Foundations for Literacy: An Early Intervention for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

• In Event: Language and Literacy Descriptions and Interventions From the Center on Literacy and Deafness

Abstract

Objectives
This presentation will describe an intervention that was developed to teach DHH prekindergarten children’s early literacy skills and report on results for implementation by classroom teachers.
Theoretical Framework
One avenue for improving reading outcomes is to make sure DHH children enter school with the foundational skills needed to learn to read. The current study evaluated the efficacy of a new preschool early literacy intervention created specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. While adopting the literacy objectives of effective, integrated, code- and meaning-focused literacy prekindergarten programs for hearing children, Foundations is more systematic and its instruction is more explicit, multi-modal, and intensive than might be used with hearing children.
Method
A quasi-experimental design was used. Foundations for Literacy was developed in two phases. During the first phase, research teachers taught Foundations an hour a day four days a week for the school year to 25 intervention children. During the second phase, classroom teachers implemented Foundations to 35 children. Thirty-three comparison children received their regular curriculum. Intervention and comparison children were matched on demographic characteristics. A battery of language and literacy tests was administered in the fall and spring of the school year.
Results
Students taught with Foundations for Literacy made larger gains on tests of alphabetic knowledge, phonological awareness, and expressive vocabulary than comparison children who were not taught with Foundations. Three multivariate ANCOVAs with pretest scores as covariate showed effects for intervention for Phonological Awareness, F(4,172) = 4.795, p < .001, partial η2 = .10, vocabulary, F(6, 176) = 2.380, p<. 03, partial η2 = .075, and alphabetic knowledge, F (6,144) = 4.746, p < .000, partial η2 = .17. Post hoc tests showed that children taught by classroom and research teachers made equal gains. In addition, intervention children showed significant increases in standard scores (based on hearing norms) on phonological awareness and vocabulary assessments (Figure 1).
Conclusions
This quasi-experimental study suggests that the intervention shows promise for improving early literacy skills of DHH children. The present study adds to a growing body of literature that indicate that preschool children who differ from typical hearing children can successfully learn to read with instruction specifically adapted to their needs.

Authors

• Amy R. Lederberg, Georgia State University

• Susan Easterbrooks, Georgia State University

• Victoria Burke, Georgia State University

• Stacey Tucci, Georgia Pathways Project