Digital Promise Signature Workspace
Supporting Deaf Students' Reading Skills
It is important to recognize the impact that hearing loss can have on learning, and accommodate each student’s communication preferences when developing reading skills.
74% of students with hearing loss are mainstreamed in public schools. However, deaf students have been shown to have lower rates of success in academics, indicated by poorer test scores on standardized tests and grades, particularly in reading and literacy. Check out the infographic below to read more about how language exposure, sign language, and learning factors contribute to a student’s reading development! Below, we will break down strategies from the Learner Models and how they are used. Read the notes on each strategy to see how it supports deaf learners!
This workspace was designed and developed by SaraBeth Sullivan. SaraBeth is a PhD Candidate in Educational Neuroscience at Gallaudet University. She studies how deaf native signers process arithmetic and how the involvement of sign language supports math learning. She is also interested in translating research into clear, targeted, evidence-based support for teachers to help their learners succeed.
Factors highly related to reading skill
We typically learn many early reading concepts through what we hear, but also what we can touch, see, and manipulate.
A student's Home Literacy Environment (HLE) is the environment parents and caregivers provide to help them gain early literacy skills.
Phonological Awareness allows us to pick out the sounds that make up words and match sounds to letters, and creates the foundation for reading.
Syntax skills help us understand how sentences work––the meanings behind word order, structure, and punctuation.
Helping students build their Vocabulary helps them understand what they are reading.
Instruction strategies
Literacy PK-3
Seeing and using new words repeatedly and in many contexts is critical for Vocabulary acquisition.
Literacy PK-3
Instruction in multiple formats allows students to activate different cognitive skills to understand and remember the steps they are to take in their reading work.
Literacy PK-3
Visuals help students recognize relationships within words and sentences to develop reading skills.
Literacy PK-3
A word wall helps build Vocabulary for reading fluidity and support Foundational Writing Skills such as spelling.
Literacy PK-3
Adding motions to complement learning activates more cognitive processes for recall and understanding.
Literacy PK-3
Building positive and trusting relationships with learners allows them to feel safe; a sense of belonging; and that their academic, cognitive, and social and emotional needs are supported.
Interactive strategies
Literacy PK-3
Connecting information to music and dance can support Short-term and Long-term Memory by engaging auditory processes, Emotions, and physical activity.
Literacy PK-3
Providing physical representations of concepts helps activate mental processes.
Literacy PK-3
As students walk through stations working in small groups, the social and physical nature of the learning supports deeper understanding.
Literacy PK-3
Students develop reading skills by listening to and speaking with others in informal ways.
Literacy PK-3
Games help students visualize new information and immerse themselves in the learning process.
Literacy PK-3
As students work with and process information by discussing, organizing, and sharing it together, they deepen their understanding.
Structured Strategies
Literacy PK-3
A mnemonic device is a creative way to support memory for new information using connections to current knowledge, for example by creating visuals, acronyms, or rhymes.
Literacy PK-3
Literacy centers with reading games, manipulatives, and activities support learner interests and promote the development of more complex reading skills and social interactions.
Literacy PK-3
Providing a story map ahead of time or having students create a map during or after reading helps learners understand and practice Narrative Skills.
Literacy PK-3
Visualizing how ideas fit together helps students construct meaning and strengthen recall.
