Prof. Christian Rathmann, PhD

@article{35ca1a0f78814f6da0b630f3a167d477,

title = "Avoiding linguistic neglect of deaf children",

abstract = "Deaf children who are not provided with a sign language early in their development are at risk of linguistic deprivation; they may never be fluent in any language, and they may have deficits in cognitive activities that rely on a firm foundation in a first language. These children are socially and emotionally isolated. Deafness makes a child vulnerable to abuse, and linguistic deprivation compounds the abuse because the child is less able to report it. Parents rely on professionals as guides in making responsible choices in raising and educating their deaf children. But lack of expertise on language acquisition and overreliance on access to speech often result in professionals not recommending that the child be taught a sign language or, worse, that the child be denied sign language. We recommend action that those in the social welfare services can implement immediately to help protect the health of deaf children.",

keywords = "Child neglect, Deaf children, Language neglect, Linguistic deprivation, Sign languages, Social communication",

author = "T. Humphries and P. Kushalnagar and G. Mathur and D.J. Napoli and C. Padden and Christian Rathmann and S. Smith",

note = "Anzahl Autoren: 7 | Humphries, Tom| Kushalnagar, Poorna| Mathur, Gaurav| Napoli, Donna Jo| Padden, Carol| Rathmann, Christian| Smith, Scott",

year = "2016",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1086/689543",

language = "English",

volume = "90",

pages = "589--619",

journal = "Social Service Review",

issn = "0037-7961",

publisher = "University of Chicago Press",

number = "4",

@article{ffbab37b0e9248cfb7a643cf2c4216fe,

title = "The Importance of Early Sign Language Acquisition for Deaf Readers",

abstract = "Researchers have used various theories to explain deaf individuals' reading skills, including the dual route reading theory, the orthographic depth theory, and the early language access theory. This study tested 4 groups of children-hearing with dyslexia, hearing without dyslexia, deaf early signers, and deaf late signers (N = 857)-from 4 countries using both shallow and deep orthographies (American English, Hebrew, German, and Turkish) to evaluate which of these theories best describes variances in deaf children's reading development. Results showed that deaf participants were unlike participants with dyslexia, suggesting that they do not have a phonological processing deficit. Rather, the early language access theory more readily explained the similarities between hearing and deaf early signer participants, stressing the importance of early access to visual language.",

keywords = "Hearing, Reading, Hearing students, Language, Sign, Hearing, Reading, Hearing students, Language, Sign",

author = "M.D. Clark and P.C. Hauser and P. Miller and T. Kargin and Christian Rathmann and B. Guldenoglu and Okan Kubus and E. Spurgeon and E. Israel",

note = "Anzahl Autoren: 9 | Clark, M. Diane| Hauser, Peter C.| Miller, Paul| Kargin, Tevhide| Rathmann, Christian| Guldenoglu, Birkan| Kubus, Okan| Spurgeon, Erin| Israel, Erica",

year = "2016",

month = mar,

day = "3",

doi = "10.1080/10573569.2013.878123",

language = "English",

volume = "32",

pages = "127--151",

journal = "Reading and Writing Quarterly",

issn = "1057-3569",

publisher = "Taylor and Francis",

number = "2",

@article{d01f8e94cdea428aaff8333b53bd4f36,

title = "Word recognition in deaf readers: Cross-language activation of German Sign Language and German",

abstract = "This study addressed visualword recognition in deaf bilinguals who are proficient in German Sign Language (DGS) and German. The study specifically investigated whether DGS signs are activated during a monolingual German word recognition task despite the lack of similarity in German orthographic representations and DGS phonological representations. Deaf DGS-German bilinguals saw pairs of German words and decided whether the words were semantically related. Half of the experimental items had phonologically related translation equivalents in DGS. Participants were slower to reject semantically unrelated word pairs when the translation equivalents were phonologically related in DGS than when the DGS translations were phonologically unrelated. However, this was not the case in Turkish-German hearing bilinguals who do not have sign language knowledge. The results indicate that lexical representations are associated cross-linguistically in the bilingual lexicon irrespective of their orthographic or phonological form. Implications of these results for reading development in deaf German bilinguals are discussed.",

