Advanced Language and the Deaf

Advanced Language and the Deaf DE 576, Session 13 April 25, 2012 Boston University

Food for Thought • Understanding calculus should be hard. Understanding what your teacher is saying shouldn’t be hard. • I. King Jordan

Agenda Discussion: Dana What is necessary for reading? Reading and Deaf Students Break! Cochlear Implant Corner Guest Speaker: Erika Guarino Housekeeping

Goals for the Session To understand the underlying skills needed for reading To consider the research on Deaf children’s and reading To learn about teaching in a self-contained environment

Discussion

Discussion Board Interlude "When storysigning during guided reading, the students express ASL conceptually appropriate signs in English word order" (57). That feels wrong to me.” “It makes sense to fingerspell/initialized sign, then point a printed word, and then fingerspell/initialized it again (plus several other possible combinations p. 90). The only thing I will amend to this concept of initialized sign is that if the word can be sign without having to use initialized letter, and then by all means sign it.”

Discussion Board Interlude I too was a little bit frustrated by the use of words like "handicapped" and "hearing impaired". I didn't even realize that the author is a big part of the Deaf community, and knowing that now it is even more confusing as to why those words were used. I feel these articles implied Deaf teachers have more abilities to teach Deaf students. I know some Deaf teachers do not have good skills in teaching and some hearing teachers have more skills than Deaf. I do not believe Deaf teachers are always the best teachers, but they are needed as role models for Deaf children. Deaf and hearing teachers should keep to collaborate each other.

National Reading Panel

Phonemic Awareness • The ability to hear and identify individual sounds in words • That the word catch has 3 sounds - /k/ /a/ /ch/

Phonics • Understanding the sounds that are related to particular letters of the alphabet • i.e., that the letter B makes the sound /b/, or that –ay, -ei-, -ai-, -a_e all say /A/ • Like Stay, weight, bait, rake

Vocabulary Knowing the meaning of a large number of vocabulary words And being able to recognize those words when you see them written down

Fluency To read at a pace that is comparable to speaking To sound happy if the character is happy, excited if they are excited, etc (to use vocal expression) To pay attention to punctuation

Comprehension To understand the story once it is all put together To understand the surface level events of the story as well as make inferences about characters and events in the story To learn something new from reading

Schirmer & McGough • “Teaching reading to children who are deaf: Do the conclusions of the National Reading Panel apply?” • 2005, American Educational Research Association • For me, the most questionable of the five pillars are phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency • Vocabulary and comprehension both seem easily applicable to Deaf students

In groups of three • You will receive a few pages from their article about either phonemic awareness, phonics, or fluency • In your groups of three: • What are the major findings in terms of teaching this skill to Deaf students? • How do they recommend the skill be taught? • Does your group agree with the authors’ findings?

Jigsaw • Each of your handouts has a number on it • All ones meet together • All twos meet together • All threes meet together • Take turn sharing a little bit about your topic and what your group discussed

Some activities in your readings • Chaining • Fingerspell a word, point to the print, fingerspell again • Sandwiching • Sign a word, fingerspell the word, and sign it again • Deaf teachers use them more often • Residential school teachers use them more often • To call attention to new vocabulary, to connect directly to print

Guided reading • Which we have discussed in the past • Three kinds of activities • Before reading (getting students ready to reading, teaching vocabulary, discussing content) • During reading (supporting students as they read) • After reading (discussing the story, projects)

Schirmer’s Guided Reading • There were lots of excellent critiques of this article, including but not limited to: • “Storysigning” – ASL concepts in English word order • Teaching vocabulary out of context • Summer reading loss (which actually happens with all kids, generally) • Choral reading issues • Although others appreciated the real-world context • Any other thoughts on this one?

Break!

Cochlear Implant Corner • Exploring correlates and predictors of stress in parents of children who are deaf: Implications of perceived social support and mode of communication • By Asberg, Vogel and Bowers, 2008 • Journal of Child and Family Studies

What did they look at? • The stress of parents with children with and without cochlear implants • Why? • Because parental stress has been linked to children performing less well academically, having behavioral problems, and depression

What did they do? • Looked at 35 parents of deaf children • Half of the children had been implanted and half had not • Communication mode in the home: • 51% were oral only • 29% were sign language only • 20% were total communication

What did they find? • Average levels of stress among parents of deaf children were not different from those of hearing children in other research • Parents who used at least some sign language with their children reported feeling less stressed than those that did not • Although total communication won the prize for least stressful for parents • Social support also leads to less stress – parents getting involved in a community that supports them and their child

What does this mean? • Parents need support networks from Deaf adults, other parents and teachers of the Deaf to feel less stressed • As this may lead to better outcomes for children • Using sign language may lessen barriers in communication • Although parents still feel good when they use their native language • What do you all think?

Housekeeping • Next week your final essay is due • The topic has officially been posted to the course website • It is due by midnight, Wednesday May 2 – you can bring it to class, or send it in via e-mail

Housekeeping This weekend I will be traveling to the International Reading Association Conference So response time may be lagged – apologies!

Housekeeping Next week is our FINAL CLASS! Brittany will be our discussion leader The topic will be research on writing and Deaf children

See you next week!

Advanced Language and the Deaf