Looking For Research That Didn’t Exist, She Decided to Conduct it Herself

Ashley Pothier ’26 knows her two majors – psychology and Deaf studies – are her calling. But last fall, when she tried finding more information about a topic that intersected both, she came up empty, except for one dissertation published more than 40 years ago. This summer, Pothier turned to her professor and the Weiss Summer Research Program to remedy that.

The research question

Last fall, Pothier was enrolled in Professor Michael Creane’s developmental psychology class and writing a paper on egocentric speech – how children talk to themselves – in Deaf children when she stumbled on a glaring omission in the literature: Aside from a dissertation published in 1981, there was no recent research on the role of egocentric speech in language development for Deaf children.

“I've never taken a class where I've researched something and nothing really comes up,” Pothier said. “You're always seeing there's a plethora of resources. And for the first time, I couldn't find anything.”

Creane, a visiting assistant professor of psychology and Pothier’s summer research advisor, helped her track down the 1981 dissertation because it wasn’t available in the library’s database. And the fact that there had been no published research in the past 40 years fueled Pothier to apply to the Weiss Summer Research Program to conduct the research she was missing.

Egocentric speech is a form of private speech or self-talk that helps guide a person’s thoughts and behaviors and process the world around them. Adults typically rely on their thoughts and inner voice to do this, but in hearing children, egocentric speech manifests as talking or babbling to oneself – and it is a key part of language and cognitive development. Pothier’s research examines whether children who are Deaf or hard of hearing engage in egocentric speech, and if so, whether that manifests verbally or in sign language.

Pothier spent summer 2024 interviewing educators of Deaf children, many of whom are Deaf or hard of hearing themselves, at two schools for the Deaf in the New England area. She focused on the educators’ experiences in the classroom and whether they observed students using egocentric speech. For example, many noticed students signing to themselves, counting on their hands during math or finger spelling words during English classes, but others didn’t notice it much at all. And though Pothier is still analyzing her data, her findings thus far are already sparking new questions.

“It’s an interesting way to look at how the education system is giving Deaf children the tools to work through problems,” she said. “Is it the perspective of the teacher, or are some students not using egocentric speech to process information? What are the next steps in terms of entering egocentric speech into the curriculum? Are we looking at teaching it as a skill? If we're not seeing egocentric speech, do students not need to or is it due to language deprivation?”

Taking the first steps

Conducting a pilot study in the span of a short eight-week timeframe is not without its challenges. Pothier didn’t have other research to refer to and had to develop her own system for coding the data. She had to teach herself processes that are typically not carried out until the Ph.D. level. But the biggest hurdle came right at the beginning of the process, when she had to pivot from her initial plan to observe Deaf children because of the intricacies and red tape that come with conducting studies in schools.

And due to the lack of research on her topic, Pothier quickly came to realize that her initial plan is the end goal – not the beginning.

“Right now, I wouldn't have known really what to observe because there's been no research done,” she explained. “You need to take that first step. You can't go to the finish line.”

As Pothier’s advisor, Creane helped her navigate these challenges, but noted that she didn’t let them derail her plan or stand in her way. Pothier wanted to learn whatever she could. “What I found really impressive is that she saw the end goal, which is ‘I want to be able to help the students. I want to understand their psychological experience,’” Creane said. “But she didn't see that as the only access point. She was able to say, ‘I can't actually look at that right now, so what are some productive and meaningful steps that I can take so eventually that will be the next logical study that I can do?’ That's really rare.”

Because Pothier is not Deaf or hard of hearing, it was also important to her to ensure her research is inclusive, respectful and representative of the Deaf community – not using the Deaf community as research subjects or viewing their Deafness as a disability. Throughout the entire process, she emphasized that theirs is a community, a culture and a language she cares deeply about and has been immersing herself in for a long time. Pothier even hired interpreters to make sure her interviewees felt comfortable and were able to communicate clearly, even though she also knows American Sign Language (ASL). It was an approach that was appreciated by the educators she interviewed, and one she hopes will continue to break down barriers to future research.

“I'm hoping that this shows that more research in the Deaf community can be done and the partnerships will continue,” Pothier said.

Pushing the field forward

Because Pothier’s summer research is a pilot study, she and Creane understand it has its limitations and they are already brainstorming ways to tweak, rerun and validate the study, as well as additional questions or studies they want to pursue. But first, Pothier will be present her work at the College’s Summer Research Symposium in September 2024. She intends to bring her research to conferences and eventually publish. She hopes to land an internship at Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, Massachusetts, and study away at Gallaudet University, the only all-Deaf college in the United States. Then, she wants to collaborate with others interested in this field.

“Even if my research is not earth shattering, someone else will do another study that will be earth shattering,” Pothier said. “We've just uncovered the first layer. There are so many more layers to dig into. And maybe that's me who does it. Maybe it's another person. Maybe we work together. I would love to work with someone else who has a similar passion.”

“Ashley has spent the summer not just thinking about this one moment in time, but also thinking backwards to what's been done before and how to integrate that, and thinking forwards in terms of how can she push the field further, even if she's the only one that is pushing this field,” Creane said. “The core design of her study is really defensible. What I would hope is that somebody looks at this and says, ‘Hey, that's really cool. I haven't thought about this before. I work with Deaf students, or I'm interested in working with Deaf students, or I work with hearing students and it would be good to see how this works with another population.’ It would be great if somebody takes some of her suggestions and tries running with it.”

Making an impact

Pothier’s interest in language development in Deaf children is fueled by her lifelong goal: to make mental health resources more accessible to the Deaf community. She isn’t quite sure where her passion for this field came from, but knows it has always been with her. When she was younger, Pothier used to read psychology books for fun. She taught herself ASL and started an ASL club at her high school, though she’s since learned she should have learned the language directly from a member of the Deaf community. She chose Holy Cross because it is one of the only schools in New England with a Deaf studies program, which she added as a double major, along with a minor in neuroscience.

“Learning so much from my Deaf professors and how they are able to explain their experience in such a beautiful way during classes is something that I don't think a lot of other students experience,” Pothier said. “I instantly felt like this was my purpose in life. I've always felt this pull. It's so important that the Deaf community gets access to the same resources.”

For Pothier, her research is a starting point to make more resources accessible to the Deaf community, whether that be in education, language development or mental health.

“I hope the community can be better represented and more engaged in knowing what's going on,” she said. “When I finish my paper, it will be sent to the schools I worked with – they won't need to wait for it to be published. They can read it and it's going to give them a better understanding of how their teachers are observing the classroom. I think that's really important, because if you're going to research a population, it's to help that population. That's really what research is all about – gaining more understanding of different communities and different situations going on in the world. I'm hoping that this particular research is highlighting a very important community that is underrepresented.”