What is essential for early literacy instruction? According to Kathleen Roskos, James Christie, and Donald Richgels, there are eight reading strategies a teacher should use in preschool in order to prepare children for school. These include rich teacher talk, storybook reading, phonological awareness activities, alphabet activities, support for emergent reading, support for emergent writing, shared book experiences, and integrated, content focused activities. But what happens when children can't participate in an activity using one or more of these strategies?
As I walked around a family friend's gathering last weekend, I noticed a couple of people using sign language. I watched them for a minute, intrigued by their understanding of this language that is so unfamiliar to me. One girl I talked with was able to partially hear with her hearing aide. She could also read lips well and was able to reply using English. I later saw the girl reading a book. I began to wonder, "How do deaf kids learn to read?" The order of words and grammar in English is different than American Sign Language. They can't hear sounds and have trouble with phonological awareness. In my first grade classroom I rely heavily on my phonics program to teach my students how to read. What would I do if I had a child with hearing loss?
After doing some research, I found a paper by Susan Goldin-Meadow and Rachel Mayberry, which informed me that, '"Only 15 percent of white deaf students who graudate from high school, and only 5 percent of African American and 6 percent of Hispanic deaf high school graduates, read above the sixth-grade level"' (Allen, 1994). These percentages seem low, and may make parents with deaf kids feel as though reading is not a necessary goal for their kids. On the contrary, Raising Deaf Kids discusses the importance of trying to teach kids to read. The website recommends telling the story in sign language first then reading the story in English, finger spell some of the words to help the child learn the letters of the alphabet, and either sit facing your child as you read so they can see the signs or place the child on your lap and sign in front of their bodies. Just because it is more difficult for a child who is deaf to learn to read, doesn't mean parents and teachers should not try. But is there enough research on how to teach deaf children to read?
Goldin-Meadow and Mayberry discussed three findings in their paper after observing deaf children that can be informative for anyone learning to read. They found that children need to know a language before learning to read, children cannot learn a first language through print, although they can learn a second language through print, and children need to be taught to read. They can learn a language by just listening, but reading requires another step. While I never questioned the importance of phonics, I never thought about the challenges with reading people face who don't know a language from listening. In the future, I look forward to reading more about how to teach deaf children and children with hearing loss to read.
References:
Goldin-Meadow, S., Mayberry, Rachel, I. (2001). How do profoundly deaf children learn to read?*. Leaning Disabilities Research and Practice, 16(4), 222-229. Retrieved from: http://idiom.ucsd.edu/~rmayberry/pubs/GoldinMeadow-Mayberry.pdf
Raising Deaf Kids. (2001-2004). National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Retrieved from: http://www.raisingdeafkids.org/
Roskos, K. A, Christie, J.F., Richels, D.J. (2003). The Essentials of early literacy instruction. National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1-8.
