This study assessed deaf and hearing students' comprehension of captions with and without visuals/video. Results indicate that reading grade level is highly correlated with caption comprehension test scores. Comprehension of the deaf students was consistently below that of hearing students. The captioned video produced significantly better…

Twenty-four deaf and 24 hearing children were asked to locate three target letters (c,g, and h) in prose. Target letters were either phonemically modal (pronounced, as g in badge) or nonmodal (silent, as g in rough). Hearing children, as expected, detected significantly more modal than nonmodal forms, while deaf children detected the same number…

Twelve children, aged 9-19, with severe/profound hearing impairments were instructed to read sentences with similes, metaphors, idioms, and proverbs, and to explain them. Subjects' performance differed significantly from the performance of a control group. Subjects' performance was dependent upon reading level and was variable across chronological…

A review of research concerning reading achievement of prelingually deaf students found that studies comparing signing versus non-signing parents without regard for parental hearing status typically found no relationship between parental method and reading skills. Studies examining specific types of manual communication found a relationship…

Guidelines for the selection and use of commercially prepared informal reading inventories (IRIs) with deaf students are offered. Modifications for deaf students pertain to: selection of the passage to begin testing, the criteria for oral and silent reading levels, and procedures for estimating students' readng potential levels. (SW)

Explores the recognition and memory of words by hearing and deaf children and finds evidence relevant to the reading difficulty experienced by the deaf. (FL)

A study of 27 students with deafness raised by hearing parents who advocated a strict oral approach, 22 students with deafness who used Israeli Sign Language, and 39 controls, found both the controls and participants with prelingual deafness who were trained to communicate orally recoded visually presented target words phonologically. (Contains…

This paper discusses various approaches educators can use to evaluate the reading skills of students who are deaf and hard of hearing, with special emphasis on reading fluency. Various assessment measures are described and examples of how mature users of American Sign Language read English are given. It highlights the use of a literacy portfolio,…

Discusses three studies: (1) the effectiveness of semantic analyses of written narratives of students with hearing losses in determining language ability; (2) written-language characteristics of writers matched by reading abilities alone and matched by reading ability and age; and (3) written-language characteristics of writers with hearing…

Deaf children come from all races, classes, and backgrounds, but as a group they have a hard time learning to read and write. The more hearing a child has, the better the child performs on tests of reading ability. Parents who can communicate well with their deaf children help them to perform well at school, but beyond "good"…