keywords = "Bilingual, Language, Bilingual experience, Reading, Semantics, Bilingual, Language, Bilingual experience, Reading, Semantics",

author = "Okan Kubus and A. Villwock and J.P. Morford and Christian Rathmann",

note = "Anzahl Autoren: 4 | Kubus, Okan| Villwock, Agnes| Morford, Jill P.| Rathmann, Christian",

year = "2015",

month = jan,

day = "20",

doi = "10.1017/S0142716413000520",

language = "English",

volume = "36",

pages = "831--854",

journal = "Applied Psycholinguistics",

issn = "0142-7164",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

number = "4",

@article{3903b476425e454c8cb735dc62b66e2f,

title = "Ensuring language acquisition for deaf children: What linguists can do",

abstract = "Parents of small deaf children need guidance on constructing home and school environments that affect normal language acquisition. They often turn to physicians and spiritual leaders and, increasingly, the internet. These sources can be underinformed about crucial issues, such as matters of brain plasticity connected to the risk of linguistic deprivation, and delay or disruption in the development of cognitive skills interwoven with linguistic ability. We have formed a team of specialists in education, linguistics, pediatric medicine, and psychology, and at times specialists in theology and in law have joined our group. We argue that deaf children should be taught a sign language in the early years. This does not preclude oral-aural training and assistive technology. With a strong first language (a sign language), the child can become bilingual (with the written form of the ambient spoken language and, perhaps, the spoken form), accruing the benefits of bilingualism. We have published in medical journals, addressing primary care physicians, in a journal with a spiritual-leader readership, and in a health-law journal. Articles in progress address medical educators and practitioners. Team members present findings at conferences, work on lobbying and legislative efforts with the National Association of the Deaf, and spread the word at conferences of target audiences. We share our work in Word format, so that anyone can easily appropriate it for our common interests. One of our articles has been downloaded over 27,000 times (as of April 2014), and we are asked to consult with committees in other countries as they draft national policies.",

keywords = "Brain plasticity, Deaf children's rights, Ethics and activism in scholarship, First language acquisition, Sign languages",

author = "T. Humphries and P. Kushalnagar and G. Mathur and D.J. Napoli and C. Padden and Christian Rathmann",

note = "Anzahl Autoren: 6 | Humphries, Tom| Kushalnagar, Poorna| Mathur, Gaurav| Napoli, Donna Jo| Padden, Carol| Rathmann, Christian",

year = "2014",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1353/lan.2014.0036",

language = "English",

volume = "90",

pages = "e31--e52",

journal = "Language",

issn = "0097-8507",

publisher = "Linguistic Society of America",

number = "2",

@article{b936ec7d33b24b57854961337ceea755,

title = "A comparison of the letter-processing skills of hearing and deaf readers: Evidence from five orthographies",

abstract = "This study was designed to examine the letter-processing skills of prelingually deaf and hearing students recruited from five different orthographic backgrounds (Hebrew, Arabic, English, German, and Turkish). Participants were 128 hearing and 133 deaf 6th-7th graders. They were tested with a same/different paradigm that assessed their ability to process letters under perceptual and conceptual conditions. Findings suggest that the letter-processing skills of deaf readers from some orthographic backgrounds may be underdeveloped in comparison to hearing counterparts. The finding that such letter-processing deficits were restricted to readers of some but not all of the tested orthographies warrants the conclusion that prelingual deafness, per se, does not impede the development of effective letter processing. Evidence for this study is discussed with reference to potential orthography-inherent and educational factors that may explain the existence of letter-processing deficits found in some of the prelingually deaf readers examined in this study. {\textcopyright} The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.",

keywords = "Hearing, Reading, Hearing students, Language, Sign, Hearing, Reading, Hearing students, Language, Sign",

author = "B. Guldenoglu and P. Miller and T. Kargin and P. Hauser and Christian Rathmann and Okan Kubus",

