EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021
(Virtually the same conference, without elevators, airplane tickets, or hotel room keys)
Read Up: Early Fluency and Literacy Development for Children Learning Listening and Spoken Language
Historically, children with hearing loss (HL) have graduated schools for the deaf with a fourth-grade reading level, a statistic that has not changed significantly over years of research. Based on the hypothesis that children with hearing loss who use listening and spoken language (LSL) have access to spoken phonology and might have higher reading skills than students from schools included in previous research, this study investigated the reading achievement of children attending a large LSL program in the Southwestern United States.
Sixty-four children with HL in prekindergarten through grade 3 participated. The participants’ reading skills were assessed using eight subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement (WJ IV), In contrast to previous studies, the mean subtest standard scores for participants in this study were all within the average range. Participants demonstrated relative strengths in basic reading skills, such as spelling, word and non-word reading, and comprehension of short passages. Relative weaknesses were found in the areas of oral reading and word- and sentence-reading fluency. When 53 of the participants were again assessed one year later, significant growth was found in their letter-word identification, sentence-reading fluency, and word-reading fluency, indicating that they had made more than one year’s progress in one year’s time while enrolled in a specialized program.
Fluency, an area of weakness for the participants, has been described as the bridge from word recognition to text comprehension and may be key to improved reading outcomes for children with HL. Parents and professionals can develop children’s oral fluency skills in early intervention, well before reading instruction begins. Practical strategies for early fluency development, including singing, poetry exploration, and choral reading, will be shared.
- Summarize areas of strength and challenge in reading development for children with hearing loss who use listening and spoken language
- Discuss the role of fluency in early reading comprehension
- Describe strategies to build oral and early reading fluency in young children with hearing loss
Poster:
23278_13528ElaineSmolen.pdf
Poster Video:
https://youtu.be/6d0jdz2Ww-A
Presenter: Elaine Smolen
Elaine Smolen, PhD, CED, LSLS Cert. AVEd, is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research work centers around language and literacy development for young deaf and hard of hearing children who use listening and spoken language. Smolen received her PhD in deaf and hard of hearing education from Columbia as a National Leadership Consortium in Sensory Disabilities scholar. An experienced teacher of the deaf and certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, Smolen has served young children with hearing loss and their families as a head classroom teacher and in an itinerant role. She holds teaching certification in the areas of deaf education, elementary education, and English.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
• Has a Personal (hard of hearing, wears hearing aids)
relationship for Other volunteer activities.
Maria Hartman, Ph.D., is a NYS certified Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing with many years of classroom teaching experience. She is currently a lecturer and the director of the the Program of Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Teachers College, Columbia University.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -