Language and Literacy Development in Children Who Are Deaf or Hearing Impaired

Kappa Delta Pi Record , Winter 2005 by Briggle, Sandra J


Understanding more about students with hearing impairments can improve the quality of education teachers provide.
Since the enactment of Public Law 94-142 in 1975, now referred to as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, more children who are deaf are attending public schools instead of residential schools for the deaf. Calculating how many children in public schools currently have a hearing loss is difficult because hearing impairment is not reported separately for students with multiple disabilities. Of all Americans, however, ten percent have a hearing loss. Because deafness is a low-incidence disability, many teachers do not have a strong knowledge base about learners who are deaf or hearing impaired. To ensure that students who are deaf receive the quality education they deserve, educators must understand the learning needs of this population. Through this understanding, educators can work to create a new generation of highly literate students who are deaf or hearing impaired.
Students who are prelingually deaf (either born deaf or became deaf before acquiring language) or hearing impaired, with no other disabilities, are a diverse group of students. Though a multitude of factors should be considered when teaching such students, a primary one is language development. Students who are deaf acquire language in different ways, depending on the home environment. Language development plays an important role in a student's literacy learning.
Families Who Are Hearing
Some commonalities exist in language development between students who are deaf and students who are hearing. Language development is contingent on frequent, consistent, and accessible communication. These factors are the same for children of parents who are able to hear, as well as children of parents who are not able to hear. The mode of communication (signed or spoken language) is not a factor (Marschark 2001).
However, children who are deaf and born to hearing parents generally start learning language later, and with less consistent and less useful experiences. Such children do not share a native language with their family. Their hearing loss, on average, is not identified until their first birthday (Marschark 2001). These children are exposed to less linguistically rich environments than deaf children of deaf parents or hearing children of hearing parents. Because of these differences in language exposure, children who are deaf in homes with hearing caregivers commence their language learning at a later age than their peers (Marschark 2001).
In families where parents are learning a new language, such as American Sign Language (ASL) or Signed English (SE), with which to communicate with their child, children have a tendency to acquire inconsistent or incorrect linguistic input (Kuntze 1998; Marschark 2001). This early language deprivation explains the troublesome statistic that 90 percent of deaf children born into homes with only hearing caregivers experience delays in language acquisition compared to hearing children in hearing families and deaf children in deaf families (Kuntze 1998; Meier and Newport 1990). Because most children who are deaf do not have deaf parents (Moores 2001), it is not surprising to see language delays from these children. Many actually are language deprived up until their school exposure, which might be their first experience with a competent language model.
To counteract the apparent language deficit in hearing fami lies with children who are deaf, Katasse (1997) recommended a variety of strategies to provide meaningful language experiences. Teachers should share these suggestions with families, as well as remember them in their own teaching:
* Model social and public encounters as an adult who is deaf would. Using notes in restaurants and stores is an important way to model successful, nonverbal communications.
* Use written language to communicate within the family and classroom. Informal notes, journal entries, and drawings can serve as effective communication in both settings.
* Keep up-to-date on learning sign language. This includes enrollment in refresher and more advanced classes.
While most regular education teachers are far from fluent signers, those who learn and use basic, common signs show deaf students their interest in communicating. Students who are deaf will have an interpreter, but teachers can create a feeling of belonging by learning sign themselves and teaching sign to their classes. Teachers should not be afraid to ask students, interpreters, and parents for assistance with signing. They are wonderful resources.
Parallels to Children Who Are Hearing
Literacy development in children who are deaf or hearing impaired is a multifaceted issue. There are many parallels to literacy development in hearing children, as well as some elements unique to children who are hearing impaired or deaf (Ewoldt 1985; Padden and Ramsey 1993; Rottenberg 2001; Rottenberg and Searfoss 1992, 1993). Understanding these commonalities and differences allows teachers to plan more appropriate, meaningful literacy activities in their classrooms.
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