note = "Anzahl Autoren: 6 | Guldenoglu, Birkan| Miller, Paul| Kargin, Tevhide| Hauser, Peter| Rathmann, Christian| Kubus, Okan",

year = "2014",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1093/deafed/ent051",

language = "English",

volume = "19",

pages = "220--237",

journal = "Journal of deaf studies and deaf education",

issn = "1081-4159",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "2",

@article{e231a57f75be4a57b96e0aa9e5b9b172,

title = "Factors distinguishing skilled and less skilled deaf readers: Evidence from four orthographies",

abstract = "This study aims to enhance understanding of the factors underlying variance in the reading comprehension skills of prelingually deaf individuals. Participants were 213 sixth through tenth graders with prelingual deafness recruited from four orthographic backgrounds (Hebrew, Arabic, English, and German) and allocated to three distinct reading profiles (levels). A sentence comprehension test manipulating the semantic plausibility of sentences and a word processing experiment requiring rapid determination of the semantic relationship between two real words or between a real word and a pseudohomophonic letter string were used to determine the factors distinguishing skilled from less skilled deaf readers. Findings point to deficits in structural (syntactic) knowledge and deficient knowledge structures, rather than differences in phonological processing skills, as making that distinction. Moreover, the acquisition of such knowledge seems to be modified by particularities of the read orthography.",

keywords = "Hearing, Reading, Hearing students, Language, Sign, Hearing, Reading, Hearing students, Language, Sign",

author = "P. Miller and T. Kargin and B. Guldenoglu and Christian Rathmann and Okan Kubus and P. Hauser and E. Spurgeon",

year = "2012",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1093/deafed/ens022",

language = "English",

volume = "17",

pages = "439--462",

journal = "Journal of deaf studies and deaf education",

issn = "1081-4159",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "4",

@article{2f91836583ad46518546c0a9f4e6ddd8,

title = "Differences in Word Processing Skills of Deaf and Hearing Individuals Reading in Different Orthographies",

abstract = "The study investigated differences in the word processing skills of prelingually deaf and hearing participants reading in five orthographies (Hebrew, Arabic, English, German and Turkish). We tested 256 readers (132 deaf and 124 hearing) from the mid level of education (sixth and seventh grades) using two computerized paradigms that assessed the perceptual and conceptual processing of word pairs. Based on the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis (ODH), we expected those reading in shallow orthographies to process the written words faster and more accurately than those reading in deep orthographies. Moreover, we anticipated a deficit in the word processing skills of deaf readers as compared to their hearing peers, regardless of orthography. Findings suggested that, in orthographies with demanding visuo-perceptual properties, prelingually deaf readers are at risk of developing processing deficits even at the word (lexical) level of text processing. However, such deficits do not seem to be directly related to hearing status or the shallowness of the orthography, but rather seem to reflect the joint contribution of augmented visuo-perceptual processing demands in visually complex orthographies and drastically impoverished reading experience that hampers the optimization of perceptual processes required to efficiently deal with such complexity.",

keywords = "Deafness, Orthography, Word processing, Word reading",

author = "Tevhide Kargin and Birkan Guldenoglu and Paul Miller and Peter Hauser and Christian Rathmann and Okan Kubus and Erin Spurgeon",

note = "Anzahl Autoren: 7 | Kargin, Tevhide| Guldenoglu, Birkan| Miller, Paul| Hauser, Peter| Rathman, Christian| Kubus, Okan| Spurgeon, Erin",

year = "2012",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1007/s10882-011-9255-z",

language = "English",

volume = "24",

pages = "65--83",

journal = "Journal of developmental and physical disabilities",

issn = "1056-263X",

publisher = "Springer New York",

number = "1",

@article{ebcf0f3797e845c191d5083235f4a5fd,

title = "Language acquisition for deaf children: Reducing the harms of zero tolerance to the use of alternative approaches",

author = "Tom Humphries and Poorna Kushalnagar and Gaurav Mathur and Napoli, {Donna Jo} and Carol Padden and Christian Rathmann and Smith, {Scott R.}",

year = "2012",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

journal = "Harm reduction journal",

publisher = "BioMed Central",

number = "1",