Early Literacy Development In Deaf Children

There is a robust body of knowledge suggesting that early language and literacy experiences significantly impact on future academic achievement. In contrast, relatively little has been written with respect to the early literacy development and experiences of deaf children. In Early Literacy Development in Deaf Children, Connie Mayer and Beverly J. Trezek seek to fill this gap by providing an in-depth exploration of how young deaf children learn to read and write, identifying the foundational knowledge, abilities, and skills that are fundamental to this process. They provide an overview of the latest research and present a model of early literacy development to guide their discussion on topics such as teaching reading and writing, curriculum and interventions, bilingualism, and assessment. Throughout, they concentrate on the ways in which young learners with hearing loss are similar to, or different from, their hearing age peers and the consequent implications for research and practice. Their discussion is wide-reaching, as they focus on children from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds, those with additional disabilities and hearing losses ranging from mild to profound, and those using a range of communication modalities and amplification technologies, including cochlear implants. With the implementation of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and advancements in hearing technologies that have heightened both the emphasis on literacy development in the early years and the importance of these years in the ultimate development of age-appropriate reading and reading outcomes, this timely text addresses a topic that has thus far eluded the field.

There is a robust body of knowledge suggesting that early language and literacy experiences significantly impact on future academic achievement. However, relatively little has been written with respect to the early literacy development and experiences of deaf children. Connie Mayer and Beverly J. Trezek address this need by providing an in-depth exploration of how young deaf children learn to read and write, identifying the foundational knowledge, abilities, and skills that are fundamental to this process.

"This comprehensive text provides guidance on current evidence-based approaches to the promotion of speech and language development in children birth through school age who are deaf or hard of hearing. Due to advanced screening and intervention options (e.g., cochlear implants), this population's needs and abilities are constantly changing and require flexibility and individualization of treatment, with a continued focus on families' preferences. This edited volume in the Communication and Language Intervention (CLI) series consists of 15 chapters, addressing a range of topics including audiological interventions, sign language and other visual modalities, auditory-verbal therapy, supporting and coaching families, phonological and pre-literacy interventions, technology, and interventions to support literacy, writing, and speech. The book also includes a DVD with video clips demonstrating the strategies covered in the intervention chapters (chapters 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11)"--

This guide provides parents with strategies for helping a deaf child learn to read and write, offering activities that parents can do at home with their deaf child and suggestions for working with the child's school and teachers. Emphasis is on the developmental link between American Sign Language a

A significant number of d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) children and adolescents experience challenges in acquiring a functional level of English language and literacy skills in the United States (and elsewhere). To provide an understanding of this issue, this book explores the theoretical underpinnings and synthesizes major research findings. It also covers critical controversial areas such as the use of assistive hearing devices, language, and literacy assessments, and inclusion. Although the targeted population is children and adolescents who are d/Dhh, contributors found it necessary to apply our understanding of the development of English in other populations of struggling readers and writers such as children with language or literacy disabilities and those for whom English is not the home language. Collectively, this information should assist scholars in conducting further research and enable educators to develop general instructional guidelines and strategies to improve the language and literacy levels of d/Dhh students. It is clear that there is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ concept, but, rather, research and instruction should be differentiated to meet the needs of d/Dhh students. It is our hope that this book stimulates further theorizing and research and, most importantly, offers evidence- and reason-based practices for improving language and literacy abilities of d/Dhh students.

The second edition of Language and Literacy Development in Children Who are Deaf provides the most current information about teaching language, reading, and writing to deaf children. Models and strategies are clearly described and supported by theory, current research, and numerous examples of how these models and strategies can be used in classrooms with deaf students. The book has been reorganized so teachers can easily follow how to assess a deaf child's current abilities in language and literacy, develop appropriate instructional goals, and choose from among a variety of effective teaching models and strategies. KEY TOPICS: The second edition discusses issues related to American Sign Language, bilingual education techniques, incorporating technology into instruction, and developing balanced literacy programs for deaf children. Experienced teachers, novice teachers, and individuals becoming teachers of deaf children can use this information to develop a comprehensive language and literacy program for deaf students from preschool through high school. MARKET: For anyone who teaches reading or language to deaf children, or who is involved in literacy development of deaf children.

Reading development is supported by strong language skills, not least in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. The work in the present thesis investigates reading development in DHH children who use sign language, attend Regional Special Needs Schools (RSNS) in Sweden and are learning to read. The primary aim of the present work was to investigate whether the reading skills of these children can be improved via computerized sign language based literacy training. Another aim was to investigate concurrent and longitudinal associations between skills in reading, sign language, and cognition in this population. The results suggest that sign language based literacy training may support development of word reading. In addition, awareness and manipulation of the sub-lexical structure of sign language seem to assist word reading, and imitation of familiar signs (i.e., vocabulary) may be associated with developing reading comprehension. The associations revealed between sign language skills and reading development support the notion that sign language skills provide a foundation for emerging reading skills in DHH signing children. In addition, the results also suggest that working memory and Theory of Mind (ToM) are related to reading comprehension in this population. Furthermore, the results indicate that sign language experience enhances the establishment of representations of manual gestures, and that progression in ToM seems to be typical, although delayed, in RSNS pupils. Working memory has a central role in integrating environmental stimuli and language-mediated representations, and thereby provides a platform for cross-modal language processing and multimodal language development.

This volume explores the reading development of native speakers of sign language, as well as their early pre-literacy language development. For deafness and sign language scholars, as well as linguists and reading specialists.