Congratulations, Dr. Shannon Yuen!

On June 20th, 2025, Shannon Yuen successfully defended her doctoral thesis: “When deafness enters the system: family dynamics and psychosocial functioning of preschool children” (read here). Her PhD research was supervised by Caroline Rieffe, Boya Li, and Yung-Ting Tsou. 

Shannon’s work makes an important contribution to supporting the social-emotional development of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. In collaboration with the Chinese Rehabilitation Center in Beijing, she investigated how family dynamics are affected when a DHH child participates in an early, intensive rehabilitation programme. 

The process can be challenging, for instance, parents may need to temporarily relocate to another city, and the time spent in hospitals and therapy can reduce opportunities for shared leisure activities and positive bonding moments. Yet Shannon’s research also highlighted the value of these programmes: early cochlear implantation combined with family-centered interventions that teach communication strategies, address social stigma, and raise awareness can significantly support child development.

Indeed, her findings showed that social-emotional functioning of children in the programme appeared unaffected by their hearing loss, which offers encouraging evidence for families and professionals working with DHH children.

Thank you, Dr. Yuen, for your dedication to this research and for being a part of our lab. Wishing you every success in what comes next!

Want to learn more about our ongoing research? Click here to explore our work in collaboration with China, and here for more on deafness.