An examination the interactions of a child with hearing loss and his hearing brother in various context

The purpose of the research is to examine the interactions of a child with hearing loss and his hearing brother in various contexts. It was designed as a case study. The participants of the study are a 6 year-old boy with hearing loss, and his 3-year-old hearing brother and their parents. The data of the study were collected via participatory observations, semi-structured and unstructured interviews, documents and research journal. The collected data were analyzed both descriptively and inductively when necessary during and at the end of the study period. The findings of the research have shown that the child with hearing loss and his hearing brother interacted in two different ways –joint and non-joint referenced- via verbal or nonverbal expressions in various contexts. In these interactions, according to context, there were differences in behavior of verbal and nonverbal expressions of initiation and termination of interactions. It was observed that rarely the child with hearing loss, sometimes the hearing brother was more actively involved in the changing roles according to the nature of specific context. The interactions occurred between two brothers were mainly instant and uncompleted. The results of this study that examines the interactions between the child with hearing loss and his hearing sibling in various contexts are considered to contribute to the related literature. It is also believed that the results could provide information about the sibling interactions for the families who have child (ren) with and without hearing loss. Keywords: Family interactions, The child with hearing loss, Sibling interaction.