Research / Survey Opportunities

Agencies, Organizations, Universities and others are often looking for participation of families and professionals for current research and survey projects. Each opportunity listed below has contact information if you would like to participate. Please contact the specific entity that is sponsoring each research/survey opportunity if you would like more information.

Unless otherwise noted, Hands & Voices does not necessarily promote the goals and objectives of listed research/survey opportunities and participants are advised to clarify any questions/concerns prior to participation with contacts listed for each research/survey opportunity.

For information on submitting your project for inclusion on this page please read our Submittal Request Sheet.

Parent Research / Survey Opportunities

- Descriptions of Studies -

Storybooks for Deaf Children

Hello parents!  My name is Dr. Becky Sue Parton and I am a professor at Morehead State University in Kentucky.  I met a little 3 year old girl who was Deaf at my church when I was a teenager and that started my journey to becoming a certified interpreter and earning my Masters in Deaf Education (and later my PhD in Educational Technology).  Thus my research focuses on using instructional technology with Deaf children.

I invite you to download a free mobile storybook app for your Deaf/HH child and then answer a few short survey questions about the experience.  The story is about learning color words and is presented in a Bi-lingual format (ASL and written English) and is titled “Lambert’s Colorful World”.  Depending on the language level of the child, we think it would be most appropriate for children around ages 4-6.  It is an extension of a federal grant project that Dr. Hancock and I received and features Deaf graduate students from Lamar University in the story videos.

Please scan the QR code below to get the storybook app.  Or if you need more instructions on how to use the code and download the app, visit this website: http://storybooksforthedeaf.wikispaces.com/LambertColors 

Once your child has played with the app, then please complete the quick survey found here:
http://goo.gl/forms/xu6YCIIYfH 

Survey of Parental Experiences with Early Childhood Services for their Child with Hearing Loss

My name is Emily Garrett and I am a doctoral student in the Department of Audiology at Towson University.  As part of the research for my doctoral thesis, I am conducting a survey to evaluate parental experiences with services received during the diagnosis and intervention for their child with hearing loss. Please take the time to fill out this survey regarding your experiences with the services provided for the management of your child’s hearing loss. Answers from this survey will allow me, as a future pediatric audiologist, to shape my care and services to best fit the needs of the children and their families. I would like to be able to provide the best possible care as well as educate and encourage my future colleagues to do the same. I am hopeful that this study will educate other professionals and prompt them to make changes in their interactions with families. This program is more successful when there is parental involvement, positive parent/professional relationships and open lines of communication. Your valuable feedback is the only way to be able to effectively make a difference in the care and services for future children and families who will be participating in diagnostic and early intervention services.

Link to the survey: http://studentvoice.com/towson/hearingprofessionalsurvey

The Looking Game:

Children’s Social Play, Language Development, and Eye Contact with Adults.

Is your child deaf or hard of hearing?

Participate in our study!

We are looking for children who are deaf or hard of hearing to play during a Looking-Game Study. We want to learn about children’s social play, language development, and eye contact with adults. Parents can learn about related research discoveries. Children play with researchers and toys. Parents are with their child for the whole visit. Paperwork for parents is in English. Participation is completely voluntary.

Participation Details:
Involves a one time, one hour visit to the University of Washington. Parents will be compensated for travel and parking expenses. The child will receive a thank you gift for participating in our study.

Child may be eligible to participate if:

1. He/she is 8-36 months old
2. Deaf or hard of hearing

Contact information:

Dawn Hathaway
jalab@uw.edu
(206) 685-2045
Our Flyer: http://ilabs.washington.edu/DHHLookStudy.pdf

Survey for Adolescents with Hearing Loss

I am writing to let you know about a new research project being conducted for adolescents with hearing loss. I am a 2nd year graduate student in Deaf Education at Washington University in St. Louis. I am currently seeking families who have children with hearing loss to participate in my research project to study adolescents with hearing loss and their beliefs in their abilities to learn academic content (such as learning math) and manage academic activities (such as using the library for class assignments).

The research project consists of two parts: a parent questionnaire and a survey for the child to complete.

Who is eligible for this research?

