Spatial and facial processing in the signed discourse of two groups of deaf signers with clinical language impairment

Abstract

The linguistic and cognitive profiles of five deaf adults with a sign language disorder were compared with those of matched deaf controls. The test involved a battery of sign language tests, a signed narrative discourse task and a neuropsychological test protocol administered in sign language. Spatial syntax and facial processing were examined in detail and correlated with language and cognitive findings. The battery clearly differentiated the performance of the clinical participants from that of the normal controls. Further, test performance of the clinical individuals was distinct and showed marked correlations with neurological history, as well as with cognitive profiles. The important role of narrative discourse as a clinically sensitive diagnostic tool is described.

• Sign language
• right hemisphere damage
• spatial syntax
• facial processing

Notes

1. A common distinction made in writing about deafness is between “deaf” and “Deaf”: the former refers to deafness as an audiological condition, the latter to deafness as a cultural identity. In this study both descriptors are useful as we used participants both (by virtue of their language) from a cohesive cultural group and selected on the basis of their degree of hearing loss. Although we believe this to be a valuable distinction conceptually and heuristically, we also think that it oversimplifies and dichotomises the complexity of membership in the deaf community. We have therefore chosen to simply use the lowercase “deaf” here, with the understanding that the construction of deafness is complex and multilayered (see Branson & Miller, 2002; Padden & Humphries, 2005).