to tkL .o~"c. .....

translate the purpose ofAand how, i.e. through

which channels (combination of ani three

channels) are the messages carried to the

receiver'{ What decoding skills (combination

upto three ~kil19) dOes the receiver use to

translate the message and with what effect"

The researcher has restricted herself to a

46

combination of encoding skillS of upto three

skills because finger-spelling and formal

signing method are not known to this sample of

deaf children and their families as this manual

method of communication is not being used by

any of the four selected schools. Again a

47

combination of upto three channels was decided,

because in the researcher's opinion, the

senses of taste and smell would be used as

channels for only very spe ci1"1c si tua tions.

Decoding skills were restricted upto three

combinations. because none of the parent~ in the

sampLe were deaf so none af the paFeats iB tho

sample WOFO doaf 80 none Of them wouiu neea

to ~e lip-reading as a decoding skill. The one

father who was deaf had deserted the tamily and

so was not interviewed. Moreover, it WOULd be

difficult for the ueaf child to use all for skills

Simultaneously. ~efore abking questions concern­

ing the CPs,. the researcher first explained with

the help of photographs, how different combinations

of encoding skillS, channels and decoding skills

are used in different si tua tions by a dyad-group­

like mother and deaf child (see Appendix lC ).

Then parents were asked to describe the combination

of skills used by them and deaf child in different

situations (see Appendix JC ).

(b9 How far is the interaction among the elements

in the communication process related to the

48

purpose and how far to the source-receiver pair'?

What are the specific patterns in the interac-

tion among the elements in the communication

process? Do the source-receiver use only

certain encoding/decoding skills irrespective

of purpose?

Objective-II

The aim here is to know the parents' perception

of the positive and negative factors influencing

communication between them and deaf child. This would

bring out their level of awa.reness of these factors

and the degree of similarity of views on this subject.

This in turn would lead to an analytical understanding

of parental perception of factors which have influenced

the emergence of different patterns. The research

questions Which bring out these data are as follows:

(a) Do parents feel that the family is able to

communicate adequately with deaf child and he .

with them? Which member is able to communicate

49

Tfiith him th<e m.cst and 'Ilhich member the least'?

With which members does deaf child communicate

the most and the least?

(b) Does the family have a common strategy for

communicating with deaf child?

(c) How far are the factors identified by parents

as influencing communication related to:

(i)

(11)

(iii)

(iv)

child's characteristics

their own

the school situation, and

social system.

(d) What is the degree of similarity and dissimila­

rity between mothers' and fathers' perception

of influencing factors?

Objective-III

The stress here is on understanding the factors

perceived by eac~ parent as problematic and their

reasons for such a perception. Therefore, the research

questions are as follows:

50

(a) In each parent's opinion, which are the factors

which create problems when communicating with

deaf child?

(b) What are their reasons for perceiving the

factors as those creating problems in communica­

tion?

Qbjective-IV

As mentioned earlier, obtaining parents' views

on what they themselves can do to make communication

with deaf child maximally effective is the overall aim

of the study. In order to enable professional social

workers develop effective intervention strategies, it

is necessary to know not 'only the perceived problems

but also the types of parents (i) who are able to cope

adequately with them and tii) those who are unable to do

so; the types of services that the two groups of parents

would need, and the extent of their knowledge regarding

such resources as are available in the community.

Therefore, the research question's arising from this

objective are as follo?s:

51

(a) Which problems do parents think they can over-

come with help or without help and how? Which

problems do they think they cannot overcome?

(b) How far do their plans for coping with the

identified pro.bl ems depend upon (i) their own

characteristic s, (ii) those 0 f the deaf child1

and (iii) 8pecia~ized help?

(c) What is the extent of t&e parents' knowledge

regarding the resources available in the commu­

nity and which have they used or would like to

utilize?

(d) How far dO their ability to deal with identHied

problems in communication influence the extent

of communication and the CPs used by the Mother-

chil~ and Father-child dyads'!

