Resilience in Deaf Children

Historically, the diagnosis of deafness in a child has been closely associated with profound disability, including such typical outcomes as unmet potential and a life of isolation. A major shift away from this negative view has led to improved prospects for deaf children.

Resilience in Deaf Children emphasizes not only the capability of deaf individuals to withstand adversity, but also their positive adaptation through interactions with parents, peers, school, and community. In this engaging volume, leading researchers and professionals pay particular attention to such issues as attachment, self-concept, and social competence, which are crucial to the development of all young people. In addition, the volume offers strategies for family members, professionals, and others for promoting the well-being of deaf children and youth.

Coverage includes:

• Attachment formation among deaf infants and their primary caregivers.
• Deaf parents as sources of positive development and resilience for deaf infants.
• Enhancing resilience to mental health disorders in deaf school children.
• Strength-based guidelines for improving the developmental environments of deaf children and youth.
• Community cultural wealth and deaf adolescents' resilience.
• Self-efficacy in the management of anticipated work-family conflict as a resilience factor among young deaf adults.

Resilience in Deaf Children is essential reading for researchers, clinicians, and graduate students in clinical child, school, and developmental psychology as well as for allied researchers and professionals in such disciplines as school counseling, occupational therapy, and social work.

Dr. Zand is a clinical psychologist and Research Associate Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Medical School, Department of Psychiatry.  For the past 14 years, her work has focused on child and adolescent mental health and resilience. During this time, she has been responsible for writing, designing, and directing multiple federally funded longitudinal grants. Her most recent project focuses on fostering bonding between medically fragile, developmentally disabled young children and their caregivers. Dr. Zand has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in research methods and mental health policy, mentored graduate students and junior faculty, published in peer reviewed journals, and presented findings in local, state, and national forums. Recently, she was accepted into the American Psychological Association's Leadership Institute for Women In Psychology.

Dr. Kathy Pierce, a clinical psychologist at Washington University's School of Medicine - Department of Psychiatry, specializes in novel interventions for persons with treatment resistant depression.  Over the past 6 years, Dr. Pierce has worked on both industry and federally funded clinical trials, serving as a supervisor, psychometrician, treater, statistician, co-author, and/or grant writer.   Prior to working at Washington University, Dr. Pierce was the Evaluation Director for a non-profit agency providing care for AIDs patients, and co-led Missouri's 'Deaf Mental Health PAH,' a statewide deaf mental health advocacy group.