Hearing Children of Deaf Parents

A Pathfinder

SCOPE

Hearing children born to deaf parents are often called CODAs or codas ([Hearing] Children Of Deaf Adults). Many of these hearing children grow up in a deaf-culture environment. Many of them learn to sign before they learn to speak. They are often pressed into service as interpreters for their parents, even while they still are very young children. Their parents usually involve their hearing children in deaf activities and events. At the same time, these children must function as part of the hearing world, because they are in fact hearing and go to hearing schools, and they usually grow up with hearing friends and participate in hearing activities and events. Hence, CODAs often feel caught between two cultures: they are hearing, but grew up "Deaf"; they usually like music and other distinctly "hearing" things, but also must reconcile those with their "Deaf" identities. Many adult hearing children of deaf parents are members of a support group called CODA, which helps them to come to grips with the conflicts involved.

The Gallaudet University Library contains much material relating to hearing children of deaf parents. This pathfinder is designed to help you find information and materials about hearing children of deaf parents. If you want the most recent information on this subject, you should plan to use periodicals (magazines and journals) found in the ERIC or Exceptional Child Education Resources databases. Books will also be helpful and often more thorough, but they are usually not as current as periodicals.

Remember, this pathfinder will not tell you about all the materials the Library has about this topic. You must do the basic research yourself. This pathfinder will guide you to the appropriate places to begin your search for information. If you need further assistance, please ask at the Reference Desk.

BOOKS

Books are good places to get in-depth information and the historical background of an issue. Books are not good places to find recent information. Hint: Don't forget to check the bibliography (list of resources) at the end of most books to find other suggestions of where to find information!

Two books are suggested for introductions and starting points:

Bull, Thomas H., On the edge of deaf culture: hearing children/deaf parents, Alexandria, VA: Deaf Family Research Press, 1998 (DEAF 306.874016 O57 1998).

• This contains annotated references to thousands of books, periodical articles, videotapes, and other materials relating to hearing children of deaf parents, grouped by topics.

Preston, Paul, Mother father deaf: living between sound and silence, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994 (DEAF 306.874 P73m 1994).

• An excellent orientation to this topic, covering the two "cultures in collision" with reviews of previous research, personal experiences of many different people, and examinations of psychological and social factors, especially self-identity and social acceptance.

You can find other books about hearing children of deaf parents in the ALADIN catalog by using the WRLC Libraries Catalog. Use the following terms in a Keyword search:

• "hearing children" AND "deaf parents"
• "hearing children" AND "family relationship"
• "parent child relationship" AND "hearing children"
• children AND "handicapped parents"

PERIODICALS

To find information about hearing children of deaf parents using the ERIC article database, access ERIC through the Articles and Other Databases section of ALADIN. You can use the following terms in a keyword search:

• hearing children and deaf parents

Some additional material may be found through the Exceptional Child Education Resources database, which is also in Articles and Other Databases. In this database, use the Words anywhere search with the terms:

• hearing children deaf parents

To find information in the psychology literature about hearing children of deaf parents, use the PsycINFO article database on ALADIN. Use the Keywords search with the following terms:

• hearing children deaf parents

The online Index to deaf periodicals (available through Deaf-Related Resources on the Gallaudet Library's Web page, http://library.gallaudet.edu) will help you find articles in several popular deaf periodicals. Use these terms in a Browse...Subject search:

• hearing children of deaf parents
• children of deaf adults

OTHER RESOURCES

Videotapes

Videotapes are available through the Circulation Desk. Use the WRLC Libraries Catalog part of ALADIN and the Keyword search with the following terms:

• "hearing children" AND "family relationship" AND videorecording
• "parent child relationship" AND "hearing children" AND videorecording
• "hearing children" AND "deaf parents" AND videorecording

World Wide Web (WWW)

The organization Children of Deaf Adults (CODA) has a site on the WWW, which you can visit for more information about CODA itself: http://www.coda-international.org/.

The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) also has a Special Interest Group called Hearing Interpreters with Deaf Parents (HIDP), with a somewhat different emphasis and membership than CODA. Some information about HIDP can be found through the RID web site: http://www.rid.org/sigs.html#sig5.

For more information on hearing children of deaf parents, use a search engine such as Google (http://www.google.com) or Northern Light (http://northernlight.com) and run the following search:

• +"hearing children" +"deaf parents"

Remember: If you have any questions, please ask a librarian at the Service Desk.