Objective-V

Since a necessary condition for human communica-

tion is the interdependent relationship between source

and receiver, it follows that within the family each

(---Tiss LIBRARY- "

1111111111111111111111111111 i I l 063166__)

52

member affects every other member and the entire

family's stability and growth hangs on a delicate

balance of emotional interaction. An auditory disorder

precipitates a crisis which has farreaching effects on

family relationships. i'heret"ore, it wOu.L.d be useful to

note the interactions between the family and deaf child

as they influence the CPs between them. Therefore,

the research questions arising from this objective are:

(a) What is the parents' level of pirticipation in

Parents' Groups and Parent-Teacher meetings?

(b) What is the parents' level ot knowledge about

the handicap and what are theffsources of gain­

ing this knowledge?

(c) How far do members a f the i'aII)ily collaborate

with each other in interacting with deaf child?

(d) What is the impact of the presence of deaf

child on family on different aspects of daily

living such as their social life, worklHe,

household duties, leisure ti~e activities,

53

marital harmony, interaction with other

children and other family members, and physical

and mental health?

(e) What are parents' expectations from deaf child?

(f) In the parents' opinion what is the extent of

child's knowledge of the consequences of his

handicap on himself?

4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study focuses on the process of communica­

tion between deaf child and his family. It has been

restricted to 100 school-going deaf children between the

age group of 5-14 years and thei,r families living in

Bombay. , '

Ke'eping in view this focus, this researcher has

pre-determined the source-receiver pairs as.mentioned

in an earlier section. When the source is either the

mother or father, the receiver is the deaf child and

when the source is the deaf child, the receiver is . mother, father and sibling in turn.

54

Again as mentioned earlier, since there can be

any number of purposes for communication among family

members, the study has been restricted to five purposes.

However, for each of the five purposes a variety of

different situations which are conducive to communica-

tion between each source-receiver pair have been

selected for study. A break-up of the different

communica tion 8i tua tions i"or each source-receiver pair

i"or the !'ive purposes have been given below:

Purpose I - Information Exchange

tlource --- Situations Involving

Father ~a) Talking about the day's activities

Nother at school.

tb) Inclusion of deaf child in conver-

sations during family's day-to-day

or special get-togethers, during

social viai ts of rela ti ves, friends

and others.

(e) Correctly naming things in the

environment.

Source

Deaf child (a)

Situations Involving

Relating day's activities at

school to family members.

(b) Demanding to be told names of

things in the environment.

55

Eurpose II - Eliciting action

Mother (a) Management of routine ·activi ties by

Father

Deaf child

deaf child, like looking after own

things, running errands, helping in

household chores.

(b) Explanation of disciplinary action

taken and safety measures taught.

(c) Parent's participation in play with

deaf child.

(a) Demanding expla~tion for disciplinary

action directed towards him.

(b) Expressing desire to participate in

play activities of siblings and their

friends.

(c) Requesting family member to intervene

in the event of an argument with

playmates in order to explain his

point of view.

56

furpose III - Expl~ntng Cause and Effect Rel~ionship

Source

Mother

Father

Deaf child

Situations involving

(a) Explaining the working of

mechanical things like ttys,

electric equipment, hearing­

aid.

(b) Explaining the time factor in

terms of past, present and

future. Recollection of past

events, description of current

events, anticipation of future

.events.

(a) Questions concerning a.ttempts

at understanding the working

mechanisms' of things.·

(b) Attempts at recalling past events

and anticipating future ones.

57

Eurpose IV - Helping child understand self

Mother

Father

Deaf chUd

§ituations involving

(a) Explaining of restrictions

imposed only on deaf child, but

not on hearing siblings.

(b) Explaining of the consequences

of the handicap.

(a) Expressing desire to undertake

some responsible work indepen­

dently.

(b) Volunteering to help members of

the family in their work.

(c) Demanding explanation regarding

differences between himself and

hearing Siblings.

PurEose V - Emotional expression

Mother 0 o

Father 0

(a) Conscious expression of love,

anger or disapproval.

Source

Deal" child

dituations invoiving

(b) Management of deaf child's

feelings of fear, insecurity

and Jealousy.

58

taJ Expression of happiness or

sadness, jealousy, fear 0 r

insecurity and frustration at

not succeeding in something.

5.· ~ELEC~ING A SAMPLE

As there is little research in the area of

interpersonal communication within the family of a deaf

child, this study is exploratory in nature.

