Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that phonological skills training, particularly when combined with grapheme–phoneme correspondence teaching, results in improved word decoding and spelling development for normally hearing children. This study seeks to investigate the efficacy of these claims for hearing-impaired children. Two hearing-impaired children were pre-tested on measures of spoken and written language, phonological abilities and alphabet knowledge prior to a 12-week intervention using a Phonographix teaching programme (McGuinness and McGuinness, 1998). The children were again tested on all measures immediately after intervention. The intervention programme accelerated the children's acquisition of phonological skills and of phoneme–grapheme correspondence knowledge, and their ability to apply these in word decoding and spelling. Concentration on teaching phonological skills and alphabetic knowledge can radically improve decoding and spelling standards in hearing-impaired children. This in turn can be used as a way to improve vocabulary, which in turn might lead to improved comprehension in the longer term.
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