Deafness & Literacy: Why Can’t Sam Read?

Abstract

Success in teaching deaf pupils to read has not increased in many decades, but new conceptualizations of literacy, clear understanding that deafness is a human condition not a deficit, and recent research on how deaf families accomplish what schools often do not–all point to better ways of introducing deaf children to written language.

Literacy Intervention for a Deaf Child with Severe Reading Disorder

“…This may have been a result of the greater availability of a functional writing device and more participation in literacy activities, thereby underlining the importance of involving the home environment and extending beyond the classroom in literacy intervention (cf. Erting, 1992). However, the time of the increase may also have been coincidental, caused by the fact that a foundation had been established for faster word acquisition, analogous to the acquisition of vocabulary in early childhood, wherein different processes are assumed to be at work in the slow start and in the fast processing of new words later.…”

“…Compared to hearing children, deaf children tend to reach a lower reading level; only about half of deaf students leaving school have reading skills comparable to hearing children in the fourth grade or higher (Brooks, 1978;Conrad, 1977;Dodd, 1980;King & Quigley, 1985;Skjelberg, 1970). These difficulties have mainly been attributed to modalityspecific memory functions (Conrad, 1979;Webster, 1987) and deaf children's limited mastery of spoken language when they start learning to read (Erting, 1992;King & Quigley, 1985;Merrills, Underwood, & Wood, 1994). Deaf children have also been shown to participate less than hearing children in situations that facilitate acquisition of literacy (Akamatsu, 1988;Erting, 1992;Limbrick, McNaughton, & Clay, 1992;Maxwell & Falick, 1992;Strassman, 1992;Williams, 1993), which may result in their failure to develop the metalinguistic skills necessary for a good mastery of written language (Burden & Campbell, 1994;Gartner, Trehub, é'MacKay-Soroka ) i993; Strassman, 1992).…”

“…Gormley and Franzen (1978) suggested that the problems many deaf children experience in learning to read and write are caused by a "mismatch between the traditional method of instruction (oral English) and the child's native language (sign)" (p. 543). Reading instruction for deaf children tends to focus on phoneme and grapheme relationships, similar to reading instruction for hearing children (Akamatsu, 1988;Erting, 1992;Limbrick et al, 1992;von Tetzchner, Martinsen & Nordeng, 1982). However, although some deaf students seem to be more sensitive to phonological aspects of written words than others, there is no clear relationship between phonological awareness and reading competence (Burden & Campbell, 1994;Gibbs, 1989;Hanson, 1986).…”

Literacy in the homes of young deaf children: Common and distinct features of spoken language and sign bilingual environments

“…The creation of this environment relies on the adults' own experiences and perceptions of deafness and reading, which is perhaps why this is the most difficult feature of this activity for hearing parents to replicate or learn. Erting (1992) explains this by examining the different ways in which we see the deaf child. That is, how our expectations are shaped, not only by our experience of deafness but also by our assumptions and the set of beliefs that we might hold about deafness.…”

Can you hear me now? The experience of a deaf family member surrounding the death of loved ones

“…There are well documented issues in English literacy [17, 18] for Deaf individuals which affect the practice of using written English to communicate with Deaf family members. Deaf adults in the U.S. average below a fourth grade level (approximately age 9–10) on tests of reading ability [19] and less than 20% of adults in one study rated themselves as fluent in English [20].…”