In a city like Bombay, even a conservative

estimate of the number of deaf children is very large.

linfortuna tely, there has been no enumeration of the

deaf population in the metropolis. It would, therefore

be costly and time consuming and beyond the scope of

a fh.D. thesis to identify the deaf child and his

family in the community at large. This researcher has

consequently limited herself to deaf children

studying in special schools in Greater Bombay.

59

There are at present 18 special schoo~s in the

metropolis. With the exception of one school which

uses the Total Gommunica tion 14ethod ror teaching deaf

children, aLL the other schools use.,.the oral method

of instruction. With the exception of one school whicn

is a high school, al~ of them only have classes upto

primary or miaale levels, that is upto stannara ~ or

at the most upto standard VII. Hence the children

available for study )<ould be primary school children.

trenerally speaking)a normal hearing child of

5-9 years is in primary school. However, as the deaf

child starts his school life with inadequate speech and

language and a large proportion of school time has to be

spent on language acquisition, he takes almost doub~e

the time to cover the normal school curriculum. The

researcher, therefore, decided to tOCUtl on school-going

deaf chiLdren of 5-14 years.

Some special schools use only one medium of

60

instruction ~hich is either a regional language or

tnglish, whe~eas some schools have different sections,

each using a different medium of instruction. ~ince ~.

the focus~on examining the communication process in

family interaction, the researcher d~cided to select

equal number of children studying in a regional language

which would usually be the language spoken at home, and

the ~nglish 1anguage so as to make comparison possible

between the two groups.

AS the target population was not known, it was

decided to use the Quota t)ampling Method "as llsea !'or

selecting the sample. The Quota tlample was based on

medium of instruction and age and sex of child. An

effort was made to see that they were equally represen­

ted on- all three of these variables. AS there were !'our

special schools in the city teaching in Gujarati, the

researcher decided to select all those children from

these four SchOOLS who were between 5 years to 14 years

of age. This source yielded fifty eligible children.

\7ujarati medium was selected as the researcher is !luent

in that language and this would greatly facilitate the

interview process. Two of these schools also had an

English medium section. The researcher decided to

first select children falling in the prescribed age

group from these two sChools and to go to other

English medium schools only if the required quota

61

could not be secured from here. However, it was not ,

necessary to go to other schoolS as it was possible

to select fifty eligible children falling within the

prescribed age range from these two schools alone.

The final sample size of 100 chl.ldren was

thought to be adequate in terms of the availabi~ity and

reprebenta tiveness of the s(l.mp~ing units. l'he Quotas

fixed and the actual number were as follows:

. ---Quo ta Ac tual Quota Actual

1'lea.i urn of Instruction English Gujarati

50 50 50 50

Age 5-9 years 10-14 years

50 52 50 48

l::iex Male Female

50 52 50 48

62

In actual data collection the researcher was

more particular in getting equal n~ber of children

in both media of instruction, because the discrepancy

that woUld arise in the other two cnaracteristics

would be negligible.

6. DAT!.., CO.l.d • .iSC'l'I ON

Before beginning field work, a letter was sent

to the principles of the four selectea schools request­

ing permission to select some of their students as

sampling units for study and seeking their co-operation

in conducting this study. All lour schools readily

granted permission and spontaneously gave their full

co.operation through-out the data collection process.

Basic data aoout tne cnild's age, sex, details

regarding hearing loss, number of years spent at scho,ol

and residential address were first obtained from the

individual files of each student maintained by the schools.

Teachers were requested to fill up a short

questionnaire giving their assessment of the child's

ss

performance in (i) different communication skills like

speech, lipreading, reading, writing, use of residual

hearing and amp1.ificd.tion, observa t:ion ability and amount

of spontaneous expression; (ii) academic subjects;

(iii) use of gross and fine motor skills; (iv) socializa­

tion with classmates.

The primary sources of data were the mother and

father of the deaf child. The researcher first sent

"t'll.'C'ill 'Q, '<l'll.,fl"\ "in1tfm'Q,~ ~b"i."i.tfI· in"i.'I'tltJ.'QZ.'!.."145 'Mi'!'D~~'i 'O."1,t.

explaining the purpose of the study and the broad areas

on which she wished to interview them. This letter

definitely helped in establishing rapport and preparing

parents for the interview process. 80me parents

immediately sent a letter to the researcher stating

that she was welcome to come home to see them any time.

