Spelling errors in children who are deaf

This is a descriptive study that analyzes the spelling abilities as well as a specific spelling error made by children between the ages of 5 and 9 who are deaf and wear cochlear implants

Exploring the Overlap Between Dyslexia and Speech Sound Production Deficits

Purpose Children with dyslexia have speech production deficits in a variety of spoken language contexts. In this article, we discuss the nature of speech production errors in children with dyslexia, including those who have a history of speech sound disorder and those who do not, to familiarize speech-language pathologists with speech production-specific risk factors that may help predict or identify dyslexia in young children. Method In this tutorial, we discuss the role of a phonological deficit in children with dyslexia and how this may manifest as speech production errors, sometimes in conjunction with a speech sound disorder but sometimes not. We also briefly review other factors outside the realm of phonology that may alert the speech-language pathologist to possible dyslexia. Results Speech-language pathologists possess unique knowledge that directly contributes to the identification and remediation of children with dyslexia. We present several clinical recommendations related to speech production deficits in children with dyslexia. We also review what is known about how and when children with speech sound disorder are most at risk for dyslexia. Conclusion Speech-language pathologists have a unique opportunity to assist in the identification of young children who are at risk for dyslexia

Recommendations for multilingualism and developmental communicative disorders

This report investigates two topics that are gaining growing interest in bilingual research, concerning on the one side the identification of language and reading disorders in bilingual children and, on the other side, the interaction between bilingualism and these disorders in children who have been officially diagnosed as communicatively impaired. Our research suggests that bilingualism, far from being a disadvantage, can offer linguistic and cognitive benefits that extend also to impaired children. We build on these results to indicate some best practices and recommendations for parents, educators and health professionals that deal with children suffering from specific communicative impairments

The development of a test of concept identification, semantic and syntactic performance for use with hearing impaired children

The purpose of this study was to develop the Concept Identification Instrument (CII); an instrument for measuring prelinguistically deaf children\u27s concept identification, semantic and syntactic abilities in a reading situation. Analysis of the related literature suggested that isolation of some of the factors which contribute to the problems faced by deaf children in reading development, such as concept identification, may lead to improved chances of understanding, reducing or eliminating reading problems and improving reading outcomes for these children. The subjects were 21 prelinguistically deaf children who attended or had previously attended the Speech and Hearing Centre for Deaf Children (WA) Inc. The CII was developed from a testing instrument created by Sloan (1974). It was comprised of 10 sets of five declarative statements using the cloze form, which had an artificial word in place of the concept which was to be identified. The responses were scored to provide separate data about concept identification performance, semantic performance c.t both sentence and discourse levels, and syntactic performance. The validation of the CII was undertaken by calculating convergent validity with the Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) as a measure of reading comprehension and the Language Assessment, Remediation and Screening Procedure (LARSP). Both the PAT and the LARSP were found to correlate significantly with concept identification performance, semantic performance at both sentence and discourse levels as well as syntactic performance, as tested by the CII. Content validity was confirmed after consultation with four specialists in the fields of reading and hearing impaired teaching. Cronbach\u27s Coefficient Alpha, testing internal consistency, was used to confirm reliability. The development of the CII as a reliable, valid measure of deaf children\u27s concept identification ability, semantic ability at sentence and discourse levels as well as syntactic ability, makes it an important addition to the assessment tools available to researchers and teachers alike. In addition there may be important value in its use as a teaching aid

THE EFFECT OF SIGN LANGUAGE BARRIERS AMONG DEAF LEARNERS: A CASE STUDY OF A SPECIAL SCHOOL IN MOTHEO DISTRICT SOUTH AFRICA

Published ThesisThis study investigated the effects of sign language barriers among deaf learners in the form of a case study which focused on one of the special schools for the deaf and the blind in the Motheo District. It consisted of seven educators (two males and five females), ten learners (six males and four females) and a class of grade eight learners who use sign language as their first language. This study employed a qualitative research method, namely a case study. The simple random sampling method was used in which each member of the population under survey had an equal chance of being selected. Data was collected by means of interviews, classroom observations and a literature review. Semi-structured questions were used when interviewing the educators and learners of the selected school in the Motheo District as they had knowledge of the statistics with regard to the performance related to the use of sign language as medium of instruction, as well as the causes of problems related to the low performance of the learners at their school. A qualified sign language interpreter was used to translate the data. The results of the study indicated that a lack of educator in-service SASL training, as well as learners acquiring language at school rather than from the time that they are still in their mothers’ wombs, and a lack of physical resources are responsible for the problems with regard to the system