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Historically it has been reported that deaf students do not achieve age-appropriate outcomes in reading, with this performance often being characterized in terms of a fourth grade ceiling. However, given the shifts in the field during the past 20 years (e.g., widespread implementation of newborn hearing screening, advances in hearing technologies), it would be timely to question whether this continues to serve as a meaningful benchmark. To this end, the purpose of this study was to investigate reading outcomes of a Canadian cohort of school-aged deaf learners (N = 70) who all used listening and spoken language as the primary mode of communication. Specifically, the goal was to establish whether their achievement approached that of their hearing age peers and to identify demographic factors influencing performance (i.e., gender, unilateral/bilateral hearing loss, personal amplification, level of auditory functioning, grade placement, additional disabilities, home language). Results indicate that participants obtained standard scores in the average range on both the Basic Reading and Reading Comprehension clusters of the "Woodcock Johnson III-Diagnostic Reading Battery" (Woodcock et al., 2004), surpassing the fourth grade reading achievement ceiling often reported for this population.

The link between Theory of Mind (ToM) and literacy is increasingly being recognized in the literature. However, the focus to date has concentrated on the connections between reading and ToM, with an emphasis on the ways in which ToM is implicated in making inferences from text and suggestions that engaging in reading fiction can support the development of ToM. The exploratory study presented in this paper is unique in its approach as it widens the focus to consider the relationship between ToM and writing. Using a developmental framework based on the work of Westby and Robinson (Westby, C. & Robinson L. (2014). A developmental perspective for promoting theory of mind. "Topics in Language Disorders" 34 (4), 362-382 doi: 10.1097/TLD.0000000000000035), the written narratives of 43 deaf children (aged 7.2 years to 11.11 years) were examined for evidence of ToM. Evidence of ToM was found in the writing of 86% of the participants (n = 37) with children demonstrating abilities across the spectrum of development. Implications for both research and pedagogical practice are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the available peer-reviewed research regarding literacy achievement in deaf children with cochlear implants. A related goal is to identify gaps in the empirical literature and suggest directions for future research. Included in this review are studies that exclusively report reading and writing outcomes for groups of students. A total of 21 studies were identified, representing those published over approximately a 20-year time period (1997-2016) and collectively reporting the literacy outcomes for over 1,000 cochlear implant users. Overall findings of the studies of reading comprehension suggest that the majority of participants achieved scores in the average range, although a wide-range of variability was reported. Only 3 studies of writing were available for review, with 2 reporting lower achievement in this area as compared to reading. Factors impacting outcomes achieved such as age at implantation, presence of additional disabilities, consistency of device use, and communication modality are explored and summarized.

For over 30 years, teachers have used miscue analysis as a tool to assess and evaluate the reading abilities of hearing students in elementary and middle schools and to design effective literacy programs. More recently, teachers of deaf and hard-of-hearing students have also reported its usefulness for diagnosing word- and phrase-level reading difficulties and for planning instruction. To our knowledge, miscue analysis has not been used with older, college-age deaf students who might also be having difficulty decoding and understanding text at the word level. The goal of this study was to determine whether such an analysis would be helpful in identifying the source of college students' reading comprehension difficulties. After analyzing the miscues of 10 college-age readers and the results of other comprehension-related tasks, we concluded that comprehension of basic grade school-level passages depended on the ability to recognize and comprehend key words and phrases in these texts. We also concluded that these diagnostic procedures provided useful information about the reading abilities and strategies of each reader that had implications for designing more effective interventions.

This case study is an examination of the language development of a single pair of fraternal twins--one with a profound, sensorineural hearing loss who received simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants at 1 year of age and the other with normal hearing. The purpose of the study was to compare the twins' language development over time from 6 months to almost 3 years of age. Findings suggest that early simultaneous bilateral implantation supports the development of age-appropriate language, thus increasing the potential for overall progress commensurate with hearing age peers.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students are often delayed in developing their independent living skills because of parental restrictions on activities outside the home due to worries about their child's inability to communicate, their whereabouts, and their general safety. Recent accounts of the use of two-way text messagers suggests that, like electronic mail, distance communication problems that have long plagued deaf people may be ameliorated--by the use of such technology (M. R. Power & D. Power, 2004; S. S. Rhone & Cox News Service, 2002). This project was designed as an initial foray into investigating the use of two-way text messaging technology as a way of increasing the independence of deaf adolescents and reducing their parents' anxiety about their safety and responsibility. All the deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the deaf and hard-of-hearing programs at two urban high schools (ages 13?19), the staff of the deaf departments at these two schools, and the parents/guardians of the students participated in this study. Preuse surveys, postuse surveys, and monthly statistics on the number of times each pager was used enabled us to chart how often the participants used the technology. The data were used to identify concerns that parents have about student independence and safety, the extent to which deaf students engage in independent activities, and expectations surrounding how two-way text messaging use might increase independence and literacy skills. The data collected on this project to date confirm that two-way text messaging technology is indeed useful for deaf adolescents and helps alleviate some of the concerns that have kept them from developing independence as quickly or readily as their hearing peers. The potential policy implications for this research are discussed. (Contains 3 notes.)

This article criticizes application of linguistic interdependence theory to the bilingual/bicultural model of English literacy for deaf students, suggesting that deaf learners do not match theory assumptions. It draws on the work of Vygotsky and Halliday to develop a conceptualization of literacy processes and argues that becoming literate involves mastering "social speech,""inner speech," and written text. (Author/DB)