Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess social emotional development (SED) in children who are deaf or hard of hearing (HOH). This research focused on three questions: 1) Do children who are deaf or HOH demonstrate delay in SED compared to typically hearing children; 2) Are there certain social emotional skills that the children have difficulty with; and 3) Are there differences in social emotional ability percentile ranks for children who are approximately 15 months versus when they are 31 months of age? Methods: The Greenspan Social Emotional Growth Chart (GSEGC) was used to quantify SED in children who are deaf or HOH. 78 participants, ages 9 to 39 months, had completed GSEGCs. Of those participants, 55 completed the GSEGC at two different times, allowing for comparison between a mean age of 14.5 months and 31.5 months. Results: In the younger group 28.2% and in the older group 21.1% of participants fell below the 10th percentile on the GSEGC; however, over an approximate 1-year time span, SED percentile ranks improved within this sample. Conclusions: Children with hearing loss showed a delay in SED, although delays were less apparent over time. Social emotional skills that were most difficult were related to sound, attention getting, and the use/comprehension of language.</p
