Parental training and externalizing behaviors of children with severe hearing loss
Nine brief parent classes halved aggression and rule-breaking in elementary deaf children.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers in Iran ran nine 90-minute group classes for parents of deaf 8- to young learners. The classes taught simple ABA tools: praise, clear commands, token charts, and calm consequences.
Twenty-four families joined the classes. Another twenty-four families stayed on the wait-list. Teachers filled out a behavior checklist before and after the nine weeks.
What they found
Kids whose parents got the training showed half as much hitting, yelling, and rule-breaking after the nine sessions. The wait-list kids stayed the same.
Average aggression scores dropped from the "borderline" range to "normal" on the teacher scale.
How this fits with other research
Sappok et al. (2024) got the same size drop in disruptive behavior with only four 60-minute Zoom classes for Vietnamese preschoolers. Their results show the dose can be even shorter and online when kids are hearing and younger.
Maliki et al. (2025) used behavioral skills training to teach Arabic-speaking staff how to run parent groups. Their study fills the trainer gap: someone has to teach the teachers before parents can learn.
Chinnappan et al. (2020) cut adolescent problem behavior in half using just classroom rules and public feedback. Together these papers say brief adult-focused changes—whether at home or school—can quickly lower disruptive acts.
Why it matters
You now have proof that nine short parent meetings work for deaf kids who sign or use hearing aids. Use the same package: teach praise first, then tokens, then calm time-out. If families can’t come in person, try the four-session Zoom model from Sappok et al. (2024). Either way, you can cut aggression fast without extra staff or gadgets.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Background: Externalizing behavior in deaf children causes many psychological problems for their parents. Aggression and rule breaking behaviors in children with severe hearing loss may cause psychological problems in parents and in managing children's behavior. Consequently, the present study aimed at investigating the effect of parental behavioral training of mothers on reducing the externalized behaviors (aggression and rule breaking behavior) of their 9- to 10- year old children with severe hearing loss. Methods: This was an experimental study with pretest, posttest, and a control group. The research population included all students with severe hearing loss and their mothers. Thus, 30 mothers whose children had the most severe hearing loss were selected as our main sample among 80 mothers who had completed the Child Behavior Checklist. Then, they were placed into the experimental (n=15) and control groups (n=15) after being matched based on age, educational level, and socioeconomic status. The research tool was Child Behavior Checklist-Persian Version. The parental behavior training was provided for the experimental group in nine 90- minute sessions. Results: The results of the present study indicated the effectiveness of experimental treatment on decreasing the aggressive behaviors of children of mothers in the experimental group compared to mothers of the control group (p=0.001). Moreover, the results revealed a decrease in rule breaking behaviors (p= 0.007) in children of mothers of the experimental group compared to mothers of the control group. Conclusion: Parents’ behavioral training is important in decreasing the aggressive and offensive behaviors in children with severe hearing loss who are at risk of behavioral problems. Furthermore, some research has highlighted the necessity of such trainings for parents of these children. Thus, the present study, emphasizing the importance of childhood problems, found that mothers’ behavioral training could prevent behavioral problems of school-aged children with hearing loss and reduce the recurrence of such problems.
Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2017 · doi:10.14196/mjiri.31.111