I am looking for participants who:

• Are 13-17 years old
• Diagnosed with hearing loss
• Use assistive listening devices (i.e. hearing aids, cochlear implants)
• Read at a seventh grade or higher reading level
• Use spoken language as primary mode of communication
• Use English as primary language at home

Participation details

• Parents of the child participating will complete an online questionnaire that will take about 5 minutes to complete
• Children participating will complete an online survey that will take about 30 minutes to complete

If you have any questions about the study or are interested in participating, please contact me at a.gao@wustl.edu.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
Aimee Gao,
M.Ed.Master of Science in Deaf Education Graduate Student
Washington University in St. Louis

Language Development in Children with Hearing Loss Research Project

Your child may be eligible to participate if he/she:

• Is between 6 and 30 months
• Has a hearing loss

Participants will receive:

All children will receive at no cost to you:

• Comprehensive language assessments 4 times over 18 to 30 months
• Monthly speech and language check-ups
• Assessment reports about your child’s language development
• Some money for your time

Participants will be randomly chosen to receive either parent training and monthly language check-ups OR monthly language check-ups only.

Only children assigned to the parent training intervention group will receive:

• Weekly, 1-hour parent training sessions at your home for six months where parents learn language teaching strategies.

Contact:

Megan Roberts, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
megan.roberts1@northwestern.edu
(315) 481-9605

This study is funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Research Volunteers Needed for
a Study at the University of
Chicago Medical Center!

We are looking for parents of children with hearing loss to participate in a toddler sound environment study

Families who qualify may earn between $350 and $400

Dr. Suskind and her research team at the University of Chicago Medical Center are interested in learning more about toddler sound environments. As part of this study, you will complete recordings of your child’s sound environment and the research team will analyze the recordings using special software. Information gathered will help find ways to improve children’s sound environments and help them reach their potential!

You and your child may qualify if:

• Your child is under 4 ½  years old
• Your child has moderate to profound hearing loss
• Your child uses hearing aid(s), bone-anchored hearing aid, or cochlear implant(s)
• Your family uses spoken language in the home
• You have at least one day per week when you’re home with your child

Call 773-834-8629 to find out if you qualify!

The George Washington University Cochlear Implant Research Lab

Washington, D.C.

Partcipants needed By George Washington University Researchers

Hello! We are researchers from the George Washington University Cochlear Implant Research Lab located in Washington, D.C. The goal of our research is to better understand how young, deaf children with cochlear implants develop their speaking and listening abilities. We are currently obtaining data on both hearing children and those with cochlear implants. Our research will investigate characteristics of language, sound production, voice, rhythm, and inflections during various speaking tasks.

Who is eligible for this research?

We are looking for participants with cochlear implants who exhibit reliance on spoken English in the home and who meet the following criteria:

• Are 4 to 7 years old
• Are profoundly deaf with the deafness detected at or near birth
• Have received their first implant prior to 36 months of age
• Have no motor or cognitive difficulties that would affect development.
• Are located in the Greater Washington, D.C. area, including Northern VA and MD

What is involved if my child participates?

• Your child will be involved in a number of tasks aimed at sampling their speech, listening, and language abilities.  These include standardized testing, computerized listening games, and play activities aimed at sampling the child’s language skills
• Participation in tasks will require 1 to 2 visits of 60 to 90 minutes each

Following completion of data collection:

• You will receive $100 to cover transportation, parking and time involved.
• Your child will receive an educational toy following each session.
• Results of standardized testing will be shared with parent.

If you have questions or are interested in participating in this study please contact:

James Mahshie, Ph.D.
Professor, George Washington University
Sangsook Choi, Ph.D.
Researcher
2115 G St., NW
Washington, DC 20052
(202)994-3195 or email cistudy@gwu.edu

Hands & Voices is pleased to announce it’s Partnership with the:  

National Early Childhood Assessment Project (NECAP – “kneecap”)

Principal Investigator: Christine Yoshinaga-Itano, Ph.D.
Project Coordinator: Allison Sedey, Ph.D.

