If a deaf child struggles to understand words and to talk, how does he learn to read? This is the first in a series of articles on reading and deafness.
Kids Must Know Words to Read Words Suppose someone hands me an article on the stock market. I do not know many stock market terms. Although reading the article might build my vocabulary in that area, I still need to know basics to make sense of it. I would do better to first read a book that explains simple terms and concepts. Now, suppose that original article handed to me was in German. I do not know German. I certainly could not read and understand something written at a high level in language that I do not know. This is something of a deaf child's task learning to read.
An initial, necessary step to reading is having language. If you are looking for ways to boost your hearing impaired child's language skills, look at previous articles: Building Language Skills and Building Language Part 2
First WordsConsider how a child begins to talk. He does not look up from his high chair one morning and say Today I want more milk because the cereal was a little dry. You know I think that the hot weather has something to do with it, too. Naturally he would say more or milk -- a single word that has meaning. This is the natural start of reading as well. Here are some kinds of books that encourage reading single words:
- Board Books - These are the books are made of thick cardboard and often have only one word to a page. Board books are great for the infant, toddler, and preshoolers.
- Beginning Dictionary Scene Books - Look in the beginning dictionaroy section for the dictionaries that have scenes with labels. For example, a school page may have desk, chair, teacher, clock, puzzles, books, and computer labeled.
- Easy Readers - Beginning level easy readers often have one or few words to the page. The words closely match the picture. Children's librarians and book sellers can help in this search.
My next article in this series:
Note: All children in this article are fictitious and represent general characteristics of the disability. Activities represented here are ideas. Parents (not the author) are responsible for choosing an appropriate activity for a particular child and for the consequences of that activity.
Read my other articles on parenting a deaf child:
- Deaf Kids Chalk Talk
- Speech Articulation and Language
- Teaching Reading to the Deaf
- Reading for the Hearing Impaired
