ERIC Number: EJ1205892
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Jan
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0161-1461
EISSN: N/A
Orthographic Learning in Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Wass, Malin; Ching, Teresa Y. C.; Cupples, Linda; Wang, Hua-Chen; Lyxell, Björn; Martin, Louise; Button, Laura; Gunnourie, Miriam; Boisvert, Isabelle; McMahon, Catherine; Castles, Anne
Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, v50 n1 p99-112 Jan 2019
Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between orthographic learning and language, reading, and cognitive skills in 9-year-old children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and to compare their performance to age-matched typically hearing (TH) controls. Method: Eighteen children diagnosed with moderate-to-profound hearing loss who use hearing aids and/or cochlear implants participated. Their performance was compared with 35 age-matched controls with typical hearing. Orthographic learning was evaluated using a spelling task and a recognition task. The children were assessed on measures of reading ability, language, working memory, and paired-associate learning. Results: On average, the DHH group performed more poorly than the TH controls on the spelling measure of orthographic learning, but not on the recognition measure. For both groups of children, there were significant correlations between orthographic learning and phonological decoding and between visual-verbal paired-associate learning and orthographic learning. Conclusions: Although the children who are DHH had lower scores in the spelling test of orthographic learning than their TH peers, measures of their reading ability revealed that they acquired orthographic representations successfully. The results are consistent with the self-teaching hypothesis in suggesting that phonological decoding is important for orthographic learning.
Descriptors: Deafness, Hearing Impairments, Children, Spelling, Reading Ability, Language Skills, Short Term Memory, Paired Associate Learning, Decoding (Reading), Assistive Technology
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2200 Research Blvd #250, Rockville, MD 20850. Tel: 301-296-5700; Fax: 301-296-8580; e-mail: lshss@asha.org; Web site: http://lshss.pubs.asha.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: R01DC008080