Abstract
This article provides background on the major perspectives involving the development of English language and literacy with respect to the evolving demography of d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing children and adolescents. It synthesizes research and controversies on the developmental similarity hypothesis—that is, whether the acquisition of English language and literacy of d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing students is developmentally similar to that of typical language/literacy learners. The outcomes of this discussion have instructional implications and proffer guidelines for teacher preparation programs. The article concludes with directions for further research.
Highlights
Guided by the developmental similarity hypothesis or qualitative similarity hypothesis [1,2,3], this article surveys the most up-to-date research related to language and literacy development of individuals who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing (d/Dhh)
The language trajectories of individual children who are d/Dhh vary significantly and are associated with multiple variables. These variables include access to early identification, quality of intervention, hearing assistive device use, and audiological management. d/Dhh children develop language in a similar manner to that of typically hearing children, provided that they are in a language-rich environment, whether signed or spoken
For d/Dhh children of hearing parents, language development will depend on the age at which they are exposed to a perceptually accessible first language, as well as the quality of the input of that language
Summary
Guided by the developmental similarity hypothesis or qualitative similarity hypothesis [1,2,3], this article surveys the most up-to-date research related to language and literacy development of individuals who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing (d/Dhh). Throughout, we concur with Mayer [4] that in order to become competent readers and writers, d/Dhh learners are not different from their hearing counterparts in regard to what skills they need to acquire and master, because the process of learning to read or write is fundamentally the same or similar across populations. This article begins with an investigation of the evolving demography of individuals who are d/Dhh. it moves on to discuss the language and literacy (i.e., reading and writing) development of individuals who are d/Dhh using a parallel structure of introducing the development in general first, and addressing the research and controversies for the d/Dhh population.
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