Course curriculum

  • 1

    Course content

    • PowerPoint

    • Unlocking Perspective-Taking Skills Through Language and Literacy for DHH Children

    • Quiz

    • Evaluation

    • Continuing Education Credits

Course information

Course description: Understanding thoughts, emotions, and perspectives is critical for social and academic success. Sometimes referred to as “theory of mind,” these skills encompass a wide range of competencies within the cognitive domain (e.g., thoughts, beliefs, intentions, motivations) and the affective or emotional domain (e.g., feelings, empathy). Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children have shown difficulties with aspects of theory of mind, thought to be tied to language difficulties arising from language deprivation. This presentation will describe how language and literacy skills support and interact with perspective-taking abilities for all children, focusing specifically on DHH children. Practical suggestions for language- and literacy-based activities that can support the development of theory of mind will be presented, outlining ways that speech-language pathologists and other educators can support these critical language, literacy, and perspective-taking abilities.

Agenda:

10 minutes: Background on theory of mind 

15 minutes: Connection between language and theory of mind 

15 minutes: Connection between literacy and theory of mind 

30 minutes: Theory of mind and language for deaf children 

20 minutes: Practical ways to support ToM for deaf children 


Learner outcomes:

Participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the relationship between theory of mind skills and language/literacy skills

  2. Summarize the key findings from the literature about ToM development for DHH individuals

  3. Provide at least three examples about how to support theory of mind skills for DHH learners through language and/or literacy interventions

Instructor(s)

Kristen Secora

Kristen Secora is an assistant professor of communication disorders at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has been a speech-language pathologist and/or researcher working with deaf individuals and people with other communication needs for 14 years. Her research focuses on supporting language and perspective-taking skills for children.

Speaker disclosures

Financial disclosures: Dr. Secora receives a salary from her work as a full-time assistant professor at the University of Tennessee. She receives royalties for this course in the Language First Learning Library and is receiving an honorarium for this presentation.

Nonfinancial disclosures: Dr. Secora is a board member for Tennessee Association of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists.

Continuing Education

This course is offered for 0.15 ASHA CEUs.