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A feasibility study was conducted to test a storybook intervention to increase early reading skills of 25 young signing deaf children of ages 4-9 in grades K through third grade. The children had wide ranges of hearing losses, non-verbal IQs, and signing skills. All were at risk for developing early reading skills, reading below the first grade level. Using a pre-experimental pre/post test design, standardized tests and early reading tasks, the children changes in letter, word and story knowledge were documented over a full school year. The intervention included 20 weekly story reading sessions with children receive modelling by Deaf story signers, with children using their signing and fingerspelling to practice storybook reading, story reciting, vocabulary learning, fingerspelling and writing skills with easy-to-read picture word/phrase storybooks after modelling from Deaf caregivers and teachers. Future research directions for intervention studies were outlined based on outcomes.

The national policy in deaf education in Mainland China primarily focuses on oral/aural instruction and hearing rehabilitation. The curriculum in primary grades is specifically structured on speech and hearing skills for language development. But there is little evidence that documents what early literacy instruction looks like or how teachers conduct the teaching of reading and writing in classrooms with Chinese deaf children. By analyzing videotapes from the first and second grade classrooms, we describe how reading and writing are taught to deaf children in China. The key findings are that the primary grade literacy instruction (1) shares features of Gradual Release of Responsibility model with a focus on speech and hearing skills; (2) uses multimodal strategies and pedagogical tools such as lip-reading, Pinyin phonetic symbols, Pinyin Finger Spelling, Chinese Sign Language (CSL), and Signed Chinese (SC). Moreover, the curriculum reflects low expectations for deaf students as it lacks the academic content provided to their hearing peers. We conclude with implications for literacy instruction in deaf education, and suggest a future research agenda.

In Part I, we underscore the issues surrounding young deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) learners of literacy in Taiwan who use sign to support their learning of Chinese literacy. We also described the linguistic features of Chinese writing and the visual codes used by DHH children. In Part II, we describe the reading and writing practices used with Taiwanese DHH children. Teachers reported they taught Chinese literacy bridging meaning to print using pictures, speech, sign, visual and visual/gestural codes. Theoretical and practical implications of our descriptive study were given.

A commentary on Williams's (2012) invited article on the use of adapted vocabulary learning interventions focuses on three areas: (a) Vocabulary interventions with storybook reading originally designed for hearing children can be adapted for deaf children. (b) Teachers are invited to reflect on how the read-aloud process in English differs from the read-aloud process in sign. (b) Teachers are asked to consider adding drawing and writing activities to reading lessons to show young deaf readers how reading and writing are reciprocal processes. The emergent literacy theory is used, as it informs and drives instructional vocabulary teaching practices for deaf children in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. The emergent literacy theory broadly captures cognitive, social, perceptual, and linguistic understandings of how young signing deaf children acquire both English word recognition abilities and vocabulary knowledge, among other important prereading concepts. (Contains 1 note.)

The authors present a perspective on emerging bilingual deaf students who are exposed to, learning, and developing two languages--American Sign Language (ASL) and English (spoken English, manually coded English, and English reading and writing). The authors suggest that though deaf children may lack proficiency or fluency in either language during early language-learning development, they still engage in codeswitching activities, in which they go back and forth between signing and English to communicate. The authors then provide a second meaning of codeswitching--as a purpose-driven instructional technique in which the teacher strategically changes from ASL to English print for purposes of vocabulary and reading comprehension. The results of four studies are examined that suggest that certain codeswitching strategies support English vocabulary learning and reading comprehension. These instructional strategies are couched in a five-pronged approach to furthering the development of bilingual education for deaf students. (Contains 8 figures.)

An instructional prereading using American Sign Language (ASL) was effective in improving the ability of 7 prelingually deaf children (ages 11 and 12) to understand and retell a story after reading it in print. A six-step procedure for using the ASL technique is explained. Other applications of the technique and its appropriateness for public school settings are noted. (DB)

A three-year program for deaf-education undergraduate and graduate students in southeast Kentucky incorporates: Appalachian history, culture, and language; deafness and learning strategies; deaf culture and American Sign Language; and mainstreaming competencies. Trainee self-reports on progress through the program are presented. (KS)

Suggestions are offered for teaching young children with hearing impairments to read and write. The strategies emphasize the importance of making the sign-to-print relationship explicit, helping children understand that there is not always perfect sign-to-word correlation, increasing students' metalinguistic knowledge, and building comprehension. (Author/JDD)

Vignettes illustrate the effectiveness of a project providing computer-assisted instruction to three multiply-handicapped deaf high school students. Individual and group activities resulted in increased language skills, more positive attitudes, greater self-esteem and motivation, and improved peer interactions. Software programs are briefly described. (CB)

The reciprocal teaching procedure, which involves interactive dialogue and teacher modeling, was used to teach prereading skills (finger spelling, book reading, story retelling, and word recognition) to 23 prelingually deaf kindergarten and first-grade students. Pre-post test analyses showed that gains were made in letter, word, and story knowledge. (Author/JDD)

Fourteen strategies a hard-of-hearing mother uses while reading a book with her hard-of-hearing preschool son are observed. These strategies are grouped in four large categories: (1) confirmation of child's understanding; (2) focusing attention on the book and its content; (3) specific language input; (4) concept development. (Author/LMO)

Three high-school students with deafness and additional disabilities used microcomputer software featuring graphics and cartoons to improve their creative writing. Though use of correct syntactic structures did not improve, output of written language did increase. Descriptions of the software used and case studies of the three students are included. (JDD)

In Part I, we underscore the issues surrounding young deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) learners of literacy in Taiwan who use sign to support their learning of Chinese literacy. We also described the linguistic features of Chinese writing and the visual codes used by DHH children. In Part II, we describe the reading and writing practices used with Taiwanese DHH children. Teachers reported they taught Chinese literacy bridging meaning to print using pictures, speech, sign, visual and visual/gestural codes. Theoretical and practical implications of our descriptive study were given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A commentary on Williams's (2012) invited article on the use of adapted vocabulary learning interventions focuses on three areas: (a) Vocabulary interventions with storybook reading originally designed for hearing children can be adapted for deaf children, (b) Teachers are invited to reflect on how the read-aloud process in English differs from the read-aloud process in sign, (b) Teachers are asked to consider adding drawing and writing activities to reading lessons to show young deaf readers how reading and writing are reciprocal processes. The emergent literacy theory is used, as it informs and drives instructional vocabulary teaching practices for deaf children in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. The emergent literacy theory broadly captures cognitive, social, perceptual, and linguistic understandings of how young signing deaf children acquire both English word recognition abilities and vocabulary knowledge, among other important prereading concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]