The Literacy Continuum: Teaching Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

1. The Literacy Continuum: TeachingStudents who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing Susan R. Easterbrooks, Professor Georgia State University Presented at the GDEAF Conference Macon, GA July, 2004

2. What do we mean by a literacy continuum? • Children who are deaf and hard of hearing learn to read across a continuum of stimulus sources. • Some children have sufficient residual hearing and powerful amplification that allows them to develop literacy through the auditory pathway (Izzo, 2002) • some require visual support from English based sign systems (Luetke-Stahlman & Nielson, 2003) • others learn to read English as a second language based on competence in their natural language of American Sign Language (Musselman, 2000) or another native language such as Spanish (Walker-Vann, 1998).

3. Some of the practices, such as Guided Reading, may be used both as auditory means and as visual means of instructing DHH children in literacy. • Some practices, such as phonemic awareness (e.g., /k/ sound as in cat or kite), vizeme awareness (e.g., a visual symbol represents each sound), or cheremic awareness (e.g., the index finger shape as in think or me) tend to be language-specific (i.e., spoken English, signed English, American Sign Language) and require modifications depending on whether they are being used with primarily auditory learners or primarily visual learners.

4. We have happy little faces that fall all along the continuum and who want to learn to read. We are responsible for modifying our approaches to meet all their needs. Auditory Only Visual Only English Visual English ASL Literacy Continuum

5. Two major perspectives currently in practice. • National Reading Panel • Gallaudet’s Literacy Project • These two pieces overlap

6. Designated by NRP as THE key factors in literacy instruction. • Phonemic awareness • Phonics (traditional decoding and encoding) • Vocabulary Comprehension • Text Comprehension (reading strategies) • Fluency (spoken) • Motivation

7. To these, deaf educators must add: • Visual Fluency • Visual decoding and encoding (e.g., use of Cued Speech, Visual Phonics) • Code-Switching (dealing with dual languages) • Reading in the content areas

8. A note about reading strategies… • “Reading strategies” and “Text Comprehension” go hand-in-hand • But in fact, strategic action is related to the use of all sources of information, both visible information (the print and illustrations that the reader sees) and invisible information (phonology and relation to the letters; vocabulary or word meaning; background knowledge, experiences and concepts; personal experiences, memories, and emotions; and so on.).

9. Best Practices as identified by the Laurent Clerc center at Gallaudet • The following skills are identified as critical to literacy learning in DHH students by the Laurent Clerc Center of Gallaudet University (http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/Literacy/about/reading.html • Practices to increase; practices to decrease (see handout) • 9 key instructional components

10. Reading to Students • Language Experience • Shared Reading and Writing • Guided Reading and Writing • Writer’s Workshop • Research Reading and Writing • Dialogue Journal • Journals and Logs • Independent Reading

11. In summary, we must account for each of the practices on the next page. Each can be viewed as an auditory process or a visual process. Each can be viewed as an English process or a process requiring code switching (from ASL or from another spoken language).

12. Phonemic awareness Phonics (decoding and encoding) Vocabulary Comprehension Text Comprehension (reading strategies) Fluency (spoken) Visual Fluency Motivation Visual decoding and encoding (e.g., use of Cued Speech, Visual Phonics) Code-Switching (dealing with dual languages) Reading in the Content Areas Reading to Students Language Experience Shared Reading and Writing Guided Reading and Writing Writer’s Workshop Research Reading and Writing Dialogue Journal Journals and Logs Independent Reading

13. No matter which language or mode, fundamentally we are all concerned with: • Strategies for all elements of unlocking the meaning of print • Underlying meaning • Underlying language facility

14. Barbara Luetke-Stahlman and Diane Corcoran Nielsen, (2003). The contribution of phonological awareness and receptive and expressive English to the reading ability of deaf students with varying degrees of exposure to accurate English. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 8, 464-484. • Carol Musselman. (2000). How do children who can’t hear learn to read an alphabetic script? A review of the literature on reading and deafness. JDSDE, 5, 9-31.

15. Walker-Vann, C. (1998). Profiling Hispanic deaf students: A first step towards solving the greater problems. American Annals of the Deaf, 143(1), 46-54. • Izzo, A. (2002). Phonemic awarenss and reading ability: An investigation of young readers who are deaf. AAD, 147(4), 18-28.

16. The Changing Face of Instruction Technology in Today’s College Classes

18. In the past, teacher education followed a predictable pattern: • Attend classes in a building on a college campus • Spend a semester doing nothing but student teaching in a school-based setting • Get a job and start sitting in cafeterias and libraries where staff development activities are being offered.

19. Today the options for changing this scenario have undergone an explosion of creative options (and some not so creative). • Teachers start in the classroom before taking their first college course. • They can’t leave their classes to participate in practicum during the school day/year and so must engage in these activities on weekends and over the summer, usually when there are no children around to teach.

20. Newer initiatives in staff development require teachers to engage in outcomes-based staff development of a prolonged nature rather than a “one shot deal”. • Less time and fewer resources are available to provide disability specific, school-based staff development.

21. Is there a solution? I’m not sure, but there are options that are worth exploring. • Fully online courses: WebCT, WebVista, Blackboard • Partially online courses: some web-based, some face to face

23. Self-contained modules: Lectora and other authoring tools

25. vClass by Illuminate

27. Cybermentors, cyberconsultants • Video-conferencing tools such as ViaVideo, Sorenson, Tamdberg

29. Chatroom at gatod@yahoogroups.com

33. “Join Together” grant from ACE-DHH • Master teachers • Can request ViaVideo, but must be willing to get permission from superintendent to lower firewalls • Learning communities

34. Are you ready to take the plunge?

35. Or are you timid like this little guy is?

36. I speak for Dr. Scheetz as well as myself when I say, WE NEED YOUR HELP!