Language and Pretend Actions Understanding in Children with Hearing Loss.
American Annals of the Deaf
|May 4, 2026
Summary
Children born deaf may struggle with understanding pretend actions due to language delays. This study highlights the crucial link between language acquisition and social cognition development in deaf children.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Special Education
Background:
- Deaf children of hearing parents face linguistic and communicative challenges.
- These challenges can potentially delay social-cognitive development.
- Understanding pretend actions is a key aspect of social cognition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if deaf children's understanding of pretend actions is affected by their language skills.
- To explore the influence of language on the social cognition of deaf children.
- To examine the relationship between language development and pretend play abilities.
Main Methods:
- A total of 166 children (75 deaf/hard of hearing, 91 hearing), aged 3-8 years, participated.
- Children completed tasks assessing expressive vocabulary, understanding of pretend actions, and nonverbal abilities.
- Teachers/speech therapists provided demographic and linguistic-communicative skill data via questionnaires.
Main Results:
- Deaf and hard of hearing children demonstrated difficulties in understanding pretend actions.
- These difficulties were significantly correlated with their linguistic and communicative skill levels.
- Hearing children's performance was not detailed in the provided abstract but implied as a comparison group.
Conclusions:
- Language and communication skills are vital for deaf children's ability to understand pretend actions.
- The findings underscore the significant role of language in developing social cognition.
- Implications for educational strategies supporting deaf children's social-cognitive development are discussed.
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