Effects of ASL Rhyme and Rhythm on Deaf Children's Engagement Behavior and Accuracy in Recitation: Evidence from a Single Case Design.

Leala Holcomb,Kimberly Wolbers

doi:10.3390/children7120256

Leala Holcomb, Kimberly Wolbers

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/children7120256

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Abstract

Early language acquisition is critical for lifelong success in language, literacy, and academic studies. There is much to explore about the specific techniques used to foster deaf children’s language development. The use of rhyme and rhythm in American Sign Language (ASL) remains understudied. This single-subject study compared the effects of rhyming and non-rhyming ASL stories on the engagement behavior and accuracy in recitation of five deaf children between three and six years old in an ASL/English bilingual early childhood classroom. With the application of alternating treatment design with initial baseline, it is the first experimental research of its kind on ASL rhyme and rhythm. Baseline data revealed the lack of rhyme awareness in children and informed the decision to provide intervention as a condition to examine the effects of explicit handshape rhyme awareness instruction on increasing engagement behavior and accuracy in recitation. There were four phases in this study: baseline, handshape rhyme awareness intervention, alternating treatments, and preference. Visual analysis and total mean and mean difference procedures were employed to analyze results. The findings indicate that recitation skills in young deaf children can be supported through interventions utilizing ASL rhyme and rhythm supplemented with ASL phonological awareness activities. A potential case of sign language impairment was identified in a native signer, creating a new line of inquiry in using ASL rhyme, rhythm, and phonological awareness to detect atypical language patterns.

Highlights

The difference between hearing and deaf toddlers’ early language access and experience is stark
Results showed that deaf children demonstrated the greatest gains in English vocabulary scores with the American Sign Language (ASL) rhyming story over the other two conditions [50]. These findings suggest that ASL rhyme, rhythm, and phonological awareness may have a bigger role in language and literacy development than previously realized
This study explored whether ASL rhyme and rhythm had similar results in deaf children by comparing the effects of rhyming and non-rhyming conditions of ASL stories after giving explicit instruction in handshape rhyme awareness

Summary

Introduction

The difference between hearing and deaf toddlers’ early language access and experience is stark. Hearing children access the playful phonological patterns of spoken language on a minute-by-minute basis [1]. Hearing children benefit greatly from language activities that incorporate rhythmic and rhyming spoken language (e.g., nursery rhymes or Dr Seuss), especially if paired with spoken phonological awareness tasks [2–4]. What has become ubiquitous among households, daycare, and early childhood education programs for hearing children is largely absent or inaccessible to deaf children. Deaf children can neither fully nor access sound, limiting their ability to fully benefit from spoken rhyme and rhythm. Early childhood education for deaf children is only just beginning to incorporate American Sign Language (ASL) rhyme and rhythm in the classroom

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