Interpreter Influence Cognitive Development

As I read the chapter “How Might Learning through an Educational Interpreter Influence Cognitive Development” by Brenda Schick (2005), I came away with three main points: an interpreter can delay a child’s development of Theory of Mind, the presence of an interpreter can limit a deaf or hard of hearing (hoh) student’s interactions with hearing students, and an interpreter can impact learning by omitting or distorting information. The ability to think abstractly and realize that people have thoughts based on their own experiences occurs for most hearing children around the age of four (Schick, p. 76). This ability, called Theory of Mind,” is often delayed in deaf or hoh children who have hearing parents. To help these students develop this skill, it is important that the interpreter pays close attention to giving the deaf student information about the speaker’s content, register, and communicative stance so that the deaf student can begin seeing the differences in other people’s personalities. In order to predict how someone else will behave, one must realize that everyone is unique. When the interpreter only conveys the literal message, the deaf student cannot attribute personality traits to others. We …show more content…
Research indicates that peer interaction “enhances children’s problem-solving skills, exploration, and recall” (p. 79). The presence of an adult interpreter limits student interaction with hearing peers. In addition, hearing children tend not to participate in argumentation when an adult is present (p.80). Argumentation teaches children how to justify their ideas, to make valid arguments, and to consider other viewpoints. Therefore, because deaf children must rely on an interpreter to interact with hearing peers and hearing peers avoid argumentation when an adult is present, deaf/hoh children have fewer opportunities to develop the skills learned through