While face coverings have been important in reducing the spread of Covid-19, it has affected human communication, particularly for deaf and hard-of-hearing people (HoH). In collaboration with Dr. Eva Gutierrez-Sigut (project lead), lecturer at the University of Essex, Dr. Kate Rowley (co-investigator) carried out a survey exploring the impact of face coverings on communication. Responses from 395 deaf/HoH people from the U.K. and Spain revealed that despite difficulties in communication, most deaf/HoH wore masks. Deaf people who became deaf later in life struggled the most with communication and reported lower levels of wellbeing. All deaf people, whether they became deaf early or late in life, reported that they were missing more information and felt more disconnected from society.

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12/7/2021

The Centre for Language, Literacy and Numeracy: Research and Practice (LLNR&P) Professor Nicola Botting (City, University of London) Recorded 13th Dec, 2016 Professor Botting highlighted the importance of assessing the capacity to learn as well as current knowledge of a specific set of words or sentence structures. She presented alternative dynamic assessment measures developed at City, University of London, for language at the word and sentence levels. She showed the potential for these measures to pinpoint communication difficulties early on and in older children, and to inform intervention. The talk was attended by many practitioners, researchers and organisation representatives. The issues raised during the talk generated a lot of discussion during the question period and in the wine reception that followed, including the dearth of evidence-based language interventions for secondary school children and the challenges of using assessment data to develop targeted interventions.

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1/5/2017