Attachment Patterns in Profoundly Deaf Preschool Children.

Abstract

Research on the social/emotional development of deaf children with hearing parents has repeatedly documented the presence of delays and/or deviance during the preschool and school-age periods (Meadow, 1975). In the present investigation we examine the effects of profound deafness in preschool children on their attachment in teractions with their hearing mothers. Specifically, we examine the level of communicative competence and mode of communication (manual plus oral vs. oral input only) on the developmental phase and quality of the attachment relationship. Research on the developmental course of attachment in hearing children has produced voluminous amounts of data. Bowlby (1969) posited four developmental phases of the attachment system in early childhood. The first two phases occur in early infancy and result in differential responsiveness to one or a few of the infant's caregivers. Phase III, which begins at about eight months, is characterized by the infant's ability to maintain proximity/contact in an active, inten tional fashion. During Phase III, the child's set-goal in the relationship is a variable, but specified, degree of proximity. Ainsworth and her coworkers (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) have enumer ated three general types of Phase III patterns during the first two years: secure (B), avoidant (A), and ambivalent (C). In the latter part of Phase III, as mother and child begin verbally to communicate about their respective plans, there is a significant de