Touch and emotional availability in hearing and deaf or hard of hearing toddlers and their hearing mothers

This study assessed the relationship between touch and quality of interaction between hearing mothers and their 2-year-old deaf or hard of hearing children or their 2-year-old normally hearing children. Mothers and their children who are deaf or hard of hearing touched each other move than children and mothers in dyads in which both members were normally hearing. In addition, more children who are deafer hard of hearing and their mothers were hostile than in dyads of children with normal hearing, and mothers of children who are deaf or hard of hearing structured their children's play more than in dyads of mothers with normally heaving children. For dyads with normally heaving children, the presence of maternal hostility was related to an increase in the number of both maternal and child touches. In contrast,for dyads with children who are deaf or hard of hearing the presence of maternal hostility was related to a decrease in the number of maternal and child touches. Maternal touch may be intrusive to normally hearing toddlers because of their developing sense of autonomy. However,for 2-year-old children who are deaf or hard of hearing ann their mothers, touch may remain an important modality of communication.