Educator-Caregiver Communication Through Technology: A Survey of Early Childhood Educators of the Deaf

Abstract

There has been an increasingly steady growth and utilization of communication technology between early childhood educators and caregivers. This practice for communication has revealed benefits for educators, caregivers, and children as well as positive perceptions surrounding the use of technology for communication between school and home. Despite the largely positive findings, there is limited research of this nature in the field of Deaf education with early childhood educators and caregivers of Deaf children. The goal of this study was to develop a survey of educators who serve Deaf children (ages 3-8 years old) to examine the current state of how educators in early childhood were utilizing technology to communicate with students’ caregivers, share American Sign Language resources to support language and literacy development, and identify differences between educational settings. Results revealed educators in early childhood Deaf education utilize a variety of technology for communication and hold generally positive perceptions about technology and how it can increase communication and knowledge between school and home. Perceptions about the benefits and challenges of using technology with caregivers aligned with findings from previous research. However, new benefits and challenges distinctive to early childhood Deaf education in the United States were also found. This research is one of the first studies to contribute and expand on the limited literature in early childhood Deaf education and explore possibilities for future research studies in the field of early childhood Deaf education and educator-caregiver communication through technologies.