Phonological decoding and reading comprehension in deaf and hard-of-hearing children

ABSTRACT

Forty deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children aged between seven and 13 were tested using two reading assessments selected to separately measure the skills of phonological decoding and reading comprehension. The Nonword Reading Test and the Edinburgh Reading Test, respectively, were used. All of the children were enrolled in full mainstream settings, i.e. they were not in special classes for deaf children or schools for the deaf. In spite of the fact that most DHH children were, on average, reading within the normal range compared with their hearing peers, there was a distinct gap between decoding and comprehension skills among the sample. Possible explanations for this gap include the emphasis on phonics and spoken language instruction with DHH children, coupled with underlying and unaddressed language delay leading to prolonged difficulties with comprehension.

KEYWORDS:

• Decoding
• reading comprehension
• deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH)
• mainstream
• literacy

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of research assistants Janet O’Shaughnessy and Vasiliki Pitsia in data collection and analysis in this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Hearing aid.

2. Cochlear implant.

3. Bone anchored hearing aid.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by funding from a consortium of charities including the Catholic Institute for Deaf People; Chime; and the Irish Deaf Society.