Teaching deaf kids how to read: A study that offers new methods to achieve it

Deaf kids are often harder to teach, because most modern teaching methods are created for kids with no hearing disabilities.

Meanwhile, specialists try to fix it - so they offer a new method that can make it way more effective for lots of kids.

Let's find out why it might be pretty useful.

Why it's not easy to do

Understanding how words can be broken down into smaller parts with meaning is crucial for deaf and hard-of-hearing kids when they learn to read. 

This thing called "morphological awareness," which means knowing about word parts like prefixes, roots, and suffixes, helps them learn new words and get better at language. 

A new study shows that this is super important for kids with hearing difficulties, maybe even more important than phonics (which is learning to read by sounding out letters and words).

The method used

The study says that deaf and hard-of-hearing kids should learn how to use word parts to build words actively. 

This means teaching them about how words are put together with smaller pieces, kind of like building with blocks. 

Deaf and hard-of-hearing kids often face challenges when it comes to reading and writing, so this research could help make their learning better. 

The study looked at lots of other studies about morphological awareness and found that it's connected to how well these kids read words, understand what they read, and know lots of words.

Why it might be helpful

The research shows that those with severe or profound hearing loss might rely more on figuring out words by their parts instead of how the letters sound. 

It doesn't mean that learning how letters sound isn't important, but it's saying that understanding word parts is also a big deal. 

This can help these kids build up their vocabulary and become better at reading. 
 

• Related news:
• research
• reading
• teaching
• children
• 6 September 2023

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