We Need to Communicate! Helping Hearing Parents of Deaf Children Learn American Sign Language
Kimberly A. Weaver, Thad Starner · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS) · doi:10.1145/2049536.2049554
Summary
This paper presents interview research with hearing parents of deaf children to understand their motivations, challenges, and needs when learning American Sign Language, informing the design of SMARTSign, a mobile ASL learning application. In the United States, 90-95% of deaf children are born to hearing parents who typically have no prior ASL exposure. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with eleven parents from ten families across three US regions, recruited through early intervention programmes and a national hearing detection conference. The children ranged from 10 months to 16 years old, and all used some form of sensory device (hearing aid or cochlear implant). The interviews covered four areas: family background, ASL learning experiences, reactions to the SMARTSign prototype, and phone ownership. Parents evaluated six categories of learning tools they had used: early intervention services, books, DVDs, websites, classes, and mobile learning. The SMARTSign prototype had three components: Express (search and watch ASL videos by typing or speaking English words), Alert (quiz-based vocabulary practice), and Practice (record yourself signing and compare with source video).
Key findings
The primary motivation for learning ASL was better communication with their children (8 of 10 families), often driven by urgent real-world situations — one mother described being unable to communicate danger to her son at a swimming pool when he was not wearing his cochlear implant. Three parents were motivated by providing bilingual education and Deaf community access. Significant disincentives included social discomfort (being stared at while signing in public), treating ASL as temporary until cochlear implants or hearing aids improve speech, lack of practice opportunities, and difficulty of the language itself. Parents rated learning tools very differently: early intervention services received the most positive reactions due to personalisation and home-based delivery; books received the most negative reactions because static images cannot convey the motion essential to signs; DVDs were popular but frustrating because they focused on isolated vocabulary rather than connected signing; classes were divisive depending on whether content matched immediate communication needs. The most exciting proposed feature was learning to read stories to their children in ASL — all ten parents expressed interest, seeing it as a path to fluency rather than just vocabulary. Parents also valued the Practice component's ability to record themselves signing and compare with examples. All parents were willing to switch phones to access SMARTSign.
Relevance
This research addresses a critical accessibility gap: the language development of deaf children depends heavily on their parents' sign language ability, yet hearing parents face enormous barriers to learning ASL. The finding that 90-95% of deaf children have hearing parents means this is not an edge case but the overwhelming norm. For accessibility practitioners and educational technology developers, the study provides actionable design insights: successful ASL learning tools must be personalised to the family's immediate communication needs (not generic curricula), use video rather than static images, support connected signing (stories, phrases) not just isolated vocabulary, enable self-assessment through recording and comparison, and work offline on mobile devices that fit into parents' fragmented schedules. The parents' strong interest in story-reading as a learning vehicle is particularly significant — it simultaneously builds ASL fluency, supports deaf children's literacy development, and strengthens the parent-child bond. The research also reveals the complex social dynamics around sign language adoption, including the tension between oral and sign language approaches and the role of Deaf community mentors in supporting hearing parents.
Tags: deaf accessibility · sign language · educational technology · mobile accessibility · Deaf Culture · language access · communication · child development