Some parents approached the teachers for clarification

regarding the letter.

Tools

The main tool used for data collection was the

Interview Schedule. A set of four schedules was

prepared for each family. Data for the first three

schedules was gathered from the mother and for the

fourth schedule from the father.

64

The first schedule contained questions regard­

ing the child's particulars which were partly obtained

through the child's school records as mentioned above

and partly through the mother. This schedule was

entirely precoded.

Schedule II was designed to provide background

info rma tion of ~amily t informa t~on on type of

communication skills known to different family members,

participation in Parents' Groups and parent-Teacher

Meetings, mother's knowledge about different aspects of

the handicap, her sources of information for gaining

this knowledge, her knowledge and utilization of

different special services available in the city for

the deaf, her opinion of impact of child's presence on

daily life, her expectations from the child, and

finally her perception of-the child's awareness of the

consequences of his handicap On himself. Many questions

in this schedule were precoded. However, some questions •

like knowledge of the handicap, expectations from child,

knowledge of the s~ecial services were Left Q~en­

ended.

65

~chedULe III 'contained questions on the process

of commUnication between mother and deaf child and

her perception of this process between deaf child and

her, child I s father and sibling. The questions were

put in the form of situations based on five purposes

for communicating (mentioned earlier in the section

on scope of the study). The data on frequency of

communication, message encoding skills, message decod­

ing skillS, channels used and assessment of outcome

were recorded in codes for each situation. The last

part of this schedULe contained a list of factors

influencing communication from which mother was asked

to identify factors which, according to her, helped the

communication process, those which created problems

and those which had no effect. Lastly, her plans for

coping with the identified problems were probed. lVlost

of the questions were precOded although some questions

like, reason for not communicating in a given situation

and plans i"or coping with identified problems on her

own, were left open-ended.

66

~chedule IV administered to the father provided

information on his knowledge of the handicap, his

sources for gaining this knowledge, his knowledge and

utiliza tion of special services available in the city

for the deaf, his opinion of impact of child's presence

on daily life, his expectations t"rom the chi.ld and. his

perception of child's awareness of the consequences of

his handicap on himself. The second part of the

schedule contained questions on the process of

communication between himself and deaf child. fhe

situations and the method of recording answers were

the same as for the mother. The last part of the

schedule contained the same list of influencing factors

as in sched.~e III followed by similar questions for

the father. Coding procedure also was identical.

A set of flash cards in ~nglish, 6uJarati, Hindi

and Marathi were used for some questions on "Sources

for gaining information about the handicap", "Knowledge

and utilization of special services", "the communication

process" were used "to aid the respondents in answering

the questions posed.

A set of Seven photographs were specially

prepared by the researcher with the co-operation of

67

the Principal and a few mothers of Vikas Yidyalaya

School I'or the Deaf depicting the use of a combination

of encoding skills, decoding skills and channels used

while communicating in a dyad situation. .l:Set'ore

asking questions to the mother and father on the

process of communication, the researcher explained the

use of the combination of encoding skills, decoding

skills and channels with the help of these photographs.

This audio-visual presentation was very helpful in

enabling ~arents to relate the said ~rocess concretely

to their own situations. It provided relief to

parents who often were emotional while giving responses

to questions asked. earlier. 'J'hey thus regained their

composure and the atmosphere was much lighter after

showing the photographs.

1Bta coliection took four full months as the

families were scattered allover tlombay and. its

eastern and western suburbs. Eighty interviews were

conducted by this researcher. For conducting the

remaining 20, the researcher was helped by a trained

social worker. Each parent was met personally oy

the researcher,who conducted the interviews mostly

at home. However, a few of the tathers' interviews

were conducted in the school premises whenever this

arrangement was mutually suitable. On an average,

each family interview took about 3Y2 hours. To

avoid lengthy sittings at one time and to ensure

individual opinions, the interviews of the mothers

and fathers were conducted separately on separate

68

days. ~ometimes the mother's interview was split into

two sessions of 1Y2 hours and one hour respectively

according to mutual convenience. ~ecaU8e of the length

of the interview, as far as pOSSible, parents were

visitea after making a prior appointment through the

parents themselves or through another escort when tney

came to reach the chi~d to 8choo~ or take him home

after school. The school authOrities and teachers were

very helpful in con:t'irming such appointments tor the

researcher.

