Collaborative, responsive behavior in peer interaction

Children with and without Down syndrome and hearing impairment

Authors

  • Lill-Johanne Eilertsen Signo Resource Centre / University of South-Eastern Norway
  • Oddvar Hjulstad University of South-Eastern Norway
  • Romy Regina Prochnow Eikholt Centre for Deafblindness
  • Sigrun Slettner Signo Resource Centre

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.24422

Keywords:

children, Down syndrome, hearing impairment, peer interaction, alignment

Abstract

Background: Interactive work with children who have unequal cognitive resources and unequal access to language can be challenging. This article explores the collaborative labor involved in establishing alignment between a child with Down syndrome in combination with hearing impairment (DS-HI) and a hearing peer without DS, during a shared interactive book reading activity in an inclusive educational setting.

Method: Video recording of children in a naturally occurring, shared book reading activity is analyzed using conversation analysis. The recording took place in the children’s school.

Results: The situated shared book reading is regulated by interaction rules. A pattern of collaborative, responsive behavior where the children align to each other’s initiatives is identified within these interaction rules.

Discussion and conclusion: The shared book reading format has a scaffolding function in the interaction. The findings illustrate how a typically developing peer is able to align to the sensory and cognitive capacities displayed in the child with DS-HI, and how this facilitates co-created meaning-making in the interaction.

Author Biographies

  • Lill-Johanne Eilertsen, Signo Resource Centre / University of South-Eastern Norway

    Lill-Johanne Eilertsen is a senior adviser at the Signo Resource Centre and an Associate Professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway. She is trained as a teacher in special needs education. Her PhD concerned peer interaction between children with and without HI and complex needs, focusing on participation and inclusion. The Signo Resource Centre offers services for people with deafblindness or HI in combination with other disabilities. Her research interests include atypical interaction and inclusive education.

  • Oddvar Hjulstad, University of South-Eastern Norway

    Oddvar Hjulstad is an Associate Professor at the Department of Education, University of South-Eastern Norway. He has previously worked as a teacher for deaf pupils in primary school. His teaching and research interests mainly concern issues in the field of special needs education, particularly topics such as augmentative and alternative communication, and social interaction in inclusive environments for deaf and hard-of-hearing pupils.

  • Romy Regina Prochnow, Eikholt Centre for Deafblindness

    Romy Regina Prochnow is a qualified inclusive education pedagogue and art therapist. In recent years, she has immersed herself in psychomotorics and completed a master’s degree in visual educational science. Her master’s thesis concerns how students with Down syndrome in combination with vision and HI use their sight and gaze in interactional situations at school. She works at Eikholt, a national resource centre for people with deafblindness. Eikholt contributes to research that deals with people with deafblindness, and provides services and courses for people with deafblindness, their relatives, and other professionals.

  • Sigrun Slettner, Signo Resource Centre

    Sigrun Slettner is a senior adviser at the Signo Resource Centre, which offers services for people with deafblindness or HI in combination with other disabilities. She is a research partner in a project studying atypical interaction between pupils with DS-HI and their peers without DS-HI.

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Published

2024-04-30

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Vol. 15 No. 2 (2024): Papers from the Atypical Conversation Conference, Newcastle 3

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How to Cite

Eilertsen, L.-J., Hjulstad, O., Prochnow, R. R., & Slettner, S. (2024). Collaborative, responsive behavior in peer interaction: Children with and without Down syndrome and hearing impairment. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 15(2), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.24422