ARE DEAF STUDENTS' READING CHALLENGES REALLY ABOUT READING?

The article discusses the reasons for the reading comprehension challenges of deaf students in the U.S. which caused the lack of improvement in their reading abilities. It states that the introduction of sign languages in deaf education only caused a little increase in the reading achievement of deaf students and the reading challenges are mostly attributed to deprivation of early language experience. It notes two experiments examining the print literacy skills of deaf students which found that students learned more from reading than they did from seeing passages presented by interpreters using sign language. It also mentions that the belief of college students that they understand sign better than print was proven negative by the experiments.