On the whole, data collection was a very

interesting and enlightening experience. Though the

researcher was given the traditional Indian hospitality

69

in all homes, the t'amilies I reaction to the interview

was expectedly varied, given the nature of the

problems selected for the study. ~ome families

greeted the researcher with an eager enthusiasm to

participate in a t'ruitful session of mutual give,...and­

take. Some parents showed great anxiety about

proJecting the "right" image to the researcher. they

sat on the edge of their chair, fidgeted a great deal

and took a long time to answer each question. ~he

researcher's training and experience in social work

practice stood her in good stead in being patient with

them with the result that some of them slowly relaxed

as the interview progressed and as they began to

realize that the researcher was not Judging them or

reprimanding them in any way but was sympathetically

trying to understand the problems they would naturally

face as parent~ of deaf children. Then there were

some p~r~nts who still iookea newildered and hurt by

their child's handicap and received the researcher

with mixed feelings of apathy or suspicion as well as

hopefUlness. Some of the mothers and fathers cried

now and then throughout the interview. ~here were

also a few parents who were cooperative but

completely indifferent to the interview process and

answered questions mechanically as -if the whole

situation was outside themselves. Many parents

expressed their appreciation of the researcher's • concern about their uea!' child and the fact that

someone who they thought W'd.S a .. specialist" was

actually inviting their opinions and asking about

their problems insteaa 01" merely giving out advice

or admonitions.

70

In all,100 mothers were intervi'ewed. However,

only 78 fathers were interviewed, as, 10 fathers were

working abroad, one father was dead, one father had

deserted the family. Eight fathers refused to be

interviewed and two children were under the guardian­

ship of their unmarried aunts.

• • "

7. ANALYSIS OF DATA

This section is in two parts.

Construction of Codes and Codebook

Wh~le preparing the oodebooks. the codes in

the Interview Schedules were retained for some items

of information. For other items a different system

of coding was used as described below.

Level of knowledge on two variables were

71

probed, namely, level of knowledge about the handicap

and level of knowledge and utilization of special

services. Coding was done in two stages (i) Responses

on each of the five aspects of the handicap and each

of the eight special services were categorized lndivi~

dually into (a) good knowledge. (b) partial or some

knowledge and (c) hardly any or no knowledge and scored

according to the number of correct responses given.

(ii) In order to arrive at overall Bcores, the Bcores

at stage (i) were summated and categorized again into

(a) good, (b) partial or some and (c) hardly any or no

knowledge.

A similar system of coding was utilized for the

mother's perception of the overall use of the senses

made by the child and teacher's overall assessment

of the child as well as teacher's assessment of

child's communication skills.

Another system of coding was used for

72

"Impact on family of child's presence" and "Factors

infl uencing communication". Here, two-column codes

were used where these in the first column recorded the

number of "No impact" or "no effect" responses. Those

in the second column for "child's impact on daily life",

were based on the difference between the number of

aspects in daily life which were, "better now" and

which were "worse now". Similarly, the codes in the

second column for "Factors influencing communication"

were based on the difference between factors "helpful"

to the. process and factors "creating problems" in the

process. For arriving at the codes for overall impact •

of child on family and overall influence of factors

on communication respectively, codes in the second

column were merged, categorized, and coded using the

five point scale as follows:

Overall imE§!:£t of chil~2 £fesence on family

• (Jodes

1 -. .

Very POSitive impact ,

2 - ~omewhat positive impact

•

3 3 - Neutral impact

~ . •

73

Overall influence of factors on communication

Codes

1 Very helpful

2' - Quite helpful

3 Not much effect

4- - ::Iomewha t nega ti v e .. 4- Create some problems impact

5 - Very negative impact 5 Create many problems

x- NA ·x NA

• As there 'were 17 si tuations·'in which father and

mother communicated with deaf child and 15 situations

where the deaf child communicated'with father, mother • and sibling, coding of ' the process of communication was . done intwd ways. • . .