We are excited to announce a new project awarded to Dr. Christine Yoshinaga-Itano at the University of Colorado-Boulder by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  The aims of this project are to:

• support interested states in implementing a standard assessment battery for children from birth to 4 years of age who are deaf or hard of hearing
• examine the feasibility of creating a national database of early childhood outcomes
• assist states in interpreting assessment results and using these results to drive intervention goals and decisions
• characterize the service delivery models of early intervention programs throughout the United States
• determine early intervention program characteristics that are related to more successful language outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing

Eligible Participants

All children from 6 months to 4 years of age with permanent hearing loss are eligible to participate.  Children whose loss is not permanent (e.g., cases where the hearing loss is solely a result of otitis media) are not eligible.  Eligible children may have:

• Unilateral or bilateral loss
• Conductive, senori-neural, or mixed hearing loss
• Any degree of permanent hearing loss from mild to profound
• Multiple disabilities or hearing loss only
• English or Spanish as the language of the home

Benefits of Participation

Individual Child and Family Benefits

• Includes parent input in the assessment process
• Measures children’s skills and abilities across a variety of developmental areas
• Allows parents and interventionists to monitor a child’s progress over time and identify potential delays at their onset
• Compares a child’s language abilities to both children who are hearing and other children with hearing loss
• Provides a data-driven approach to making educational programming decisions
• Assists in the generation of IFSP/IEP goals

Program Benefits

• Provides statewide and program-specific accountability data on an annual basis
• Allows programs to examine outcomes across different subgroups of children
• Informs professional personnel preparation needs
• Includes access to normative test data on children who are deaf or hard or hearing
• Results in networking with program directors and EHDI personnel in other states
• Gives states an opportunity to contribute to a national database which will allow us to characterize the language strengths and weaknesses of children with hearing loss and identify factors that are predictive of more successful language outcomes

If you have questions or are interested in becoming involved in this project, please contact:

Allison Sedey
University of Colorado-Boulder
409 UCB
Boulder, CO  80309
303: 492-0078
Allison.Sedey@Colorado.edu

Hands & Voices Contact:  Janet DesGeorges
303-492-6283
janet@handsandvoices.org

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Science of Learning Center on Visual Languages and Visual Learning (VL2)at Gallaudet University

ANNOUNCING the launch of a longitudinal study of young deaf and hard of hearing children by the Science of Learning Center on Visual Languages and Visual Learning (VL2) at Gallaudet University.  The three-year study will involve gathering detailed information and collecting data regarding young deaf and hard of hearing children’s language development, communication, and developmental profiles.

Along with surveys of parents, teachers, and school administrators, a comprehensive battery of assessments administered by trained evaluators from Gallaudet University will be given to deaf and hard of hearing children whose families agree to participate.    

VL2 is seeking schools to participate in the study.  Parents are encouraged to talk to their school administrators and inform them about the study.  Participation is not limited to children who sign; all communication approaches are eligible to participate.

I have set up a blog on the VL2 Public Wiki http://vl2wiki.editme.com/ to provide updates about the project and to answer questions that you may have. 

Sharon Baker, Research-Practice Integration Team member

 For more information or to register as a partnership school, contact:

Thomas Allen, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning
Gallaudet University SLCC 1200
800 Florida Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: 202-651-5866

Email: VL2@gallaudet.edu

Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2)
The VL2 Center, located on the campus of Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, is one of six Science of Learning Centers (SLC) funded by the National Science Foundation grant # SBE-0541953.  The Center brings together deaf and hearing researchers and educators from national and international institutions to conduct interrelated studies across disciplines. VL2’s primary mission is to gain a greater under­standing of the biological, cognitive, linguistic, sociocultural, and pedagogical conditions that influence visual language and visual learning.  More information may be found at www.vl2.gallaudet.edu.

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SURVEY ON FM USE FOR CHILDREN WITH HEARING LOSS

To our colleagues and to parents of children
with hearing loss

We are trying to understand how many children with hearing loss are using FM systems. If they are using them, at what ages, and in what conditions they are used. We have developed a quick and easy survey that we want to distribute to parents of children with hearing loss (assuming that they will know best how and where their children are using FM's). We would appreciate it if you could share this survey link with the parents of children you work with in the hope that they will be willing to complete the information. Families with more than one child with hearing loss should complete the form separately for each child.  We are really grateful for your help

Thank you, Jane Madell and Carol Flexer

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FMkids

Jane R. Madell, PhD
Director, Pediatric Audiology Consulting
Jane@JaneMadell.com

Carol Flexer, PhD
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
University of Akron
cflexer@uakron.edu