direct my questions to a peer. With a child working on auditory comprehension, I wait to introduce visual cues until the child asks for one.
I also respond to individual needs by closely observing the play. If a child appears overstimulated, I pull back my scaffolding and let the play settle into its own rhythm. If a child is underengaged, I bring in a prop or take on a role that invites them in. If a peer interaction is breaking down, I narrate what I’ m seeing— not to fix the situation but to name what is happening, so the children can recognize what’ s happening and decide what to do.
When compared to self-directed play, the activity is the same, and the materials are the same. But the pedagogy bends around each child. This is what makes guided play sustainable for me as an early childhood Deaf educator. I’ m not running three different lessons for three different children. I’ m running one well-designed center and scaffolding it three different ways.
You teach in a very specific context. What are the benefits of guided play in your work with Deaf and hard-of-hearing children?
Hearing children learn enormous amounts of language by overhearing the world around them. They pick up turns of phrase, social conventions, emotional vocabulary, and problem-solving language from the ambient classroom and the real world.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing learners in my setting often cannot rely on this kind of incidental learning. Guided play is one of the most powerful ways I have of intentionally integrating that learning into their environment.
For example, we had a moment in the dramatic play area where two children wanted to be the cashier at the grocery store. The conflict was real, and the language was breaking down. One child grabbed the register; the other started to cry. I sat down between them and narrated what I was seeing:“ It looks like you both want the cashier job. What could we do?” I made the social problem visible, but I didn’ t solve it. After a few seconds, one child said,“ I be cashier first. You next.” This allowed for the solution to emerge from the children themselves.
38 Young Children
Fall 2026