(i) For each dyad relationship all the situations

were considered together for frequency of . . communica tion, reason for not communicating,

message-encoding' skills, channels, message-

decoding skills and assessment of outcome as

follows:

74

- For overall frequency of communication

the number 0 f 8i tua tions in which communi ca­

tion took place (a) always, (b) sometimes

or (c) never, was arrived at and coded

acco rdingly.

From among the variety of reasons cited in

all the situations, the two most frequent

reasons cited for not communicating were

coded.

- For Encoding skills, Channels and Decoding

skills, the frequency of different patterns

in each element was noted separately. The

pattern occuring most frequently in each

element was coded individually as the major

pattern for that element and the pattern

appearing in the remaining situations in each

element were coded individually as the minor

pattern, for thaf element.

- Overall assessment of outcome was arrived at

by counting the number of situations where

the receiver could be considered to have

understood the messages and categorized

accordingly.

(ii) For each dyad group,all the si tuations· for

each purpose for communicating have been

considered together in the same way as

mentioned above. The only difference was

that for the three elements, namely, the

message-encoding skills. channel sand

message-decoding skills, only the major

pattern in each of was coded.

Because of the intricate nature of the subject •

chosen for study and the need to have a set of four

75

schedules, the resulting data required a voluminous code­

book conSisting of as many as seven cards. Having a

detailed code-book facilitated the later job of

presenting meaningful analysis of data.

8. tJ!ALYSIS OF DATA

. ",ere-The variables sel ected for analysl.s ~ closely

related to the objectives of the study. To begin with,

the frequency of communication between corresponding

dyad relationships (mother-chiid; child-mother; ,;.l*-~~er

father-child; child-father) with reference to all'

situations taken together and each of the f'ive

purposes were analysed. A similar analysis was done

for reasons for not communicating. The relationship

between frequency of communication and assessment

of outcome for all situations taken together as well

as all situation for each of the purposes for each

76

dyad relationship were examined. The interaction

between the three elements, viz. the combination of

encoding Skills, combination of channels and combina­

tion of decoding skills brought forth definite major

CPs. That is to say, that a particular source-receiver

pair used a specific combination of encoding skills,

channels and decoding skills when communicating for a

particular purpose. Th1.ZS different dyad rela tionships

produced different CPs when communicating for different

purposes, These CPs are very important for understand­

ing the type and extent of communication taking place

in different dyad relationships.

The frequency of communication and the CPs

used by each dyad pair for all the situations taken

77

together have then been examined in the light of

their relationship to the family's personal characte­

ristics and reactions to the child. The major

personal characteristics to which they have been

related are age-group and sex of child, age, educa­

tional level of parents, SES of family, hearing

status of family members, parents' level of knowledge

about the handicap and their expectations from child.

The other majo r variables are: perc ei ved

influencing factors, identified problems and ways of

ooping with them. ¥irst, both parents' opinions

about the overall influence of 14 factors on communica­

tion have been described followed by a comparison

between mother's and father's opinions. Parents'

perceptions of the overall influence of factors on

communication were then related first to child's age­

group and sex, SES of family and their perception of

the, impact on family of child's presence. Next, they

were related to the extent of communication and the

CPs us ed by the Mother-'child and J!'a ther-child dyads.

Five factors were selected for intensive analysis.

78

They were (i) child's use of hearing-aid; (ii) educa­

tional level of parent; (iii) parent's level of

knowledge of the handicap; (iv) awareness of specialized

services; and (v) medium of instruction at school with

reference to language spoken at home. Parents'

perceptions of the influence of the above five factors

on communication, if perceived as creating problems,

reasons why they were identified as such, and parents'

plan for coping with identified problems were described.

Parents' perception of the influence of each of the

five factors was next related to, appropriate background

characteristics and the extent of communication initia­

ted by mother-child and ~ather-child dyads.

Lastly, parents' ov"erall ability to cope wi tl:J.

identified problems was related to age-group and sex

of child, SES of family and their perception of

impact on family of child's presence. Parents' overall

ability to cope was also related to the extent of

communication and CPs used by mother-child and tather­

ehil d dyads.

The data were machine processed. Apart from

presenting frequencies and percentages, x2 test was

applied to see the degree of significance of the

relationship between some of the variables.

79