Early Literacy Predictors and Second‐Grade Outcomes in Children Who Are Hard of Hearing

• Published in: Child development Vol. 91; no. 1; pp. e179 - e197
• Main Authors: Tomblin, J. Bruce, Oleson, Jake, Ambrose, Sophie E., Walker, Elizabeth A., Moeller, Mary P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley-Blackwell 01.01.2020; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Academic Success; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Disabled Children; Early literacy; Elementary school students; Emergent Literacy; Female; Grade 2; Hearing; Hearing Impairments; Hearing loss; Humans; Language; Language disorders; Learning outcomes; Literacy; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Oral Language; Outcomes of Education; Persons With Hearing Impairments; Phonological Awareness; Phonological processing; Phonology; Prediction; Prereading; Prereading Experience; Print awareness; Printed Materials; Reading; Reading Achievement; Reading Comprehension; Reading Skills; Resilience; Spoken language; Students with Disabilities; Young Children
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13158

This study contrasted the early literacy outcomes of children who are hard of hearing (CHH) with children with normal hearing (CNH). At age 5, prereading skills of oral language, phonological processing, and print knowledge were examined in CHH (N = 180) and CNH (N = 80). The CHH had poorer oral language and phonological processing abilities than the CNH but comparable knowledge of print. At age 8, measures of word reading, and reading comprehension yielded no differences between CHH (N = 108) and CNH (N = 62) except for reading comprehension for the moderately severe CHH. Reading achievement in CHH was found to exceed predictions based on prereading performance. This resilience was associated with gains in oral language during the early school years.